Stand Up
My wife loves comedy. Her enjoyment includes sketch comedy shows like Saturday Night Live, improv and stand up comics, both in person and via specials.
For whatever reason, I don't particularly enjoy any of these things. Oh, I watched SNL in junior high like everyone else, and have been to an improv show or two, but neither is something I'd go out of my way to do on my own. My parents had a couple of Bill Cosby records, which I listened to occasionally as a kid. Beyond that, I've seen a grand total of three stand up comedians in my life, none of whom was particularly funny. Why, yes, I will list them out there!
1. One year when I was in college, Norm Macdonald did a show at Strosacker Auditorium. I don't know the exact year as my lists were still pretty nascent back at the time, but I definitely hadn't graduated yet, so I'd guess it was somewhere in 1999-2000.
Norm was having a very off night. It's unclear to me if he was trying new material that wasn't working, was not putting in effort for the not terribly discerning college gig, or was working at some meta level that I just didn't get. He seemed to be pretty drunk, and most of his comments that I remember were him telling vaguely homophobic jokes that weren't funny. Let me put it this way: when Ralph Nader ran for president in 2000, he spoke at CWRU, and I went to hear him. He was a lot funnier than Norm MacDonald, and he wasn't trying to tell any jokes.
2. Early in my career at my current employer, a bunch of us went to see Lewis Black at the Improv in Cleveland. This was back in 2002, roughly in the September/October time frame based on my lists. Two other comedians who I don't recall at all named Scott Henry and Paul M. opened.
Black did better than Macdonald did, but I got the distinct impression that most of his material was still under construction. He had a rant about candy corns which is basically like every rant you've ever heard about candy corns, and not much else I laughed at, let alone remembered. Ultimately, this was more memorable because it was one of the first major outings I had with coworkers. Dan and Lisa, Sam and his then wife, Nora and her friend Amy (who later worked with us as well), Justin and Sarah, Eli and I think Tim were all there, and probably some other people from my job as well.
3. The last comedian I saw was one I actually saw on my job's dime. For many years, extra overtime was available by accompanying the training classes that came to Cleveland to learn to use our product out on Wednesday nights. This usually involved dinner out and some cultural event, all on the clock and covered by the company. Typically the cultural event was the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but one night it was a comedy show at Pickwick and Frolic. I can't find it on my lists, so I don't I know the names of the three comedians who performed. I do remember that my coworker Dave happened to be able to see me from his seat during the show, and he counted that I laughed once and smiled twice during the three comedians. Apparently the one laugh was when a comedian noted that the Indians played nearby, and asked why a team called the Indians would play a cavalry call to fire up its fans. That was it. Dave left the company in 2007 or so, so it was before that.
And that's my total experience with live standup comedy. It does not include seeing Eric Idle, which was more of a musical experience.
I don't even particularly enjoy watching stand up comedy specials. Weirdly, I do enjoy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which is about a Jewish female comedian in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, so apparently I enjoy extremely heavily scripted fake standup, at least in that specific milieu. I can't explain that.
For whatever reason, I don't particularly enjoy any of these things. Oh, I watched SNL in junior high like everyone else, and have been to an improv show or two, but neither is something I'd go out of my way to do on my own. My parents had a couple of Bill Cosby records, which I listened to occasionally as a kid. Beyond that, I've seen a grand total of three stand up comedians in my life, none of whom was particularly funny. Why, yes, I will list them out there!
1. One year when I was in college, Norm Macdonald did a show at Strosacker Auditorium. I don't know the exact year as my lists were still pretty nascent back at the time, but I definitely hadn't graduated yet, so I'd guess it was somewhere in 1999-2000.
Norm was having a very off night. It's unclear to me if he was trying new material that wasn't working, was not putting in effort for the not terribly discerning college gig, or was working at some meta level that I just didn't get. He seemed to be pretty drunk, and most of his comments that I remember were him telling vaguely homophobic jokes that weren't funny. Let me put it this way: when Ralph Nader ran for president in 2000, he spoke at CWRU, and I went to hear him. He was a lot funnier than Norm MacDonald, and he wasn't trying to tell any jokes.
2. Early in my career at my current employer, a bunch of us went to see Lewis Black at the Improv in Cleveland. This was back in 2002, roughly in the September/October time frame based on my lists. Two other comedians who I don't recall at all named Scott Henry and Paul M. opened.
Black did better than Macdonald did, but I got the distinct impression that most of his material was still under construction. He had a rant about candy corns which is basically like every rant you've ever heard about candy corns, and not much else I laughed at, let alone remembered. Ultimately, this was more memorable because it was one of the first major outings I had with coworkers. Dan and Lisa, Sam and his then wife, Nora and her friend Amy (who later worked with us as well), Justin and Sarah, Eli and I think Tim were all there, and probably some other people from my job as well.
3. The last comedian I saw was one I actually saw on my job's dime. For many years, extra overtime was available by accompanying the training classes that came to Cleveland to learn to use our product out on Wednesday nights. This usually involved dinner out and some cultural event, all on the clock and covered by the company. Typically the cultural event was the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but one night it was a comedy show at Pickwick and Frolic. I can't find it on my lists, so I don't I know the names of the three comedians who performed. I do remember that my coworker Dave happened to be able to see me from his seat during the show, and he counted that I laughed once and smiled twice during the three comedians. Apparently the one laugh was when a comedian noted that the Indians played nearby, and asked why a team called the Indians would play a cavalry call to fire up its fans. That was it. Dave left the company in 2007 or so, so it was before that.
And that's my total experience with live standup comedy. It does not include seeing Eric Idle, which was more of a musical experience.
I don't even particularly enjoy watching stand up comedy specials. Weirdly, I do enjoy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which is about a Jewish female comedian in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, so apparently I enjoy extremely heavily scripted fake standup, at least in that specific milieu. I can't explain that.