science

Stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stand-up comedy rather than just read about it. In short: Stand-up comedy is an art form that involves a stand-up comic and an audience. Comics perform on a stage and deliver humorous and satirical monologues, sometimes incorporating physical acts (act outs).

Key takeaways

Stand-up comedy belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stand-up comedy to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stand-up comedy from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stand-up comedy is an art form that involves a stand-up comic and an audience. Comics perform on a stage and deliver humorous and satirical monologues, sometimes incorporating physical acts (act outs). These performances are typically composed of tightly crafted sets or acts, and often include varying degrees of live crowd interaction (crowdwork). Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, observations, or shticks that can employ props, music, impressions, dialects, magic tricks, or ventriloquism. Performances can take place in various venues, including comedy clubs, comedy festivals, bars, nightclubs, colleges, casino showrooms, or theaters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, comics performed using video conferencing tools, on social media, on rooftops, parking lots and other open-air locations.

History

Stand-up comedy originated in various traditions of popular entertainment in the late 19th century. These include vaudeville, the stump-speech monologues of minstrel shows, dime museums, concert saloons, freak shows, variety shows, medicine shows, American burlesque, English music halls, circus clown antics, Chautauqua, and humorist monologues, such as those delivered by Mark Twain in his 1866 touring show Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands. Charles Farrar Browne (April 26, 1834 – March 6, 1867), better known by his nom de plume, Artemus Ward, is considered by comedian historians America's first stand-up comedian. The first documented use of stand-up in this context appeared in The Stage in 1911, describing Nellie Perrier delivering "stand-up comic ditties in a chic and charming manner". However, this referred to a performance of comedy songs rather than stand-up comedy in its modern form. The term appeared again in the "Stage Gossip" column of the Yorkshire Evening Post on November 10, 1917. The article discussed the career of a comedian Finlay Dunn, stating that Dunn was "what he calls a stand-up comedian'" during the latter part of the 19th century. However, the term may have been used retrospectively.

Genres

Stand-up has multiple genres and styles with their formats. Common ones include:

Alternative Comedy also known as alt-comedy: Intended to counter the established approach of set up/punchline in mainstream comedy. Anecdotal comedy: Storytelling using exaggeration and humor. Character: A fictional persona created by the performer. Deadpan: The deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. This is also called dry humor, or dry-wit humor. Impressionist: Imitating notable figures. Insult: Consists mainly of offensive insults, usually directed at the audience or other performers. Musical: Humorous songs or musical parodies, sometimes without lyrics. Observational: Conversation on the absurdities of everyday life. Satire: Ridicule of people, institutions, or ideas through jokes. Topical: Framed around a specific topic related to current events or dealing with issues that are important or popular at the current time. Wordplay comedy: Tends to involve the use of tactics like puns, double entendres and rhymes to entertain audiences. Thus, delivery tends to be filled with many one-liners. Self-Deprecating comedy: In this genre, comedians make jokes at their own expense, often poking fun at their own flaws, insecurities, or embarrassing experiences. The humor comes from vulnerability and relatability, which can make the comedian more likable. (see: Self-deprecation)

Stand up performances

Opener, feature, and headliner

In a typical stand-up show, the host, compere, or emcee "warms up" the audience and introduces the other performers. This is followed by the opener, the feature, and then the headliner. The host may also act as the opener for smaller shows. Proven comics tend to earn regular bookings at clubs that are part of a chain and comedy venues. Jobbing stand-ups may perform sets at two or more venues on the same day.

Open mic Clubs and small venues often run open mic events; these slots may be booked in advance or left for walk-ins. Comedians use open mics to work on material or to show off their skills to get an opener slot. Open mics are often bringer shows but not all bringer shows are open mics. "Bringer shows" are shows that require amateur performers to bring a specified number of paying guests with them to receive stage time.

Festivals As well as being a mainstay of the comedy circuit, festivals often also showcase up-and-coming acts, with promoters and agents using the festivals to seek out new talent.

TV specials and albums Experienced comics with a following may produce a television special or a comedy album. It may be recorded on tour or at a show advertised and performed specifically for the purpose. A TV special originally released on television, video on demand, or in film theatres may be re-released as an album on audio CD, LP record, or audio streaming. A "half-hour special" is typically between 20 and 35 minutes in runtime excluding commercial breaks and an "hour-long special" is typically between 40 and 65 minutes excluding commercial breaks.

Comedy set

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stand-up comedy

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stand-up comedy claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stand-up comedy before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stand-up comedy ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stand-up comedy

In research: Stand-up comedy appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stand-up comedy in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stand-up comedy is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Comedy, Comedy genres, Comedy theatre, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stand-up comedy outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stand-up comedy in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stand-up comedy means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stand-up comedy out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stand-up comedy in simple terms?

Why does Stand-up comedy matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stand-up comedy?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stand-up comedy.