Stand-Up Comedy: The Unsung Art Form

People don’t respect comedy.

I don’t mean comedy in a general sense – nearly everyone appreciates a sense of humor, a well-timed meme, or a funny cat video. People also respect Shakespearean comedies and movies like 21 Jump Street. I mean to say that people don’t respect stand-up comedy as a serious profession. They take one look at the half-filled bar and the unassuming figure on the stage then decide, This person isn’t worth my time.

And to me, that’s a goddamn shame. In our current social and political climate, stand-up comedians do the unrewarding work of trudging through the same muck we see in real life and on the news everyday to find the silver lining. They are able to teach you lessons without it being heavy-handed or pedantic. They are able to turn outrage into humor while maintaining a sense of authenticity in a way that no other public figure can. For however long the show is, it’s just the comedian on a platform with a bottle of water and a microphone, ready to address any hecklers, unafraid to make eye contact, and prepared to speak truth.

But don’t take my word for it – the comedy stands up for itself. The trigger warnings for crude, explicit, and/or sexual language goes without saying, but just in case, consider yourself warned. Here are some of my favorite stand-up comedians, starting with…

Donald Glover

Okay, y’all saw this one coming. I’ve written about Donald Glover two times in the past, but I’m not finished and I’m not sorry. Donald is the gift that keeps on giving, unlike other Donalds we might know.

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In this three-minute clip for one of his stand-up acts in NYC, Glover is able to tackle the racial anxieties of dating while black, stereotypes, and WWII without missing a beat. Keen comedic timing and dark humor are just two aspects of the trademark Donald Glover charm, but if you’ve seen Atlanta or Community, you already knew that, didn’t you?

Bo Burnham

Nobody is like Burnham, and not just because he uses a piano on stage – although that is definitely part of his performance. Burnham acts as a different character during his sets, a version of himself that is more impolite, scathing, and awkward than his usual self. This gives him a lot of creative and musical liberty as he oscillates from self-deprecating to egotistic, as seen in the video about where he sings from the perspective of God. My all-time favorite piece by Burnham, however, is this one – please watch until the end:

Besides being 100% spot-on about Pringles, Bo Burham toes the boundary between humor and comedy to create a modern tragicomedy in this masterpiece from his Netflix show, Make Happy. Burnham has been vocal about his struggles with anxiety in the past. His poignant artistic lens perhaps lends to the critically-acclaimed success of his directorial debut, Eighth Grade.

Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah is the King of Impressions. It’s a pretty cool party trick, but it’s even better when Noah immerses his impressions into his narrative-driven stories so that he can embody various characters. If you’ve read his best-selling autobiography Born a Crime, you might also be aware that Noah has led a crazy interesting life – he is a mixed child who grew up in apartheid South Africa, he once jumped from a moving car to avoid death from killers – which adds to his rich storytelling as a comedian. He often explores what it means to be a black immigrant, an in-between identity, and an observant spectator.

Trevor Noah is also the current frontman for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, although to be honest I prefer his stand-up. Sorry Trevor.

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Hasan Minhaj

This is kind of cheating – choosing two Daily Show correspondents in a row as well as choosing a non-traditional stand-up setting – but it’s Hasan Minhaj! The stand-up comedian of White House Correspondents’ Dinner fame!! On that day, he took the gig that nobody wanted and served harsh truths to every press outlet in the room, with a side of piping-hot roast for the President.

I think he definitely deserves the hype for his politically-charged (and hilarious) new show on Netflix, The Patriot Act, which is a lot like if Tony Stark had a degree in political science and his own stand-up gig. This clip about Saudi Arabia gives you a good idea of how engaging Minhaj can be – it’s somewhere between a Crash Course history lesson and what the Colbert Show was. He teaches us so much without having to crack open a single book, like when he outlines the conflict in Yemen in mere minutes. Alchemy, I tell you.

It’s also easy to support Minhaj knowing how real he keeps his act. When he answers his audience in his show’s Q-and-A segment, he breaks the ice organically and has actual conversations with people in the audience. Yet he still takes the opportunity to share his knowledge from his experience as a son of Indian immigrants, as a Muslim, as a father, and as a husband. And knowing his origin story – which you can find out more about through this podcast – he really has come so far from being a 22-year old living in his parents’ house.

At the end of the day, I want to take this moment to thank stand-up comedians for being our unsung heroes in this age of “fake news” and “alternative facts.” I am grateful to these comedians for their humanity and optimism  through the worst of days. I hope that some of these comedians made you laugh, smile, or at the very least, exhale out of your nose.

-Monica