Ch. 2 – Opener

Whether its a bet, dare, or last ditch effort to prove something to themselves, many people get into comedy for asinine reasons. Whatever yours is, it’s important to be aware of why people chose to pursue this bizarre station. Is it fame? Money? Friends? Clout? Respect? Inclusion? Well all those pretty much stem from on thing… validation.  

Humans have a need for validation and a ton of people use comedy as a source for that both on and off stage. This can be a bad thing for an aspiring comedian. Sure its better than cutting for attention or other self destructive behaviors but performance is not a surrogate for therapy. Comedy is meant to be consumed by the audience, not the performers. When someone takes the stage to validate their own thoughts, feelings, or opinions, they risk alienating the audience. Sure, if what they say resonates with most of the audience it can still get a laugh and achieve the same purpose of releasing tension, but comedians doing comedy solely to validate themselves or because its “cheaper than therapy” usually end up becoming too emotionally dependent on that validation and that confines them to a cage of fear, doubt, and anxiety at the bottom of the comedy spectrum. The more a comic thinks about the politics and the people within comedy and not their comedy itself, the lower they slide down the spectrum. More on that later.