I think there’s a lot of confirmation bias going on here. I recently saw Jim Gaffigan, Gabriel Eglisias, and Trevor Noah do shows. None of them seem sad to me. Wry and self-deprecating sometimes, but not sad.
I wouldn’t say that all stand up comedians are “sad” or depressive, but it is almost universal that they are generally angry, which is unsurprising when you see any grouping of comedians together who almost inevitably fall into a ‘roast’ in which they try to one-up each other with insults. If that perception is true and as depression is often characterized as “anger turned inward”, there is probably a much higher incidence of depressing and dysthymia among comedians than the general population. Stand up, particularly of the introspective kind, is often as much a sort of exaggerated and performative version of talk therapy, getting validation from the audience about how absurd a situation being described was. Taylor Tomlinson is a prime example of this; growing up in an Evangelical household with abusively puritanical parents and the resulting personalities disorders arising from that upbringing is essentially her entire schtick (and in fairness, she’s really good at not just making it seem like complaining). Not every stand up comedian is like this, and I think for comedians who are more oriented on physical performance this may not apply, but comedians in general seem pretty angry and are often noted as difficult to work with in group environments.
What is surprising is just how many stand-up comedians are really introverted people who put on a persona on stage but really don’t like personal interactions outside a small group otherwise, even when they are specifically in what you would think is an extraverted role, and in general are not ‘funny’ when not performing. Johnny Carson was famous for not doing more than a cursory greet with guests before the show and not talking during breaks in the filming because he didn’t really like talking and didn’t want to ‘waste’ interactions when the camera wasn’t on. It’s a kind of venue of performance where you put on an emotional mask, act out in an exaggerated fashion, get validation in the form of laughter from an anonymous audience, and then hide away to ‘hone’ comic material and delivery.
Stranger
Common, yes, but hardly universal. I’m not having any trouble thinking of examples of standup comedians who do not seem to have much anger, either in their comedic personas or in their “real life.”
It’s not surprising at all to me that many standup comedians, or other onstage performers, would be introverts. Performing for/at people is such a different activity from interacting with people one-on-one or in small groups. As @raspberry_hunter said in another thread:
Why Johnny Carson’s introversion is perhaps surprising is not because of his role as standup comedian but because of his role as talk-show host who who sat around chatting easily with celebrity guests.
A lot of standup involves some degree of self-deprecation.
I’m halfway through Jesse David Fox’s Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture–and the Magic That Makes It Work which examines modern comedy and the way he feels it is different from older comedy.
His argument is that all stand-ups create a persona whenever they are on stage. That persona seeks a relationship with the audience; a clever comedian perfects that persona, possibly by sharing what appear to be intimate details about their life, their opinions, their thoughts, their ailments, and their imperfections. They appear to create authenticity by lying. These include Tig Notaro’s use her cancer, Maria Bamford’s mental illnesses detailing, and Gary Gulman’s revelation of his depression.
Doing this is both the peak of comedy and a terrible flaw that must be eradicated from comedy. The edgiest modern alternative comics have conquered authenticity by authentically making fun of authenticity.
Or something like that. Like a mystery, there may be a twist at the end. I shouldn’t review a book I’m not finished with, even one whose chapters are independent essays. But its stated purpose conforms perfectly to this thread and he devotes an entire long chapter to “Truth” in comedy.
Comic sadness works. Taylor Tomlinson, who just got the plum hosting gig of After Midnight after Colbert’s Late Show, is a bubbly stand-up whose “stand-up material refers to her experiences of mental health issues, including depression, panic attacks and night terrors, and in Look at You she discusses being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.” Who can’t relate to that?
The post I responded to held up Robin Williams as an example of an unhappy person. My response indicated that there was so much more going on beyond mere “unhappiness”.
I’m not clear what your point is.
mmm
I think it’s fair to say comedians are sharing more anxiety, trauma, frustration, and despair than they used to. They hold up a mirror to the times, they joke about things that people are talking about, and well, all that stuff is what’s going on.
I don’t know that I’d characterize this as “sadness”. The world situation is sad, and talking about it can be saddening, but I don’t get “sad” out of the performances that talk about these things. Maybe cynical, bitter, frustrated, anger, anxious… all those timeless comic staples. But I don’t think folks would watch a sad comedian for very long, unless their whole bit was some kind of Eeyore thing. I imagine there are a few people who have done that and made it work, but if there are, I can’t even be bothered to remember them.
I’ve been enjoying the book Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, the best parts of the show. Seinfeld absolutely comes across as authentic. The majority of comedians seem to agree that as a bunch they are unhappy, hard to live with, mercurial and/or never felt they fit in, with very few exceptions. Some abused substances; a few were angry people all the time.
I agree. “Sadness” isn’t really the right word – maybe something like “anxiety”? I don’t know what the right word would be, but it would be a word that denotes the result of deep introspection, and finding disturbing facts about both oneself and one’s world. Or maybe “neurotic” – Woody Allen comes to mind here, not just from his beginnings as a standup, but in pretty much everything he’s done since. Say what you will about his moral failings, but his various neuroses have made a huge comedic contribution to humankind.
I certainly don’t think “anger” is the word, either. George Carlin certainly wasn’t an angry man; he was a gentle and loving person acutely aware of life’s absurdities and articulate about pointing them out to us. Occasionally these days there are elements of anger. Chris Rock was pretty angry about The Big Slap, but he created a masterful bit out of it in his standup routine that ultimately was more about respect than about retribution. Dave Chappelle does seem to have a bee in his bonnet about transgender people, but I have no idea how much of it is just comedic schtick that happens to work for him.
So, no, “sad” is not the right word for what defines a great comedian. The best characterization I can come up with is “intelligent, observant, self-deprecating, and above all, at least slightly insane”. 
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My impression of that internet show was Seinfeld amusing himself by using his fame to attract major stars to have coffee with him, and picking them up in (often) ridiculous cars that he felt matched their persona. Even then, I don’t think Seinfeld was being “authentic” so much as being a funny host. We never found out anything about Seinfeld himself. We sometimes found out something about one of his guests, but it was in the course of frivolous chit-chat. There was never, AFAIK, ever anything seriously introspective about Seinifeld.
They aren’t, though. Don’t be fooled by stage personas. Remember, “I am happy and everything is great” isn’t FUNNY. It’s also extremely unrelatable. If a comedian gets up and brags about how she’s doing her dream job and has a million bucks in the bank, the audience will dislike her and will not want to laugh.
Robin Williams struggled with substance abuse, but so do lots of people. You just don’t notice the comedians who don’t. Jerry Seinfeld? He leads a nice quiet family life and seems happy as a clam. Bill Burr appears to have a happy life. Jim Gaffigan. Jimmy Carr. Chappelle. One could go on all day.
I’ve done comedy and knew plenty of comics. They’re no more or less happy than anyone else.
Nah. Chris Rock doesn’t pull any punches about how rich he is. He mentions it often, and even recently talked about how he was rich enough to send his daughter to culinary school in Paris. His recent comedic line in this regard was, “I’m rich, but I identify as poor!”.
Bill Burr may have a happy family life, but he frequently talks about his anger issues and incorporates much of that into his act and his various movie roles.
I don’t know if standup comedians are inherently “sad” but a lot of them seem to have the same sort of issues regular people have. I would also imagine that most of the successful ones incorporate a lot of their actual personality into their act (even if it’s exaggerated at times).
I have seen a notion that the very best artists are, in some way, disturbed. Certainly it is a broad brush and some artists are happy. But, when we look at the crowd of the “best” artists, of any stripe (author, painter, musician, etc) the best ones seem a bit…unstable.
Authenticity does not have to come from being deeply introspective, although I think some of the Seinfeld show was. Frivolous chit-chat can certainly be authentic. Comedy radio has a few audience “question and answers” with Seinfeld that he did during or after stand-up routines. His answers are amusing, and you learn slightly more about him, but so what? I’ll settle for funny. And the humour comes from insightful takes on widely shared experiences.
I think there has definitely been a trend towards “confessional comedy” in the past decade. I’m not always a big fan of it, but there are some funny comedians in that arena.
Ahem. This is a reference to Steve Martin’s Monty python introduction.
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O0DHLlqhMg’
You didn’t catch it, I guess…
I always had trouble seeing the funny in the obese comedian’s shtick. Was Totie Fields funny?
I used to like John Mulaney. Apparently he was using a shit-ton of drugs. But, he was hilarious. Now he has cleaned up his personal life and he can’t buy a laugh from me.
IIRC, as part of his “cleaning up his personal life”, tho, sounds to me as tho he screwed over his previous wife.
I think what I have been perceiving is what folk have described as a trend towards “confessional” humor." In the past, when comedians presented themselves as depressed, angry, drunk, whatever, I more generally got the impression they were doing that with a wink and a nod. Putting on an act. Whereas now a more common presentation seems as tho they are baring their true selves.
The issue of “truth” in comedy is (to me) an interesting one. Especially if a comic is presenting slights they received, due to gender/ethnicity/religion… ISTR Hasan Minaj being criticized for presenting a bit claiming to have been discriminated against, when it didn’t really happen. Odd how fluid the expectation of “truth” is WRT a comic’s routine.
“But doctor, I am Pagliacci!”
Rock also talks a LOT about how he feels robbed by divorce, and a bunch of other negative stuff. You can admit to one thing but ya gotta trash yourself elsewhere.
I did comedy with a guy who was ludicrously fit and handsome. He’d acknowledge it, and then talk about how he struggled to date because of his poverty and lack of social skills. (Even after those things were no longer true.)