Stand-up Comedy: Art, Science or Both?

I don’t think that there is anyone on the planet who will question the fact that stand-up comedy is an entertainment art form. And as long as comedy material is served up by humans, it will always be an art form with extensive variety.

But is there any science involved in stand-up comedy? I’m going to say YES there is, much to the dismay of many who wear the title of “comedian” and discount any notion of any scientific involvement.

But let’s take a look at some things that are “science” based when it comes to stand-up comedy:

1. University studies have determined that 93% of spoken word communication has nothing to do with the actual words used in our communication—it involves voice infection and tone changes (38%) and body language/facial expressions (55%).

Since stand-up comedy is a spoken word art, there’s every reason to believe that this same communication criteria applies to stand-up comedians.

Subsequently, it would also appear that a focus on “writing” words and sentences on paper has little impact on how “funny” the communication for a comedian is or is not.

It would appear that the non-verbal aspects of delivering stand-up comedy material plays a much bigger part in the ability of a comedian to communicate material that gets laughs than from the “words” being used.

2. There are two primary events that occur when a comedian is one stage:

a. The comedian is talking (delivering material) or

b. The audience is responding to what the comedian is saying with laughter, cheering or applause

The time that a comedian has performed on stage is measurable. The amount of accumulated laughter a comedian received during a performance is measurable.

By taking the accumulated “laugh time” a comedian generated on stage in seconds, divided the length of the comedians performance in seconds…

It is very easy to obtain a ratio—“laugh time” vs. “talk time” to gauge a comedian’s true performance on stage.

Interestingly enough, today’s top stand-up comedy stars tend to fall in the 40%+ level of “laugh time” vs. “talk time”, meaning that…

A whopping 40% or more of the time that a comedy star is on stage is filled with laughter cheering or applause—without regard to the “content” that the comedian chooses to deliver.

I will be the first to admit that there is not a great deal of science involved in stand-up comedy. And the science that can be applied to stand-up comedy is certainly not rocket science.

But it is science nonetheless and can be used for performance improvement.

While stand-up comedy will always be an art form which is subject to the idiosyncrasies of the comedian performing…

There are simple scientific attributes that can apply and help those who are funny enough for the stand-up comedy stage to reach their maximum potential.

One last comment:

What I have just presented doesn’t just apply to stand-up comedians—it applies to ANY speaking in front of an audience. Hint, hint :-)