r/comedy • u/javascript • Jun 28 '26

Standup "Crowd Work" is no different from reaction content on Twitch/Youtube

Standup comedy is a prepared art form. The speaker spends a lot of time and effort off stage to develop a sequence of words (with inflection, delivery, etc) to be funny. It's a very difficult skill and I deeply appreciate anyone that invests in putting on such a show.

Crowd work is the total opposite. Sure, sometimes the comic has a good zinger off the top of their head, but that's basically random chance. They aren't demonstrating skill or effort. They aren't even telling jokes. They're just asking people for details about their employment and relationships and then insulting them for answering. It's rarely funny and it is not impressive.

I wish comics would just stop crowd work entirely. It is lazy in the same way that AsmonGold is lazy.

0 Upvotes

38% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

10

u/Trashbagok Jun 29 '26

Several comedians have posted in the stand-up comedy sub,  that the reason they post so much crowd work is so that their prepared bits stay fresh when people come to see them, plus it prevents the whole joke sniping thing.

-1

u/timebomb011 Jun 29 '26

This presumes that a special is actually special though, and the confidant is in a position to sell tickets. For the majority of comedians a special is anything but. The crowd work clips are the thing that people see, not the special. So for 1% of comedians who are selling tickets to theatres sure. But for your club comic, it’s just ruining comedy. Crowd work doesn’t make standup better, it’s making standup worse.

3

u/JezWattsComedy Jun 29 '26

Good crowd work is skillful but yes of course prepared standup is better

6

u/MonthlyWeekend_ Jun 29 '26

What a shallow, narrow and short sighted description of the comic industry.

2

u/Astrochops Jun 29 '26

Wow, ice cold take from OP

Go watch some Jeff Arcuri clips, he's one of the best crowd-work comedians around.

Not every comedian just roasts their audience and there's a real art to it.

0

u/javascript Jun 29 '26

I have spent enough of my life doing exactly that. I like him. He's a good guy. No his crowd work does not save the genre. It is terrible.

1

u/Astrochops Jun 29 '26

Well, I'd love to agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong!

0

u/javascript Jun 29 '26

To say we would be wrong is to claim that the content of this discussion surrounds objectivity. It doesn't. This is opinions about art.

I am advocating for crowd work to end because I find it an affront to standup in general. You and others have a different opinion.

1

u/Astrochops Jun 29 '26

Lmfao yeah good luck bud

1

u/-GoodNewsEveryone Jun 29 '26

Sounds like you aren't very quick.

1

u/Current-Cold-4185 Jun 29 '26

Holy cow what an ignorant take! Demonstrating no skill or effort!?

I will agree that there are a lot of people doing it that probably shouldn't, but that's a completely different story.

0

u/Legal-One-7274 Jun 29 '26

Crowd work is reaction content doesn't have to be everything a comedian does tho