How others view us

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on June 4th, 2009

It is instructive to occasionally remind ourselves how others perceive us, how non-comedians view what we do. This column, from a northern New England news service website, is authored by Shawn P. Sullivan and it contains his musings on the nature of standup on the occasion of seeing Seinfeld perform at a theater in Maine.

I paused for a moment because when I looked at the stage and saw the microphone I realized that’s all that was there.

A person giving a speech or a lecture likely has a podium. A singer has a band and instruments. An actor has props and a set, and he can hide behind a role, makeup and a costume.

A comedian, though? He’s got that microphone, and that’s it. He’s got no place to hide — especially since he’s playing himself.

Imagine the confidence it must take to get up in front of people and try to make them laugh for 90 minutes straight. That’s what I thought when I saw the microphone. I got those butterflies in much the same way you get them when you imagine what it would be like to skydive or bungee-jump.

Sullivan vacillates between one who is mystified by standup and one who is an expert on standup, saying that bad comics– “gimmicky and insecure ones who choose easy targets, rip off material and drop one F-bomb too many — are to be avoided.” Huh? Gimmicky? Insecure? Rip off material? How many “F-bombs” is too many? Perhaps this imaginary “bad comic” is actually a good comic, he’s just not your cup of tee-hee. There are, when all is said and done, precious few objectively “bad comics.” As Gary Muledeer (a very good comic) famously said, quoting his grandfather, “If we all liked the same thing, everybody’d be after your grandmother.”

Later in the piece, he mentions how “My friend Steve down in Massachusetts is a professional comedian,” but he never mentions Steve’s last name! C’mon! He’s a comedian! He could use the ink! (Is it Sweeney? Could be.) What? Are you afraid you’d violate his privacy by mentioning his last name? Sheesh!

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