Reflections on "The Hands Bit"

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on July 30th, 2006

We haven’t seen a comic do the “hands bit” in quite some time– the one where the comic invites someone onstage, has him/her thread his arms through the comic’s armpits while the comic tells a simple story and the audience member provides all the gestures. (There are variations– the comic threads his hands through the audience member’s pits and provides the gestures– you get the idea.)

We would never tell a comic not to do the hands bit. (But what about that handful of comics who claim to have written the hands bit? What’s going on there? Just last week, someone told us that they encountered a comic who claimed to have originated the hands bit. We hate to tell ya, the hands bit was invented some time between fire and the wheel… check that– the hands bit is so old, it was originally “the flippers bit.” And, some biologists will tell you that they’ve stumbled upon fossils containing single-celled creatures who appear to be inserting their cilia through another cell’s contractile vacuole, much to the delight of the other single-celled creatures in the “audience.”)

We have a suggestion for an up and coming festival hungry for unique programming: The Hands Bit Showdown! Comics compete to do the ultimate hands bit! Prizes will be awarded in several sub-categories: Best Gay Joke (the limp-wrist thing!), Best Crotch Joke (getting the audience member to grab the comic’s package!), Best Obscene Gesture Joke (this is self-explanatory). The grand prize could be a development deal with the History Channel.

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