Stand-ups talk a lot about “status”: whether a comic positions themselves above the audience, looking down—perhaps derisively, certainly without neediness—or whether instead their weakness, or anxiety, or ineptitude is the object of amusement.
Oh my God! A fellow philosopher who also loves Standup comedy? That is brilliant! I'm curious to know if you know of others in this tiny Venn diagram intersection, and also those who are actual standup comedians! And where can I watch your material, Kieran?
I'm not sure any of them perform stand-up, except informally, when giving talks (my colleague Steve Yablo is frequently hilarious in this format).
There are also stand-ups who do philosophical material: Alex Farrow, Myq Kaplan, and Robert Newman come to mind; Sindhu Vee did grad work in philosophy.
On my material: I have a lot of audio, of varying quality, but not much video and some of it isn't fit for public consumption. I'll try to find something I can edit and post later this year!
This is one of the most unexpected and fun things I've ever read! So you really must in orpirate being an MIT professor into your comedy, I think. You might want to target a very nerdy audience though. Maybe xkcd readers?!
I love xkcd! The challenge of doing stand-up is that the crowd at an open mic or compilation show is pretty random. It takes a long time into a comic's career, and a fair bit of success, before they're able to perform for audiences tailored to them. You have to play the hand you're dealt. To put it too simplistically: success in short-form stand-up turns on the art of getting random people to like you, or be on your side, in the first two minutes of a set.
Oh my God! A fellow philosopher who also loves Standup comedy? That is brilliant! I'm curious to know if you know of others in this tiny Venn diagram intersection, and also those who are actual standup comedians! And where can I watch your material, Kieran?
Great to meet you! There are a bunch of philosophers who love stand-up comedy, and they sometimes write about it:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15406245/2020/78/4
I'm not sure any of them perform stand-up, except informally, when giving talks (my colleague Steve Yablo is frequently hilarious in this format).
There are also stand-ups who do philosophical material: Alex Farrow, Myq Kaplan, and Robert Newman come to mind; Sindhu Vee did grad work in philosophy.
On my material: I have a lot of audio, of varying quality, but not much video and some of it isn't fit for public consumption. I'll try to find something I can edit and post later this year!
Interesting on many levels. From many standpoints? :) Having spent some time in Cambridge, that MIT needed humor was hilarious. Well done!
This is one of the most unexpected and fun things I've ever read! So you really must in orpirate being an MIT professor into your comedy, I think. You might want to target a very nerdy audience though. Maybe xkcd readers?!
*incorporate
I love xkcd! The challenge of doing stand-up is that the crowd at an open mic or compilation show is pretty random. It takes a long time into a comic's career, and a fair bit of success, before they're able to perform for audiences tailored to them. You have to play the hand you're dealt. To put it too simplistically: success in short-form stand-up turns on the art of getting random people to like you, or be on your side, in the first two minutes of a set.