"Comedian" the process of harvesting comedy.
If you're looking for a great documentary style peek into the obsessions of comedians and the "comic lifestyle".
Be sure to check out "Comedian" which follows Jerry Seinfeld after he's retired from his television show and re-entering the stand up comedy clubs to write all new material.
The normal process for developing successful stand up comedy set starts off with about 3-5 minutes of written jokes or stories with act outs. Of this amount of time only a handful of jokes will get a solid amount of laughter. These are "keepers" and the rest needs work. You slowly sharpen the good jokes and expand upon them to stretch out the amount of funny material. Each performance helps the comedian adjust the material according to the audience response. Soon the handful of material increases to an armful of material. Then from an armful to a bagful and so on until the whole 5 minute set is 90% to 100% predictably funny.
Jerry Seinfeld, over the years in comedy clubs and then on television, amassed a ton of solid funny jokes that he could then rely on again and again. This is what the nucleus of his hit sitcom was built upon. The success of his television show "made" him the comedy giant he is known to be today.
(Whether you like his comedy or his show or not is besides the point.)
After retiring his television show he decided to go one better and let his "golden" comedy material go into retirement as well. It is at this point that the film, "Comedian" picks up. What does a comedy giant do to recapture the creative hunger he once had? Start at the beginning and write entirely new material that is untried and unproven. A scary and brave thing to do once you've established yourself at the level he had achieved. The film shows his insecurities and creative struggle to NOT rely on any of his gimmicks of the past.
Definitely a must see movie if you are interested in the comedy process and the comic mind. (I should state for the record that the film also follows an up and coming stand up comedian as a subplot, but I didn't care for this guy and this is my blog so he has no part of it. He doesn't ruin the film at least, but I digress.)
Check it out.
"Comedian" Jerry Seinfeld.
Be sure to check out "Comedian" which follows Jerry Seinfeld after he's retired from his television show and re-entering the stand up comedy clubs to write all new material.
The normal process for developing successful stand up comedy set starts off with about 3-5 minutes of written jokes or stories with act outs. Of this amount of time only a handful of jokes will get a solid amount of laughter. These are "keepers" and the rest needs work. You slowly sharpen the good jokes and expand upon them to stretch out the amount of funny material. Each performance helps the comedian adjust the material according to the audience response. Soon the handful of material increases to an armful of material. Then from an armful to a bagful and so on until the whole 5 minute set is 90% to 100% predictably funny.
Jerry Seinfeld, over the years in comedy clubs and then on television, amassed a ton of solid funny jokes that he could then rely on again and again. This is what the nucleus of his hit sitcom was built upon. The success of his television show "made" him the comedy giant he is known to be today.
(Whether you like his comedy or his show or not is besides the point.)
After retiring his television show he decided to go one better and let his "golden" comedy material go into retirement as well. It is at this point that the film, "Comedian" picks up. What does a comedy giant do to recapture the creative hunger he once had? Start at the beginning and write entirely new material that is untried and unproven. A scary and brave thing to do once you've established yourself at the level he had achieved. The film shows his insecurities and creative struggle to NOT rely on any of his gimmicks of the past.
Definitely a must see movie if you are interested in the comedy process and the comic mind. (I should state for the record that the film also follows an up and coming stand up comedian as a subplot, but I didn't care for this guy and this is my blog so he has no part of it. He doesn't ruin the film at least, but I digress.)
Check it out.
"Comedian" Jerry Seinfeld.
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