Standing up

I have always been a fan of stand-up comedy and have recently started to put together an act of my own. I researched many comedians whilst looking for influence and guidance. These are a few American comedians that really stood out and that I feel people should know here in Europe.

Patton Oswalt

Patton has been doing stand up since the late eighties and has become,in recent years, one of the most prominent comedians on the American scene. You might know him from his role as Spence on "King of Queens", he acts in a small parts on several other TV shows such as Dollhouse, Caprica and Flight of the conchords. He has earned a lot of acclaim simply by being in touch with his audience. Watching his performances, you discover that his material can be very esoteric: he makes precise references to Star wars, H.P Lovecraft, Tom waits and Galaga just to name a few. This is part of his appeal, his audience appreciates these references, it makes them feel special. Patton demonstrates that as a stand up comedian it is important that you understand your audience. It is a fundamental element, it is much easier to win over a crowd if they feel like your talking directly to them about things that they like. It makes the act more personal and intimate. Patton is known for being very articulate and verbose, he is a critic on art and culture and refers to History,literature and science in his routine. This gives him the image of being an intellectual and I think his audience appreciates that blend of sophisticated auto didact and crude comic. Here's one of Oswalt's best anecdotes.



David Cross

Best known for his role as Tobias Fumke on "Arrested Development", this comedian is known for his ultra-sarcasm(Cross on the catholic church). His best work is probably the album "Shut up you fucking baby" was released in 2002. On this album, there are some of his best bits("Shaving the Pope's Pussy","Moica Lewinsky and the three bears") but he is also suprisingly poignant. As the album was released shortly after September 11th, a lot of comedians stopped touring and stopped releasing albums out of respect and out of the fact that people didn't want to laugh. David Cross shows how stand up can be revitalizing and therapeutic, he deals with the terrorist attack and its consequences delicately and tastefully. He also created the sketch show "Mr.Show" with Bob Odenkirk, that ran from 1995 until 1998 on Fox. The programme featured weird and wonderful sketches, sketches that demand patience and pranks that the hosts play on the audience. The Audition sketch demonstrates the show's sense of humour.




Zach Galifiankis
Zach Galifianakis is best known for his performance in "The Hangover" but he is a lot funnier and more bizarre in his stand up routine. In most of his shows he is usually placed behind his piano, playing some soft, beautiful music which seems quite odd once he starts cracking his one liners(Zach live at the Purple Onion).His style is based on one liners which is influenced by the stand up of the 50s and 60s but he adapts it to today's world and delivers the jokes with a sincerety which makes them even more unusual. his routine also feature an array of characters that he has created and he normally ends it with a musical piece where his jokes are all written on a white board(here's Zach as Annie)
He also had his own show and writes sketches for other shows with "Tim and Eric"(here's the commercial they made for a brand of vodka)