On repeatedly being asked to tell people jokes on demand

People do ask you to tell jokes when you are a comedian. They are either dumb or hostile. Or dumb and hostile. I usually just assume they mean well but are dumb. But when you tell them a joke they don't laugh which is infuriating.

Tags:

Related posts tagged 'Relationship with fans'

More

Related posts tagged 'Relationship with fans'

People say to me "I'm so-and-so and you're not!" as opposed to me saying "I'm Chevy Chase and you're not" but that was from SNL... And they also liked "NANANANANANANANA!" which is out of CADDYSHACK.
Redditor: I have a really shitty factory job, chronic depression, and I just moved back in with my parents because student loan debt has me broke. What you (and Scott, and PFT, and Sean & Hayes) do genuinely improves my life. Thank you! Lauren: I'm so sorry you're going through all of that. It means a lot that we can brighten your day. That's my favorite type of compliment to receive. I really hope the shows can make someone feel better or forget about their problems, so that's very touching.
I think there's something about comedians that is different than actors or writers. Since with stand-up there is no fourth wall, it's not like you're watching a play where you're watching in on this reality; there is an approachable side to comedians, and comedians are talking to the audience. Therefore, they're talking to people, so people feel like there is an accessibility there. That being said, yeah there's been plenty of weird and peculiar things. There's probably not a day that doesn't pass where someone doesn't come up to me and say, "Hot pockets!" thinking that that will be the highlight of my day, or that maybe they're the first person to do it. But it doesn't really bother me. The...
Well there will people who think I'm funny, but there will be people who say, "I was on meds and you helped me," or "I understand what you're going through with your sister." We broke that wall down so we could explore the process. So I love e-mails from people who have the same problems I've had, from having a manic episode to having family and friends come down on them. All that stuff. That makes me feel good and makes me feel like the show is worthwhile. And I want it to be funny.
I get it a lot? I get it a lot with sex stuff. I've had like, you know, taking my kids to school and other kids' moms tell me their favorite positions and stuff, just telling me very inappropriate sex things. It can be a little like "Whoaaaa, okay."
When someone comes up w crazy eyes and says something like, "can I have a picture- my husband has cancer." And I'm like "well okay... AS LONG AS HE HAS CANCER I guess I will" -- just keep it short and be cool, fool.
It's best to say "How would I like to be approached by someone?" If you're eating dinner with a gf/bf or in the middle of something, it can be awkward to get interrupted. But if your standing alone in a bookstore or waiting in line for a coffee, totally fine. Pics can be weird bc if people see you do one, then they all ask for them. Sometimes the weirdos ruin it for the others.
Everybody's really nice to me. And there's been so many times when a stranger has suddenly said "holy shit it's Dan Harmon" or "by the way I didn't want to freak you out earlier but I'm a big fan of your work" that I now get to assume, just as a mental exercise, that at least one person in any room I enter is a fan, which makes me feel confident and also puts me on my best behavior because this theoretical "fan" is watching and I don't want them to think I'm a bad person. So on one hand, achieving notoriety is definitely surreal in that it's nothing like reality, but on the other hand, all it really does is make reality the way reality should be for every single individual. And I've been kin...
i'm still not really used to it, so I by accident will scream or gasp a lot when people call my name or touch me on the street. yesterday on the way home, a couple touched my shoulder to get my attention to tell me they were fans, and i yelled out "aaah!" and the woman dropped her coffee. i scared the shit out of them.
I think I'm very mindful of when people come to one of my shows, that I want them leaving with the thought that not only they enjoyed the show, but that they're gonna want to come back, when I come back in like two years or whatever. And part of that is, with stand-up comedy, there's this unspoken agreement that you're gonna have new material. So part of that is new, meaning it isn't in a special, but the complaint? Probably that I'm too sexy. That it's visually too distracting from the stand up, because often I'm just wearing boy shorts, and nothing else. I don't know, I don't know if there's a complaint. I think I space it out where I won't go back to a market unless I have at least 80% n...

Related posts tagged 'Comedy pet peeves'

More

Related posts tagged 'Comedy pet peeves'

When comedians talk to an audience member and try to make them look dumb when they aren't. Example Comedian: Where are you from? person: Queens. Comedian: What do you do there? person: I live there. comedian: I mean what is your JOB you fucking asshole??? person: (politely to his seat mate as everyone laughs at him) but I work in manhattan.
It's slightly annoying. I've been high on camera ONCE in my entire career and it didn't work out well at all. besides that, the most I've had before being on TV is one or two drinks. It's weird when people just ASSUME that I'm high because I'm not yelling. I've never been high on Eric Andre show. It was just one episode of Broad City where I was pretty stoned. I kept fucking my lines up. If you've seen me on the road doing stand up, I've never been high. I've done stand up high a couple times in NYC and that's it.
I always hate seeing performers going out and saying things like ‘I would like to talk seriously about the current political situation.’ Fuck that. I came here for the jokes, and that’s hopefully why people come to see me, as well.
That whole punching-down thing — I absolutely cannot stand people who say that. “Punch up. Punch up.” That has got to be the most boring thing you could ever do onstage. It’s yelling into an echo chamber. What’s so fucking funny to me is that what’s really going on is never brought up. Who donates to the president and who pays for the advertising on all these big news networks? That’s shit people should be upset about. But instead, if you do a fucking feminist joke in a strip mall you make the news. So that’s just a load of shit. Smarmy people who aren’t funny say that. Comedy is a pastime. The pastime is making fun of something you’re not supposed to make fun of because that gives you a me...