Can a stand-up comedian's performance be objectively evaluated and ranked? In the recent documentary
I Am Comic [imdb | clips],
Steve Roye demonstrates his product, the
Comedy Evaluator Pro. A "Positive Audience Response" (PAR) score is the percentage of PAR during the time the comedian is on the stage (not taking into account other factors such as venue size, etc.). Of course, this method
stirs controversy about the art vs. science of stand-up.
Ritch Shydner, the protagonist of
I Am Comic, thinks that
booking agents shouldn't rely on PAR scores to choose who gets to be on stage, while the director of
I Am Comic, Jordan Brady, disagrees, seeing
PAR as a way to elevate the quality of stand-up. So, drum roll, please:
Who is the world's funniest comedian? According to PAR score, it's
J.R. Redwater, during this bit at the Pow Wow Comedy Jam. [agree | disagree]
posted by not_on_display
on Aug 19, 2010 -
112 comments
Life as a Comic is series of short videos by Rob Paravonian (famous for The Pachelbel Rant) about what it's like to be a working stand-up comic. It has recently started up again after a long break.
Here's the first episode which is about doing gigs at venues which aren't full-time comedy clubs. Direct links to the rest of the episodes, all of which are in quicktime-format, below the cut.
[more inside]
posted by Kattullus
on Apr 19, 2010 -
14 comments
