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On Watching Jerry Seinfeld in Comedian
I'm stoked for the rest of the series! In looking at I Am Comic, please touch on the appearance of the Comedy Evaluator Pro. I am aware that it was only included to create a sense of (not the most necessary)dramatic tension, but for me it raises a whole slew of serious questions about the old craft/art argument, and the relationship between comedy and epistemology.
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On Yeah, Why Don't Comedies Win More Oscars?
There are a good number of questions here, not the least of which is how we want comedy to be evaluated? Do we want this group of judges to evaluate comedy? What does their opinion mean to the art of comedy? As a comedy fan I don't give much respect to any of the award shows because, as the Gervais incident a few years ago demonstrates, these award shows don't really care about good comedy. That's why a truer form of the comedy award show is the roast. There's no trophy to show how far you've come. There's no facade of everlasting notoriety. And while there is a speech of thanks and appreciation, it only comes after the progression of being mocked. Comedy applied to the very kernel of the award show leads not to the mark of excellence, but in the recognition that you've become large enough to have your bubble burst.
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On Your Comedy Is So Much Cooler Than Mine
I think this post is well played. Comedy snobs, in my experience are often more disparate than other kinds of culture snobs, mostly because "high comedy" is considered an oxymoron by a number of people. But in the cultural rise to power that comedy nerds achieve, we must not forget that our limited sensibilities are just as situated within our own politics of cool as the dubstep junkies that authentically squeal about "the drop". A nice addendum to this post would be the interviews on a number of podcasts that talk about the balance between touring and playing the alt scene(WTF is the first that comes to mind, but many of the podcasts today present this kind of conversation).
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On This Week in Comedy Podcasts
The Best Part of Analyze Phish: Scott cuts off the song only seconds into it, only to restart the song and then cut it off again! Scott's constant ridicule for each successive track empowers us all.
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On Talking to Patton Oswalt About His New Standup Album, Writing, and Comedy Darwinism
I agree with RollSouth. While we don't know the context of the interview, Phil's interview questions could really improve from some of the advice given on the earwolf challenge. Interviewing a comedian can be difficult stuff, but in an environment where comedy nerds already have a decent amount access to the history/identity of the performers, journalistic approaches to comedy must find new ways to give us an "inside" perspective of comedy.
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Regardless of my perspective I love the piece because of the arguments it has inspired in this comment thread. There is already a vexed relationship between comedy and criticism, and the technological acceleration of messages, comic or otherwise, will only serve to highlight the conflation between punctum and punchline in the future. Great comments everyone! (And also @Chranders I was thinking about the same point in Satiristas! To further support that idea I would also point to Conan O'Brien's answers on 54-55 as a resistance to thinking of comedy through a kind of satirical imperative where criticism and comedy are seen as the same thing. Laughter is the only comic imperative, and I think the White quote does well enough to prove that, as you stated) (In other words @Charanders, I am the kind of tool that likes these discussions)