This weekend, two friends from the STL came in town for the TBS Just for Laughs comedy fest. Thankfully the boys invited me to shows on Friday and Saturday night. I learned the following:
1) Just because you can make people laugh, doesn’t mean you would be good at stand-up and/or improv. I like to consider myself someone who’s witty and quirky and all around hilarious, but after watching these shows and groups and people taking the stage, I could never in a million years do that. Scripted stuff, I could probably handle, but stand-up? No way.
2) There are a lot of Jewish stand-up comedians. At the Best of Fest on Friday, every other person who took the stage seemed to be Jewish. Maybe this is now a requirement in order to be funny these days.
3) Somethings still go over your head. I thought I was pretty with it on most of the jokes, but 45% of the skits on Saturday night totally went over my head and I was utterly confused.
4) Falling is still funny. But nearly falling is even funnier. Sad on Vacation (the group where my friends knew a guy) performed a skit with a guy on roller blades who just did insane tap dancing on the stage. You just sat there waiting for him to fall (he never did) and you were in hysterics watching him flail around the stage.
Highly recommend attending some type of underground comedy show in your area. Maggie, Brian and I went to one about a month ago that was free and while some of the acts weren’t that great, there were some stellar ones. It’s pretty comical (and inspiring) to see these people take everyday situations and make them a punch line. Needless to say, I’m more aware when I’m walking around. There’s comedic relief everywhere you look.
“But everything ends up so hilarious”
-Uncle Albert
Hanna (Non)Tana 