Your 90% figure is something I use to describe how much art media is basically not good ā tv, movies, music, etc. But the particularity of standup as an art form ā the bizarre mutual expectation of a specific response (laughter) ā means that it can āfailā more obviously. Mediocre music can be shrugged off, and pretty easily tolerated by most; it doesnāt come with the same expectations. But when someoneās jokes don't land, it immediately lays bare a devastating rift between performer and audience.
Most people just want to laugh, though, and theyāre ok with laughing at anything that purports to be funny. You make a joke about the difference between men and women, I laugh, everyone goes home happy. So thereās a lot of trash that ends up getting elevated because itās āgoodā enough to fulfill this social contract for enough people.
But thereās always good stuff out there!
Iāll 4th Chris Fleming and throw in Conner OāMalleys recent special.
Sorry but they both yell, lol.
If you want a very different, bizarre, highly personal, often uncomfortable, avant-garde, and of course, funny rec: Natalie Palamidesās Nate: A One Man Show which was out on Netflix a few years ago.
