IIRC when Rock tries out material, he deliberately speaks in a dull monotone. He's such a great performer that if he uses his normal standup instincts, he can get laughs off of weak material.
As a counterpoint, I'll point you to Chris Rock's opening monologue on SNL last month, wherein he makes 9/11 jokes. Famous comedian, Network TV, IN NYC...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYZLKqGhSZs
It got some comments but there was no lasting controversy about it as far as I'm concerned.
Back in the day, I used to frequent Comedy Cellar and I was there multiple times when Chris Rock was trying out his material in order to decide which jokes he would later use with his larger audiences.
Let's say we're talking about Chris Rock. There's a difference between him cracking jokes on a public stage and him directing these same sorts of jokes to a potential hire in a private conversation.
If you get a chance, check out "Talking Funny", a very nerdy but informative DVD of conversations between Jerry Seinfeld, Louis CK, Chris Rock, and Ricky Gervais. In it they discuss this very subject.
Seinfeld says his method is to repeat material for years before throwing it out. Chris Rock sees his comedy specials schedule as the equivalent of an album ("like Prince"), so every tour he does completely new material. Gervais lands in the middle - enough freshness to keep things interesting but also enough old stuff to keep the crowds happy. Louis CK is constantly changing his act - if I remember correctly he says he rarely keeps a joke for more than a few shows.
I would say that comedians have always been among the top professional A/B testers (long before the buzz around A/B testing). Their entire professional success or failure depends on constant small and large adjustments to their routines based on testing and feedback. And when it comes to being funny and staying funny, comedy is brutal and completely unforgiving.
Here's a great 50 minute segment, with Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Ricky Gervais and Louis CK, in which they discuss various aspects of their material and how they work with it (adding / discarding / making adjustments and so on):
In short, there is nothing wrong with the comedy of, say, Chris Rock, but it would probably not be a good fit for a professional working environment. Even if outside of that working environment every single person there would be laughing along with his vulgar set.
What these guys did can be both a poor choice and not wrong.
Oh, I was thinking of Chris Rock too, but his stand up album "Roll with the New", and his spiel about commitment vs "new women" (not the word he uses, obvs). https://youtu.be/VJpKAk4E5_k?t=130
I believe that. Watching his specials is like watching someone who’s trying really hard to be funny and occasionally brute forces a laugh. He doesn’t come across as a naturally funny person like some other comics do.
I like Chris Rock, I like it that he is frank and forthcoming and always thinks a lot about what he says, whatever he says is logical and makes sense, sometimes you get inspired by watching his shows, especially with all the crowd !
Try Bigger and Blacker and Bring the Pain, two of the funniest shows I have ever seen !
Bunch of his jokes has the audience laugh, then pause, then laugh even louder due to the layers within one joke. He was really great. (Though there are some live recordings where he bombs really bad with the same jokes. Drugs i suppose.)
I've noticed a pattern in comedians who have a funny set but never make it big. They have a shtick that works, lean into it, then end up using it as a crutch.
He certainly does practice a lot. He still talks about bombing on stage in his newest standup. One of my favorite bits is how he talks about Michael Richards imploding on stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kth0UOU5a_M
> don't remember anyone else who's resulting laughs seemed so inadvertent or by chance, like he was ill-prepared or crazy, or both
None of it was by accident: He was really good at comedy and was getting exactly the laughs when/where he expected them. Coming off as ill-prepared was a shtick.
Delivery is the crux of a lot of comedians. If they have good delivery they can get away with saying a lot of unfunny, even mean repulsive things, and have the audience laugh along with them
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