What compels us to want to make people laugh?
It’s one thing saying something
funny in the moment, but to deliberately write, rehearse and deliver material
with the sole intention of making everyone listening roll in the aisles
laughing conjures up a sticky web of fear and insecurities. At best, failure means stony silence, at
worst … no it doesn’t bear thinking about. So who are the most likely people to
succeed at standup?
These are some of the questions I asked
myself when I took a major leap of faith and volunteered to do a 5 minute stand
up routine in front of an audience of professional speakers.
The comedic line up consists of 21 people,
15 men and 6 women. Now there’s a
clue. Is it gender specific? We don’t have to think very hard to note that
stand up comedy is male dominated. So
why?