[bambax]

Just yesterday night I went to a comedy club in Paris that does standup comedy in English. It was an "improv special" where each comic has to improvise jokes based on random prompts displayed on a screen with a projector.

T.J. Miller, of Silicon Valley fame, does it successfully in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxD6S-nEL_I

But yesterday, most comics bombed badly; out of 8, just one was actually good, and one passable; the others were terrible. But it's an incredibly difficult exercise, so much so that one has to wonder why you would put yourself through this.

It's certainly true that comedy is about writing and rehearsal and being analytical and having a fun look at the world; but it's also about quick wit, especially if one wants to interact with the audience.

[toyg]

/bitch-mode on

They do this in Paris precisely because they bomb - if they were any good, they'd be making money in an actual English-speaking country...

/bitch-mode off

[bombcar]

It's like the restaurants where if you eat some massive 12 egg omelette you don't pay and you get your name on the wall - you go in knowing you'll likely fail; but if you win, you've won big.