In the UK the 1960s saw the growth of satire boom, including the creation of The Establishment Club, which, amongst other things, gave British audiences their first taste of extreme American stand-up comedy from Lenny Bruce. In the 1970’s the growth of stand-up comedy in the UK was fuelled by local working men’s clubs, where the style of humour was of the smutty crude mother in law style, often with quite ****** in content, and much of which would be considered unacceptable today. A breakthrough British TV show called The Comedians saw many of the club circuit comics, such as Stan Boardman, George Roper, Roy Walker, Tom O’Connor, Frank Carson, Jim Bowen, Charlie Williams, Mike Reid, Duggie Brown, Lenny Windsor, Colin Crompton, Ken Goodwin and Bernard Manning, becoming major stars based on stand-up comedy performances on this TV show.
In the early 1980’s, with Britain going through an economic recession and the strong often unpopular leadership of it’s first woman Prime Minister Margret Thatcher, came the emergence of ‘alternative’ comedy. Turning it’s back on the style of the 70’s comedians, it was a comedy perhaps characterized by more character-based, surreal, or absurd humour as opposed to observations of everyday life – non-gag-orientated but completely irreverent and often very anti establishment. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, Alexei Sayle, Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson were the best known alternative stand-ups of the time.
In 1989, however, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer more or less killed alternative comedy by proving that you didn’t need to swear and be political and rude as an alternative to mother-in-law jokes and during the 90’s, for all their foul-mouthed socialist fury, the alternative comedians of the early 1980s became part of the establishment.
So to the present, and it seems as though the British stand-up comedy scene has settled into a happy combination of alternative and more traditional styles of comedy. Encompassing the irreverent and mixing in *** based humour, observational comedy and political satire. All of which now find their niche within the mainstream. The United Kingdom continues its long and rich heritage of stand-up comedians, and continues to be considered the stand-up centre of the world, due to the ease with which a comic can make a living.
By: Tony Kitson
About the Author:
Filed under Arts And Entertainment by on Aug 27th, 2010. 
I’ve been a comedy fan for all my adult life. I’ve seen so many different styles of comedians that I feel like I’m an expert in detecting a comedian who is consistently funny. From the early days of comedy (Jack Benny, for instance) to today’s headliners, nobody has reached the comedic level of Jerry Seinfeld. By virtually any measurement, he is the most successful comedian who ever lived.
The Seinfeld stand up comedy story is an interesting one.
Jerome Allen Seinfeld was born in April of 1954 in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Kalman Seinfeld, was of Galician Jewish background and owned a sign-making company. His mother, Betty, is of Syrian Jewish descent.
Seinfeld developed a serious interest in stand-up comedy in his college years, although he was considered the class clown all the way through school. After graduating from Queens College, he found himself at an open-mic night at New York City’s Catch a Rising Star. Fortunately for Jerry, he was noticed by the reigning king of comedy at the time, Rodney Dangerfield (another favorite comic of mine). Rodney had Jerry perform on one of his HBO specials, which started his ascent to eventual stardom.
In 1979, he had a very small recurring role on the Benson sitcom as “Frankie”, a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear. Oddly enough he was fired from the show due to creative differences. It’s hard to comprehend today that anyone would fire Seinfeld from a TV show, but it actually happened. And it wasn’t handled very well. Nobody bothered to tell him he had been fired until he turned up for an episode read-through session and found that there was no script for him.
Of course Jerry was able to overcome this setback, and went on in 1981 to a highly successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The Seinfeld stand up comedy act had really impressed Carson, which led to regular Tonight Show appearances over the next several years.
By the end of the decade he and his pal, Larry David started development on a ground-breaking sitcom called the The Seinfeld Chronicles. Later the name would change to the moniker that we all recognize today: “Seinfeld”. They did this to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom called The Marshall Chronicles.
By its fourth season, “Seinfeld” had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The Seinfeld stand up comedy machine had truly found its mark. The final episode aired in 1998, and the show has maintained its popularity with syndicated re-runs ever since.
Jerry’s post-sitcom career has continued to flourish, with regular appearances in Las Vegas, and in large comedy venues around the country. His focus has been live, standup comedy as opposed to venturing into films as many of his contemporaries have done (Tim Allen and Ray Romano, for example).
2010 has witnessed another milestone in the career of Jerry Seinfeld. He has introduced a new television series that will also prove to be breaking new ground. Jerry is the master of pushing the comedy envelope, and his latest TV effort is yet another example. It’s called the Marriage Ref, and stars Tom Papa, Natalie Morales, and of course Jerry himself. The premise involves real-life couples currently engaged in a conflict (and aren’t we all?). There is a three member panel made up of various celebrities who are showed both sides of the argument. These celebrities then discuss the merits of each participant and vote on their choice of the winner.
The initial reviews of the show were almost universally negative, with many bordering on nasty. Nevertheless, The Marriage Ref was renewed by NBC for another year. It’ll be interesting to see if Jerry can work his magic on this show, and I guess I wouldn’t bet against him. After all, “Seinfeld” was a slow starter in its first year, but was able to evolve into a ratings powerhouse in the ensuing years.
Hopefully The Marriage Ref can do the same.
If you ask me, if anybody can turn around a ratings disaster, its Jerry Seinfeld.
By: Melanie Maloy
About the Author:
Filed under Arts And Entertainment by on Aug 27th, 2010.
Have you ever heard about hypnotainment? Well this is the new form of entertainment that is the latest happening thing at parties. Don’t worry it is absolutely legal and above board and yet great fun. At the same time it is different and will certainly have your guests asking for more.
More and more people are opting for Comedy Hypnotists to be able to provide them with the right kind of hypnotainment. They are able to put together the most mind-boggling of shows. The kind of show that you wouldn’t have witnessed before this! They have become so popular that they are booked weeks and months in advance.
You should bear in mind that not all, can perform and enable a show to come to life. A Comedy Hypnotist needs the right amount of experience and expertise under his belt in order to have the audience in control and eating out of his hands. If you trust an inexperienced one then he is bound to flounder and this will leave your party being the talk of the town, but in the most negative of ways. You don’t want to get branded as a person who couldn’t host a good enough party just because you messed up on the hiring of one. An experienced Comedy Hypnotists will offer you the best of clean and organized fun and comedy entertainment that is best in class.
An experienced Comedy Hypnotists will know how to go about everything right from the stage setting to the social skills and the interaction with your guests. They will be involved right from the word go and that will take a ton off your shoulders.
Sometimes, a guest might try to get the better of Comedy Hypnotists, but an experienced one will be able to handle smarty pants the right way without them trying to spoil the show or the party. Book an experienced Comedy Hypnotist today and watch the difference.
By: Steven S.
About the Author:
Read more on Experienced Comedy Hypnotists Equal to Quality Comedy Entertainment…
Filed under Arts And Entertainment by on Aug 27th, 2010.
DVDs from various stand up comics are very popular at this time of the year, and they sell by the bucketload because they make excellent Christmas presents. So which stand up comedy DVDs are worth getting this year, either for yourself or for your friends and family?
Well there are five that caught my eye and they are as follows:
1. Michael McIntyre – Live And Laughing
Michael McIntyre is the funniest comedian around at the moment in my opinion, and he is really starting to establish himself as a top-class comic. His hilarious appearance on Live At The Apollo last week will have helped, but the great thing about Michael McIntyre is that he is exceptionally funny, both in terms of his actual material and the way he delivers his jokes. I maybe biased because I’m a huge fan, but this is my top choice of stand up DVD this Christmas.
2. Lee Evans – Big – Live At The O2
Lee Evans’ DVD was close behind because he is also one of the best comedians around. He is already a household name and indeed one of the most popular comedians in the world, however I still find McIntyre to be slightly funnier. If you are a Lee Evans fan, however, you will love this new DVD because it features two and a half hours of brand new material and is a must-have item for any Lee Evans fan.
3. Frankie Boyle Live
Frankie Boyle is a stand up comic who has become a pretty big name in comedy thanks to his constant appearances on Mock The Week in the last few years. Indeed every week he completely steals the show and outshines all the other comedians who appear on there with his brilliantly savage and near-the-knuckle brand of humour. So this DVD promises to provide lots of laughs if his appearances on Mock The Week are anything to go by.
4. Dara O’Briain Talks Funny – Live In London
I don’t personally think Dara O’Briain adds anything to Mock The Week, but despite that his stand up material is actually very good. I saw one of his live shows on TV a few months ago and it was extremely funny so if this is a benchmark, then it’s a fair bet that his new DVD will be equally as funny.
5. Bill Bailey – Tinselworm
My final choice of DVD is the new one from Bill Bailey. What I like about Bill Bailey is that he is obviously a very talented musician and his musical material is just as impressive and as funny as the more conventional stand-up stuff he does. This DVD filmed at Wembley Stadium should be just as funny as his previous DVDs, which are also brilliant.
By: Jim Woolley
About the Author:
Read more on 5 Stand Up Comedy DVDs to Ask For This Christmas…
Filed under Arts And Entertainment by on Aug 27th, 2010.
In the 21st Century, the obstacles that your lovers face will often involve a “wrong man” and “wrong woman.” Usually amateur screenwriters (and bad movies) will just make the wrong woman a ***** with no explanation why she behaves that way, but you can do better than that.
It takes a skilled screenwriter to write someone who is clearly not a good match for the man and still make her a fundamentally good person. Usually, this not only makes the romance part of your script more plausible, but lays the groundwork for more comedy as well.
Here are four ways to evoke a funny, effective “wrong woman.”
1. She’s clingy. I’ve read a lot of material on dating and attraction (not to mention written some of my own), and if there’s one thing that all of the experts agree on, it’s that women who get clingy and needy are super unattractive! This is a great screenwriting tool to whip out because it will quickly turn off audience members, but because clinginess stems from insecurity, it doesn’t make her come across as evil.
2. She assumes control. A woman who assumes control tends to make all the decisions in a relationship, using subtle tricks to get the man to always go along with what she has in mind. Making all the plans and decisions is actually very masculine, so a woman who assumes control is taking on a more masculine energy, and will quickly look much less attractive next to a leading lady who is radiating sensual female energy. (This doesn’t mean that your leading lady has no control over herself or her life; it means that she has no need to control the man). A woman who assumes control in a situation does so because she doesn’t trust her man to do the planning/decision making himself – in other words, she doesn’t respect him. However, this is subtle – and will spare your script from any on-the-nose dialogue that you might have written otherwise to convey that disrespect.
3. She complains about everything. When a woman can’t be pleased by anything a man does, there’s little hope for the relationship. However, complaining can be done in a non-evil-bitch kind of way. When a woman complains all the time, it’s because she “isn’t feeling it” and mistakenly believes that it’s because the man isn’t doing something (that if he did do, she would “feel it.”) Of course, the real issue is a lack of chemistry (hence, why she’s the wrong woman).
4. She is a downer. A woman who is negative about herself and her life is completely unattractive. However, again, this comes from insecurity – we’ve all felt like we weren’t enough and we are screwing up our lives. If you do your job, the audience will feel her insecurity, and we won’t think she is completely evil because we will get where her negativity comes from, but we will still root for the more positive, upbeat leading lady.
In case you noticed a theme here, it’s that the wrong woman is INSECURE, and her unattractive behavior stems from insecurities. When you understand this principle, it will be easy to create a compelling, realistic wrong woman. The audience won’t **** her because they will sympathize – we’ve all felt insecure. However, the audience won’t root for her, because the leading lady will be clearly a better choice.
By: Liz Peters
About the Author:
Filed under Arts And Entertainment by on Aug 13th, 2010.
Those people who take up stand up comedy as their profession always have one question in their minds. How to write stand up comedy jokes? This is a question asked by almost every amateur stand up comedian. This article will help you solve this question.
Take a paper and pen and start thinking of words that are important to you. Look up words around your family and friends. Secondly make these words your topics. Then think about some weird things you find about that word. Your emotions are attached with these words. Try phrasing these words in a funny way. Write 10 funny things about them. Now attach a gesture to the funny things you have noted about these jokes. This represents half about how to write stand up comedy jokes.
The most important thing a stand up comedy learner should know is that the gesture attached to your writings is the thing which makes people laugh. 80% of the laugh you receive on the joke you make is obtained from the gesture. The remaining 20% are on the content of your joke. After selecting the right gesture, act the whole joke in front of a mirror and if you laugh on that then the public will surely laugh. Now you should act out the performance in front of your friends to get the affirmation that you have made a good joke.
When learning how to write stand up comedy jokes, once you have made a joke record it, record the gesture of the joke, give more importance to the way you say the joke. Listen to it over and over, play it in different settings and among different people to be sure that your joke is funny. If any editing is required then make the corrections according to the comments of your listeners.
In my signature, you will find a review of a great resource that will help you prepare for a killer comedy act.
By: Alan Katz
About the Author:
Filed under Arts And Entertainment by on Aug 13th, 2010.
Have you witnessed a good, comedy hypnotist act? If not, you owe to yourself to find an opportunity to do so. They are utterly hilarious, and can be entertaining to a broad range of comedy tastes. Young or old, rich or poor, literally anyone with a sense of humor (and/or a sense of wonder) will find themselves entertained by a comedy hypnotist professional.
So what makes a good quality comedy hypnotist?
I think the following list of qualifications should be considered a must for any comedy hypnotist:
1) First and foremost he (or she) should be a first class entertainer! Their top priority is the hypnosis piece of the act. The comedy should stem from the hypnosis, not the other way around.
2) They absolutely need to maintain an air of professionalism. Their act just won’t be as entertaining if they appear less than professional.
3) They need to be well-educated in the art of hypnosis. Audiences today are more sophisticated than ever before. They’ll see right through an act that tries to “wing it”.
With that list in mind, here are my two favorite comedy hypnotists:
Comedy Hypnotist #1: Tom Kruger,
Today Tom Kruger, is probably best known as a Minneapolis Stage Hypnotist. At the age of 18 he started learning stage hypnosis from some of the more famous names in the comedy hypnosis industry. Though Tom gets many requests for his comedy hypnosis shows in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, he also performs his comedy hypnosis shows frequently across the Midwest and throughout the country.
In the last twenty years he has developed a razor sharp sense of comedic timing, which blends well with his well-developed hypnotic talents. He has developed an innate understanding of how to make people feel good, both by watching and participating in his comedy hypnosis shows. This combination has made his performance, a favorite act for corporate, college and high school programs.
Tom says that being a talented stage hypnotist is only half of what putting on great stage hypnosis shows is all about. The other half is helping the client get what they want. “Learning how to do stage hypnosis and throwing together some comedy hypnosis shows is easy, but it’s much more than just learning the skill. If you are an entertainer you have to ask yourself, are you doing all you can to make the event both entertaining and successful? You can be an incredible stage hypnotist, but if you can’t entertain the crowd, if you haven’t done what you can to make your part of the event run smoothly, if you haven’t made the client glad they hired you, then you really haven’t kept up your part of the bargain of being a professional hypnotist. I don’t want to be just a great comedy hypnotist. I want my clients to say that they had a great time for weeks or months after the event.”
Comedy Hypnotist #2: CJ Johnson
Johnson got his start at the Dakota Hypnosis Institute where he studied under one of the countries leading hypnotic trainers. He has since performed over 1000 shows for audiences as large as 20,000, and as intimate as 50. He got his formal education at Texas A&M University where he majored in Construction Management. But it was his weekend job of performing magic that got him motivated to perform on a bigger stage, and to leave the construction career behind.
One effective aspect to CJ’s act is the use of almost 40 pieces of music in every show. Even the non-musical routines have appropriate background sounds giving the show a feeling of production that very few (if any) hypnotists offer.
In addition to his hilarious comedy shows, C.J. also has a lecture/keynote program called “The Power of Suggestion” that he presents to corporate groups and on college campuses. It’s an entertaining look at the messages we give to ourselves on a daily basis and techniques on how to make sure those messages are empowering.
Conclusion:
I would heartily recommend either of these guys, if you get a chance to see their act. Of course there are other talented comedy hypnotists that put on a good show, but these two are consistently rated as the best.
By: Melanie Maloy
About the Author:
Filed under Arts And Entertainment by on Aug 13th, 2010.
Movies are always the popular means of entertainment. Specially, comedy movies are the favourite among people. There are marvelous comedy movies which got released recently and have already gained widespread popularity among the audience. Comedy movies not only make us laugh but they also contain some deeper meaning. Comedy movies initiate catharsis thereby rejuvenating the minds of the people with refreshing thoughts. Movies, whatever may be its genre, reveal some of the grave aspects of our lives and make us think about the world around us.
Comedy movies encompass a vast arena, including various sub-genres like parody, screwball, burlesque, bizarre and dark comedy. If we are to talk about the newly released comedy movies of 2007, we will be amazed to find some of the brilliant specimens of the era. Superbad which is a very recently released comedy film is widely acclaimed for the humorous elements in it. The script of the movie is written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and its director and producers are Greg Mottola and Judd Apatow respectively. It is about high school seniors Evan (Michael Cera) and Seth (Jonah Hill), the socially-inept best friends who try to lose their virginity before the end of the school year. Other major comedy movies of 2007 include Knocked Up, The Simpson Movie, Evan Almighty, Blades of Glory, Hot Fuzz and the East of Bucharest. With better choreography and much advanced technical inputs, the comedy movies of 2007 are sure to be a hit at the box office. Blades of Glory, directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck was released on March 30, 2007 by DreamWorks. This movie starring Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Fischer is a superb film with subtle shades of comedy.
Evan Almighty, the sequel to the Bruce Almighty (2003) was released on June 22, 2007. It is regarded as one of the highest budgeted comedy film produced till today. In this film several visual effect companies were utilised to offer CGI for exclusive climactic flood scenes and animals. Apart from the names mentioned above, there are numerous other comedy movies which got released in the year 2007 and have proved themselves to be a great success.
By: Jacob Marshal
About the Author:
Filed under Arts And Entertainment by on Aug 13th, 2010.
As you are looking on the Internet for stand-up comedy tips…
Please be aware that the techniques and strategies offered in many stand-up comedy tips simply don’t work.
Let’s look at a prime example of one of the many inaccurate stand-up comedy tips you will find online:
You need to develop your own onstage character or persona. This may take many moths or even years to do.
Now if you want a more powerful stand-up comedy tip:
The absolute fastest path to successful stand-up comedy is to be able to apply your own unique sense of humor to ideas, topics and observations that you want to talk about on stage.
Stand-up comedy tips that you can find online should never take the place of common sense. Common sense dictates that if you are a naturally funny person in everyday life…
Then you already have a “persona” that works. The real trick is to give yourself permission to be the “persona” or character that you already are.
You DON’T need to develop a “special” persona for the stand-up comedy stage. Not only that, it doesn’t have to take years to command big laughs from an audience.
Here’s another example of some of the awful stand-up comedy tips I
Filed under Arts And Entertainment by on Jul 28th, 2010.
Life is a glorious divine comedy
Set forth by the all wise divinity
Continuously challenging humanity
To think again more thoroughly
To examine things more carefully
Before speaking forth prematurely
Before judging others presumptuously
Before rendering conclusions hastily
Because God above knows the heart of all
Without the Creator, no man can stand tall
For God above with love gives us breath daily
The Lord of life breathes within us spiritually
Dead our bodies are without the spirit inwardly
Igniting, inspiring, inviting, and always illuminating
Cultivating, quickening, encouraging, and captivating
The Maker of heaven and earth in us gives new birth
To love, life, laughter, faith, hopes, dreams, and worth
Even self-worth as we realize in God’s image we are made
Hopefully sooner rather than later after we have fully paid
With our lives, blood, sweat, and tears spending all our years
Pursuing and chasing useless trivialities and incongruencies
As we progressively awaken to our own shallow insecurity
Without relationship with our Maker we dwell in obscurity
Disregard reasoning, lofty explanations, and pious motivations
Like a heartfelt child with faith simply rejoice in divine infatuation
Rid your fragile heart of pride’s pretense that tends toward alienation
Simply abandon your soul and self into the loving arms of Almighty God
Rhetoric, discourse, and doctrinal discussions is territory you need not trod
Religious affiliations and denominations distract us from moving Godward
Open the good book and read the Creator’s love letter to you in His Word.
Therein be deeply touched, profoundly taught, and transformed magnificently
As you elegantly swallow your pride, exercise humility, and love graciously
Accepting your heavenly Father’s unconditional love for you given freely
Embracing the loving heart of Jesus for you majestically and amazingly
Experiencing breakthroughs as you walk with God humbly and live happily.
To live arrogantly otherwise in isolation and self-sufficiency is a comical irony.
By: Paul Davis
About the Author:
RevivingNations@yahoo.com (or) gmail.comIf you liked what you read, check out Paul’s new book “A New Earth – Connect with Your Creator & Experience Endless Awakenings” (a 200 page Christian response and perspective to Eckhart Tolle and Oprah’s ‘New Earth’)Paul’s new book at http://paulfdavis.com/booksvideos.htmPaul Davis is a highly sought after worldwide minister who moves in the miraculous to touch and transform humanity.Paul has a unique ability to hear the voice of God, naturally bring forth the supernatural in a playful and heartfelt fashion, unlock and simply explain divine mysteries, impart life changing revelation, and usher in powerful manifestation bringing heaven to earth.Paul is the author of several books including Waves of God; Supernatural Fire; God vs. Religion; United States of Arrogance; Poems that Propel the Planet; Breakthrough for a Broken Heart; Adultery 101; Are You Ready for True Love; Stop Lusting & Start Living; and many more!http://www.PaulFDavis.com
Filed under Arts And Entertainment by on Jul 28th, 2010.