Wonderful piece— much of this can be helpfully applied to the similar phenomenon in other arts. (Music, prose, songwriting, my god, hacks are thick on the ground in those fields.) I’ve never seen your points collected more effectively— this piece goes right into my archive. Thanks for posting!
"If you create art that it for other people and not yourself, it’s likely at some point you will hit a wall and start to despise your own work. It happened to me!" - sad to hear that. I realise this is blowing smoke up your arse but I always thought you were one of the most original and fresh voices among our crop of aspiring stand ups.
I think it takes a will of iron not to fall into at least some hackiness as a new act. You think up a joke and think, "haha, that's funny, clever me!" rather than "is this joke me? Does it work in my voice?" To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Billy and the Cloneasaurus, you're so preoccupied with how it can be done, you never stop to think whether you should.
Aww thanks Tommy. Yeah I had some stuff I was happy with, but generally I wasn't being myself and was being all dark and aloof. Idk I had a lot of mental stress going on! I'm sure everything was ok really :/
I think you either grow out of bad habits or become a master of them when it comes to comedy.
It’s when you tailor your jokes to what you think other people might like, rather than speaking your authentic truth."
"Comedians can be hacks for many reasons... [including] an unwillingness to be vulnerable and to show you real self because you don’t think you’re interesting or cool enough."
"the opposite of hack ... means jokes you wrote primarily for yourself that you hope the audience will like too"
i like what you have written here for yourself that is also for me!
Wonderful piece— much of this can be helpfully applied to the similar phenomenon in other arts. (Music, prose, songwriting, my god, hacks are thick on the ground in those fields.) I’ve never seen your points collected more effectively— this piece goes right into my archive. Thanks for posting!
Thanks man!
...Yeah couldn't agree more about music. Like gee, what's the point? Apart from covers bands, love those guys!
"If you create art that it for other people and not yourself, it’s likely at some point you will hit a wall and start to despise your own work. It happened to me!" - sad to hear that. I realise this is blowing smoke up your arse but I always thought you were one of the most original and fresh voices among our crop of aspiring stand ups.
I think it takes a will of iron not to fall into at least some hackiness as a new act. You think up a joke and think, "haha, that's funny, clever me!" rather than "is this joke me? Does it work in my voice?" To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Billy and the Cloneasaurus, you're so preoccupied with how it can be done, you never stop to think whether you should.
Aww thanks Tommy. Yeah I had some stuff I was happy with, but generally I wasn't being myself and was being all dark and aloof. Idk I had a lot of mental stress going on! I'm sure everything was ok really :/
I think you either grow out of bad habits or become a master of them when it comes to comedy.
dear caroline,
great and thoughtful piece, as always!
some of my favorite snippets:
"What is a hack comedian?
It’s when you tailor your jokes to what you think other people might like, rather than speaking your authentic truth."
"Comedians can be hacks for many reasons... [including] an unwillingness to be vulnerable and to show you real self because you don’t think you’re interesting or cool enough."
"the opposite of hack ... means jokes you wrote primarily for yourself that you hope the audience will like too"
i like what you have written here for yourself that is also for me!
thank you!
much love
myq
Thanks again for your generous comment! I strive to be a generous as you, but alas I am far from it. Thanks 🥰
Somebody put together a Comedian's Comedians of Comedy tour
Comedian's Comedians of Comedy's Comedy Tour's of Tours