Stand-up: Whether it's in a club during amateur night, or on an HBO special, this is one of the most accessible forms of comedy. It consists of one person doing a comedic monologue about various topics. Some have specific specialities, others don't. As well, stand-up is abstract, and any other comedy sub-genre can be applied to it. But there is still the standard traditional stand-up comedy which is the best if you want to get laughs from a crowd.
Examples of Traditional Stand-up Comedy Practitioners:
George Carlin
Jerry Seinfeld
And many more.
Rant: Rants can be put into any stand-up act, and are often disguised as such. Rants are different than stand-up because they are monologue discussing the annoyance or dislike towards a relatable subject, whereas stand-up consists of more than that. Rants can be hard to do. You cannot come off as angry, because it is unsettling, and it will look to the audience like you're some angry, hate-spewing performer. Toss in some jokes, have charisma, and make it relatable, though, and you're golden. Rants can cover anything from politics to everyday subjects.
Behold, the ultimate ranter, Dennis Miller.
Satire: Satire is as old as the Greeks, who would often satirize current events into their comedies, creating smart, political humor--that is until the Spartans took over Athens. Satire has since been recovered and evolved into a more biting, yet entertaining genre of comedy. Satire can be in the form of whole plays and movies, allegories, books, parodies, and sketches. Satire is still a popular modern comedy form, and continues to evolve as new satirical comedians produce their work.
Notable Modern Satirists.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park
An big chunk of SNL
Surrealism and Absurdism: I like to put these both together, because the absurd can often be surreal and the surreal can often be absurd. This genre is an acquired taste, and, now I hate to sound like an elitist, this usually appeals to either intellectuals, non-linear thinkers, and people with open-minds. If a person who doesn't truly "get it" finds it funny, it's usually for a superficial reason. For example, if one watches "The Ministry of Silly Walks Sketch" and doesn't truly understand surrealist comedy, they would laugh because "that man is walking funny." There is not a punch-line, there is no shtick, there is no pattern. It is ambiguous, abstract, but freakin hilarious. It involves normal people or abnormal people in absurd, surreal situations, or a world in which the surrealist twist is the established norm, although since there is no pattern in surrealism, there can be many variations to it. Keep in mind, though, this cannot be confused with OMG RANDOM humor, that people might confuse it with (usually these people are kids, though, but some might have youtube accounts, and upload it, and other kids would find them hilarious and brutally chew out people who don't). Good surrealism has a kernel of truth in it, and is often thickly-veiled satire. One who sees the truth hidden within it truly understands surrealism.
Notable Surrealists/Absurdists:
Monty Python
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim.
People who are NOT surrealist and absurdists, and aren't even funny.
Fred. Fred ain't funny.
Alternative Comedy-That person is doing stand-up, but he's not doing it in a conventional way, he's not making observations, there are no punchlines. Welcome to alternative comedy, that arrived in the during the British punk movement, with an anti-establishment attitude. It crossed to America in the 1990s in response to the often non-progressive attitude in many stand-up acts. It's hard to exactly describe it, but the only way I can is to say what it's not. It's not done in a conventional form. There are no punchlines. It's not observational. It's not neutral. It isn't following rules. It isn't just a guy and a microphone. Alternative comedy can also encompass character company. Sometimes, alt-com can uses stuff no usually used in a stand-up act, such as a piano, pictures, drawings, songs, people acting in the background.
The best example of alternative comedy that has made it to the mainstream, but still hasn't sold it's soul are:
Demitri Martin
Zach Galifianakis
The Mighty Boosh
Anti-Comedy: No, it isn't tragedy. This is a relatively new phrase. It's comedy without being presented in comedy--in a way, it's alternative comedy, but it's not referring to itself as comedy. It will confuse the audience, but it doesn't thrive on messing with their heads. Like regular comedy practitioners, they want people to laugh and enjoy themselves, but they want them audience to think as well. The anti-comics usually play it straight, and never break face. On TV-shows that fall into this genre, one might crack a joke, usually a bad one, to which no one would laugh, or there would be a fake or awkward laugh. TV shows that are anti-comedy, might confuse viewers to the point of thinking its an actual documentary, drama, etc, and are victim to low ratings, but the true anti-comedians are able to pull it off, and causing their audience to laugh. Anti-comedy usually requires character comedy to pull it off. I will be exploring anti-comedy a lot as it is my favorite genre.
Andy Kaufman, the founder of anti-comedy--whether he wanted to or not.
Best examples of anti-comedy:
God's Pottery
Look Around You
Even The Office
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