NOT ALL PROGRESS IS GOOD

There is an entirely new industry that is popped up in live comedy. Videographers now hire themselves out to comedy clubs or on retainer with a comedian on road gigs in order to film and cut clips of comedians, doing crowd work to post on Instagram, YouTube and Tic Toc.

Videographers who exclusively serve a niche of comedians their clips of their heckler battles, their audience interactions and improvisational “crowd work,” for the purposes of posting these bite-size moments on social media.

I see several of these clips every day, and they should serve as a reminder to people that NOT all progress is good. 

People already don’t like to sit in the front row many times. 

And don’t get me wrong, crowd work done well is one of my favorite kinds of comedy when it occurs naturally and organically.  

The live experience is magical because the audience feels like they got to see something no one else who wasn’t there got to see. 

When crowd work is done well, it’s a magical feeling for the performer and the audience to tap into the the vibe of the room together, knowing it’s a unique experience.

The performer demonstrates legit wit and spontaneity for no reason other than delivering a damn good show. 

Now I see some of these 30-second “crowd work” clips with subtitles on social media video reels and I can’t tell if it’s stand-up comedy or a day in the life a census worker. 

And the videographers and comedy clubs now have created a monetary incentive encouraging these “off the cuff” moments that can generate hundreds of thousands or millions of views, without much regard to the QUALITY of the content. 

Rule #1. Invest in QUALITY, not CELEBRITY. 

Furthermore, the clips feel contrived when they are cut and spliced and subtitled.  When these moments occur naturally in the moment of the show, captured by a forbidden camera in the back of the room or the club surveillance system, I’m more intrigued.