» Traditional comedy
Victoria Nangle finds that, increasingly, what will make you laugh on stage won’t be traditional stand-up
You know what’s great about laughter? It can come from the most unlikely of places. I love a good set-up-and-punch gag as much as the next gal; the carefully crafted joke without an extra word to spare – it’s a work of art. But there is something else that you can find on the comedy circuits which people are either loving or hating, and I have no name for it. It’s just someone – or some people – being funny in a format that just doesn’t fit the mould of what we know.
“The audience has no idea why they’re laughing. It just works”
To start off with, there’s been a rise in comedy sketch groups. From the nationally acclaimed Pappy’s Fun Club, to the meteoric success of Mitchell and Webb, and the local successes of Frankly Robert, there’s a lot of it about – or there is now. Orchestrating an interaction to make people laugh and reconstructing that fourth wall, the regular absence of which usually terrifies those sitting in the front row of a conventional comedy gig, changes the rules.
For one, there’s less terror from the audience that they will be called on to get involved. For another, there’s an affirmation of who this character you see on stage is supposed to be. His mate’s just told you, so you don’t have to spend the first two minutes sussing out if you like the look of them. Sketch comedy will set the scene immediately. It seems odd when a solo character performer comes on and says: “I’m the window cleaner, don’t you know.” Less so when his mate arrives and screams: “Have you cleaned them windows yet?” This sets the scene without a crowbar. Nice.
Of course, there’s also the rise of improvisation groups (for a rundown on most of the groups in Brighton just pop along to the Improvathon Improv Comedy Festival at Komedia this weekend). The Marmite of comedy shows – you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Both sides swear the other’s mental.
However, the most random of random formats comes in the form of the ambush comic. That’s the one who introduces a random quiz suddenly. The one who decides to perform a mime midway through the evening. The one who wears a novelty hat throughout the whole of their performance and doesn’t mention it once. The audience has no idea why they’re laughing – there aren’t the signposts saying ‘laugh here’ that you’d find from a regular comic. It just works. Even more bizarre comical ways are coming to the fore. Character comics are doing very well, musical comedy has always had its fans and slapstick will never die. Keep an open mind and you won’t miss out on any of it.
