READER’S EDITORIAL: HERE LIES STAND UP COMEDY (1966-2020)

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

By Darryl Littleton

March 30, 2020 (San Diego) -- Stand Up Comedy is dead!   Official cause of death – Coronavirus with Trump complications.  After a lengthy illness due to the politically correct sanctions, and despite recent signs of resurgence (thanks to Netflix), Stand Up finally succumbed this month from the prescription of no public gatherings over 10 people.  That dose was barely enough for a club staff, much less a show.   Not a Stand Up show, anyway.   Not a real one.

Social distancing’s now the New World Order.  Six feet apart minimum, sending industries scrambling to decipher how to hold crowd events without crowds.   Football assured their players that the games would still be played.   Just no fans in the stands.   Music moved seamlessly into the new format of empty concerts when a worldwide audience experienced the history making performance of DJ Nice.    From wealthy dignitaries to those who had no idea how they’d keep food on the table, an entire society was served up the future in the unifying dialogue of beats and sounds. [Photo courtesy of the author of This Day in Comedy]

Stand Up was always the odd one out.   Though athletes and musicians feed off the crowd, Stand Up depend on them.  Without laughter, what is Stand Up?   Riffing material into a camera is performance and in some cases therapy, but the absence of individuals to validate those musings with the requisite reaction diminishes the art to self-indulgent monologuing.    Who says what you’re saying is funny – you?   That’s akin to the lawyer who represents himself.

Stand Up relies on interaction.    The old traditions from Africa of call & response, innuendo, pantomime are all by-products, and by the way Stand Up was the hardest art form of them all because it demanded your instant reaction.   Thus making Stand Up more intricate than Painting, Sculpting, Music, Dance and by far Acting.   Ever notice that some of the greatest thespians, such as DeNiro, Olivier and Hanks couldn’t credibly pull off playing stand-up comedians, yet stand-up comedians have earned prestigious awards for playing anything but stand-up comedians?

Needless to say, the public will be offered substitutes to fill the void.  Some will even resemble Stand Up.    For instance, on March 21, 2020 comedian Nate Jackson secured an empty studio and with only 8 hours of promotion did a live pay-per-view comedy show he dubbed “Laughter Lockdown Comedy”.    Six people showed up and sat spread apart    His pay-per-view take was substantial, but he admitted that the experience of doing the actual show was “weird”.    Of course it was.   It wasn’t really Stand Up.   It was incorporating homosapien metronomes.

Other such altered configurations also popped up that fateful weekend   Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, California had a virtual reality open mic, consisting of comics doing 3-4 minute sets from home (one was even lying in bed) and receiving laughs from the other comics; the ones waiting for the camera to display them.   In Virginia, Team Fred charged $10 for a virtual night of comedy with a portion of the proceeds going to their local food bank.   While in other parts of the country, individual comedians did virtual sets for Cash-App payments.   So money can still be made doing comedy; just not Stand Up.

Or is stream of consciousness in a vacuum the future of what was once Stand Up?   In 2018, HBO aired the Jerrod Carmichael directed experimental comedy special written and performed by comedian Drew Michael.   A very artsy endeavor that had Michael looking into the camera to express his inner thoughts on a topic before delivering material on said topic while pacing about in a surreal environment.   Occasionally a girl would appear in another setting and validate or destroy his ramblings.   It was not without merit and definitely a producer’s dream, but it was not Stand Up.   It was talking by yourself.   Interesting, but without an audience and immediate acceptance or rejection of a punchline – no cigar. 

Stand-Up was magical.   Its disciples  were combination performer, writer, producer, editor and director all in one.   Stand Up gave birth to verbal virtuosos and physical phenomenons.     Not just an art of ability, but one of endurance.   They are a lot of inherently funny people, but few of those had what it took to claim kinship to Stand Up.   That required being professionally funny.    Make ‘em laugh even when you don’t feel like it.   That’s why to prove yourself to Stand Up you had to put in 5-10 years as an apprentice before claiming true Stand Up status.

This is the reason the passing of Stand-Up should be felt like a mule kick to the throat.  It produced troopers as well as stylized wordsmiths.  Stand Up was about “getting no respect”, “Mudbone”, “She ready”, “The 7 words you can’t say on TV”, “Let me tell you”, “I ain’t scared of you muthaf**kas”, “You may be a redneck if . . . “ “What my name is?”, “Bebe’s Kids”, “Oh, yeah”, “Shuckey Duckey quack, quack”, fright wigs & cigarette holders, tight leather suits, boxy looking suits, moo moos & false teeth, dashikis, tuxedos, perms, suspenders, sunglasses at night, topless routines, removable hairpieces, stage names and other assorted picadilloes.

Stand Up welcomed people with so-called “problems”.   A comedian devoid of issues was most times not funny.   Stand Up encouraged those soul’s unbridled freedom to say whatever they wanted – let ‘er rip, but also taught the human mindset and the consequences associated with abusing that freedom.  The audience subconsciously needed to look down at the jester to feel good about themselves.   Just as every joke needs a butt, every person wants their ego stroked and what better way to feel uplifted than to hear the plight of another who is not you?  Stand Up was psychology, wit and charm.   Nobody ever laughed at anybody they hated.   You could offend an audience and win them over with your askew viewpoint, but you could never get them to laugh with you if they loathed your guts.  Stand Up gave tough lessons on the difference of each and never stopped teaching.

If you were one of Stand Up’s chosen you could find yourself playing golf during the day and cavorting at night with Presidents.   Thanks to Stand Up esteemed award ceremonies were televised for its annual best and brightest.  It was Stand Up that introduced the crop of comedy media stars that ruled the landscape since the industry got whiff of those comics having a sizable number of fans.

That world of Stand-Up is now history.  A massive loss for fan and apostle alike.  Gone are the crowded showrooms of drunken patrons, the rustling of waitresses in the aisles, hecklers and the joy of their comeuppance, boundless ad-libbing, distinct and piercing laughter from hearty patrons, eager groupies, staff with drugs before shows, bartenders with stories and drugs afterhours, celebrity sightings and inclusions into the act, over-indulgers getting bounced, and the camaraderie with other comedians that every profession craves for the shared experiences as well as the shop talk which benefit all.

Another thing - Stand Up’s people had their own language that everybody knew and used.    Bombing.  Hacky.   Rule of 3.  Punchline.   Wrap-it-Up.   Two-Drink-Minimum.   Heckler.   Punching Down.   Clapter. Segue.   Callback.    Let Me Holla Atcha.   Crowd Work.   Set.   Tight 5.   Road Smell.    A lot of these words and phrases had limited or a different meaning before the existence of Stand Up and others simply didn’t exist.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Stand Up was only 54 when it kicked the bucket.    However, there were earlier incarnations prior to their official version.   The first time anybody ever heard of Stand Up can be traced back to the 1880s when African-American Vaudevillian, Charley Case went on New York theater stages and did comedy monologues without props or costumes.     Case later lost the faith and committed suicide in a hotel room in 1916.   Stand Up wasn’t reported being seen again until tapping Will Rogers in the early 1920s Ziegfeld Follies, making him Stand Up’s first white man (even though he was Native-American).   Moms Mabley is attributed as being the first Black female Stand Up recognized dating back to 1939 and Phyllis Diller gets credit as the first white female in the 1950s (even though Jean Carroll preceded her, but Carroll started out as a duo with her husband and sang in her solo act.  You could do that in the midst of Stand Up, but it was frowned upon).

Stand Up was fickle though; known to change every 5-10 years after becoming bored and seeking out new thrills.     That can account for so many Comedy Booms.   At first Stand Up favored joke tellers then it was self-confessional comedians, then the observational, the urban, Latin, Middle Eastern, female . . . transgender . . . well it was going in that direction right before the end.

Internet Comedy, Stand Up’s upstart younger cousin can now be fully cooked and being laid upon the entertainment table of the masses.  However, don’t be hoodwinked by the similarities.     They’re related in last name only.  Whereas, those in the Internet Comedy camp require the basic skill set of an average Stand Up faithful, the Internetters get to execute their craft with a safety net.   No obstacles.   So no need for nervous jitters.  No pressure.   Just blurt out in front of a lens and leave assuming it was funny.  Compared to Stand Up, it’s the difference between solitaire and a high stakes poker game.  

I once had a discussion with legendary Stand Up disciple, Marsha Warfield and she held the position that anyone could be a comedian.   I argued that one needed to have reached a level of proficiency to claim that coveted title.  No, she said – nobody can tell a person when they can or cannot be a comic.   Well, with the way comedy is now being presented, where “comedians” are virtually masturbating to the sound of their own voice, pretty much manufacturing a generation of talking heads devoid of non-button hitting verification, her stance is not invalid.   We’ll accept gaps of humor from Radio personalities, but not Stand Up’s performers.   Get a laugh every 10-15 seconds or get off  the stage.   Well, when the stage is now your living room don’t be surprised at the number of mic hogs cultivated.    So to Marsha Warfield, I concede the point.   She was right.   Anybody can be a comedian, but not a Stand Up comedian.

Of course Comedy will live on; mortals need laughter to cope, but Stand Up will become a distant memory soon, just as the organ grinder and monkey, silent slapstick flicks and minstrels if we let it.   Stand Up needs to be celebrated, not mourned.   The way Rock N Roll and Jazz have remained in public life long past their heyday, Stand Up should constantly be acknowledged and appreciated for all it’s done for us.  The way we viewed each passing chapter of our existence was often shaped by Stand Up comedians.  We got smacked in the face with harsh realities thrust at us with fearless brilliance and searing purity.

Naturally, veteran comedians following Stand Up are scared at the reality of the demise.    What will they do now?   How will they survive without Stand Up?    Well, I’m gonna miss Stand Up too, but this is the moment to reap the harvest left to us and show that the Stand Up time was not spent in vain.   True artists swim upstream and if the remaining practitioners of Stand Up don’t want to envision an old timers revival circuit, similar to Doo Wop or Funk materializing – they need to get with the times and create a lane for themselves on this uncharted superhighway.  Stand Up may effectively be dead.   That doesn’t mean those left behind have to take dirt naps. In a pool of talent so vast, innovation will prevail.    The tenacious of the flock will move forward in an era no longer shining the bright limelight upon them.  They’ll produce a new offspring for Comedy and in turn morph into a superior embodiment of themselves, or follow the advice laid out in Robert Townsend’s debut film, Hollywood Shuffle and get a job.   The post office is always hiring.

Then there are those of you right now sitting back, waiting for Stand Up’s resurrection.    That would be nice, but my desire is a bit more realistic.  I’d love to have a drink and give a toast to Stand Up with each and every being who ever saw, heard or touched Stand Up on the planet Earth, but that would obviously violate the personal distance laws.  So let me take the liberty and speak for all of us when I say to Stand Up – Thanks for the memories and enjoy your salad.

The opinions in this editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

Comments

Here Lies Stand Up

Stand up has made a slow and perilous return with numerous high profile comedians contracting the virus in the process. The shows attempt the mandated precautions, but fans will be fans and thus social distancing goes out the window when it's time to take pictures and sign autographs. It's a business of whims and there's always somebody right behind you capable of filling your shoes. There's no drought when it coms to self-proclaimed comics. So, as I state in this less-than-optimistic op ed, I sincerely hope I'm wrong regarding stand up's dismal future, since we're now under a different national approach to relief. Who knows - one day groupies might actually be en vogue again. Anyway, thank you, Dennis for your continued support. My current book is a youth action space adventure featuring five 10-year-old Black buddies known as the Fellas. The book is "The Story of the Hairy Creature" and it's the perfect gift for that young person in your life looking for role models in their peer group. You can discover it at Amazon.com and funnylit.com along with all my other comedy books, CDs, DVDs and specialty items.

Moderna Vaccine taken yesterday for COVID-19

I am thankful to have gotten the Moderna Vaccine just yesterday for COVID-19, with the 2nd dose due for me to take on March 11 here in Lancaster, California. It was administered at Albertsons' Pharmacy. Vaccine locations in Lancaster here.

Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)

Darryl Littleton, the author of "Black Comedians on Black Comedy" and "This Day in Comedy", among other books, talks about how COVID-19 has impacted his expertise and his subject Editorial. I actually received the attached letter from former President Trump dated May 27, 2020, just this week stating: "Your Economic Impact Has Arrived." The Congress led by Nancy Pelosi, has just passed another "Stimulus Bill", which will provide many Americans with well needed and justified relief due to the impact of COVID-19. Mr. Littleton's subject Reader's Editorial eloquently addresses how we have been impacted. See my attached letter from the former President here.

I'll never be a Darryl Littleton

but I like the challenge of finding the funny aspects of life, and often that isn't difficult because there's so much funny all around us. . . .Why do it? Life is too short to be taken seriously, that's why. . . .So tomorrow being April 1st my wife knows that there will be a fool (besides me) involved, in some prank or other. . .I think it would be a better world if we all did our Phyllis Diller or Darryl Littleton around the house and with others, and we could benefit from more knowledge of how to do it. I can see it: The Darryl Littleton Comedy College, become a bachelor of fine laughs.. . .meanwhile stand-up is on vacation, along with music performances and poetry readings, but hey it'll be back. Its death was another joke.

Here Lies Stand up / I'll never be a Darryl Littleton

Don, I absolutely love comedy, warts and all. I just saw Chappelle's 8:46 and if comedy comes back that would be the format. Interestingly enough I have 2 books on how to do comedy. "How to Be Funny" and "How to do Stand-up Comedy". Both are at Amazon.com and my site funnylit.com with all my other books.

Stand-up Comedy

I actually love stand-up comedy. What I don't like is material heavy on sex with foul language. Why is it that some comedians think saying the F-word is funny? I don't. But I love comedy clubs and YouTube comedy videos. The best comedy is when a comedian talks about everyday things that everybody does in such a way that it sounds stupid or silly. I really hope that after this pandemic is long gone comedians will be able to return to the stage with an audience. Hang in there.

Here Lies Stand-Up / Stand-Up Comedy

Carole, As a 30 year vet I can do all kinds of comedy - clean or raw. I even do kids shows. I agree some comics are gratuitous with the foul language, but a lot of comedy is dictated by venue and audience. If liquor is being served the audience usually wants more frank language. It's like music - there's something for everybody.

"This Day in Comedy"

I agree with you totally Carole, that comedy could be less sexualized!