In class we focused on timing, style, and presentation. I wanted to take this blog to focus on presentation along with expectations. There is a general consensus of our class that the woman we watched defied their expectations. Margaret Cho was dressed in more casual female clothing during the skit we watched in “Funny Ladies.” She looked good sporting a dress, lipstick, and made-up hair. I have watched her stand-up in the past where she wears jeans, a plaid button-up shirt, and looks sort of trashy. So in turn, it is obvious she has changed her style for the better because the skit we watched in class was funnier than the comedy she performed previous. The delivery is affected by what people expect. The audience expectations are formed from two things. The first being their reputation. A comedian mostly gets their reputation from word of mouth, reviews, or legacy. Secondly, an audience gets a final expectation by their appearance that performance; if a female dresses like a male, I would general expect male-esque jokes. Besides Cho, I have never seen or heard the comedians we watched in class. With Cho, I expected her to have more elegant jokes by her elegant outlook, but on the contrary she crossed several gender boundaries. Similar to Cho, the second female act we watched in class also defied her expectations. This woman was a much more elegantly extreme case than the expectations of Cho. She was a very attractive female, dolled up hair, and a prom dress to boot. My expectations of her and her performance were very wrong. She acted almost immature on stage. Her only comedy was formed off of physical stunts that made her the butt of the joke. It was far from what I expected from a woman dressed as so.
There are people who dress and act the suit. For example, Larry “the cable guy” acts just like the audience might expect. With a southern draw, he talks about guns, women and rednecks. He appears trashy, and talks with a trashy tone. Personally, he is hilarious. He might not appeal to some women because his appearance makes him a “man’s man.” On the other hand, there are comedians who can appropriately cross that boundary. Eddie Izzard is one of those people. He is a transvestite. Without explanation, this gives most of the audience a common gender that we can relate to. If the joke appeals to men as a man, so be it. If the joke appeals to women as a female, everyone is happy.
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Hi Patrick,
ReplyDeleteI hear what you're saying about expectations and appearance of comics. The experience of watching stand up is so based on appearance for me that I can't laugh at or enjoy the acts of people whose appearance isn't pleasing--or at least un-offensive to me. When we watch Ralphie May, I was totally distracted and grossed out my his flopping, ginormous chin and sweaty forehead. With Eddie Murphy, I just couldn't get over how uncomfortable his red leather jumpsuit looked and how much he must be sweating in it and how the clothes must be sticking to him and how bad he probably smelled from it all. I blogged once about Carlin's looking dead and how that ruined his comedy for me. I think it must be really hard for comics to over come the message their bodies give, and while some use it for the benefit of their act, fat jokes would get old with May and Korean jokes get old with Cho, so what do they do with their bodies then?
Patrick, you stupid SOB
ReplyDeleteI too had written about personalities in a previous blog. It can be surprising sometimes to see how a comediens attire conflicts greatly with their brand of comedy. Larry the Cable guy would not be an example of this, but certainly the woman who sang atop the piano, who appeared elegant as you say, actually came off as a buffoon. This contradiction can add the much needed element of surprise to an act, but can be a distraction. As was the case for me with the female comediene whose shirt resembled a disco ball.