How unusual is it for a funny comedian to be completely unfunny in person?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I know someone who does standup comedy and also improv comedy, and is really, really good at both of these things. In fact he seems to be one of the top local comedians in my area, based on what I’ve seen of his shows and others, and comments I’ve seen in various places.

The weird thing is, in person, he’s completely unfunny. Not just that he doesn’t make jokes–he tries, and they’re awful!

Well, it’s a little more complicated than that. In live conversation, he’s sometimes a little funny in a dry kind of way, but when it’s clear he’s trying to make a joke, (like, ‘Look out I’m going to say something funny now!’) it never hits.

And online, in social media, he’s absolutely terrible. Like I would never suspect him of being a funny person. He does this thing, for example, where he repeats “new phone who dis” after absolutely anything. It’s not funny. He also quotes things his kid said that are not funny but thinks they are just the most hilarious things he’s ever heard. (He does this complete with a simulation of toddler-speak, with w’s for r’s etc, which makes it worse.) Stuff like that–just completely cheesy comments that in the best of circumstances would elicit a polite chuckle but which he presents as comedy gold, and which is the very opposite of funny.

My question is basically, how unusual is this? Is it common (or at least, not rare) for successful comedians to be quite humor-inept in non-on-stage contexts?

I would have chalked it up to the difference between a practiced routine and off-the-cuff comments, but then there’s that whole improv thing. He absolutely kills at this. On stage, with the improv group, he is by far the funniest guy on stage, and is in absolute terms completely hilarious.

It’s the weirdest thing.

2

Someone told me that she had this friend who was funny, until she decided to go pro. After that she wasnt that funny anymore and when she did say something funny, she was always looking for feedback so she could add the joke to her act.

But then I’ve read about how some of the great comedians like the Marx brothers were funny even off stage.

3

Some performers have a stage personality that does not match their real-life personality at all. One of the most famous examples was Johnny Carson. He was one of the most successful talk show hosts in history and looked perfectly at ease talking and making jokes with anyone in front of a national audience every night. However, he was completely different when the cameras weren’t rolling. He was a self-admitted introvert, painfully shy and awkward at spontaneous conversation. He didn’t even do well at small parties where he knew everyone. He would usually end up in a corner by himself playing with a deck of cards or whatever else he could find to avoid unrehearsed chit-chat.

Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan and Gwyneth Paltrow are just a few of the other famous performers that are reportedly introverts and very different in real-life than they are on screen.

4

I saw an interview with Peter Sellers once.

He came off about as dull, boring, and dry as one imagines is possible.

5

Douglas Adams once said that the difference between a witty person and a funny person is that a witty person always has a moderately amusing quip at the ready for any situation, whereas a funny person sweats for days to write something truly hilarious. I’ve noticed that a lot of my favorite comedians, when they do interviews on the Daily Show or Fallon or whatever, they end up relying on their material even in those “casual” conversations. And many of them will admit that when they first did comedy they were terrible. Those jokes are painstakingly crafted and tested on audiences and they also need to have their game face on when it’s time to go. They can’t be that person 24/7.

6

He also was on record as saying that, without his characters, he didn’t otherwise exist.

7

Will Farrell

8

He also didnt write his material. He was brilliant at mimicry. Listen to some of his Goon Show stuff. Its genius.

9

In the movie “Back to School” with Rodney Dangerfield, they say on the DVD that Rodney was always funny and many times when he would walk around campus like in his bathrobe, they just went and recorded his spontaneous and unrehearsed interactions with the students.

10

They all laughed at me when I said I wanted to become a comedian. Well, they’re not laughing at me any more.

11

Robin Williams was pretty funny when I met him - playing pinball together and he sucked. He made jokes about his pinball skilz. Then he spontaneously recorded a radio station spot for a local college radio station and joked about “you have friends of the four legged persuasion, baaaaaa baaaaaa” in reference to an agricultural university. It was literally about 10 minutes of playing drunk pinball and asking him to speak into a mic. Seemed the way he was wired, but then again I was drunk…

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was pretty off the cuff funny as well. He was totally just shooting the shit with some college radio station guys backstage before he did a gig. About an hour of I’m stuck here with you guys so what the fuck.

12

In a recent interview, Christopher Guest mentioned people (who don’t know him) often being disappointed by his not being “on” in regular old real life. Explained that “funny” is something he does for a living.

13

Rowan Atkinson is quiet and reserved and doesn’t try to be funny in interviews.

14

I remember old Howard Stern interviews with Eddie Murphy, and Eddie was just radio death. I’ve even heard Howard talk about how everyone expects him to be witty and snarky in social situations like he is on the air, and he’s just not like that in real life. Some people can turn it on 24/7, some cant.

I do passable open mike stand up occasionally, and am pretty lucky in that I do seem to be able to make people laugh in social situations with off the cuff humor. Yet, my comedy act is 180 degrees from what Im like in real life and none of the jokes I tell people off stage make it onstage because they just wouldn’t work; weirdly enough---- I am a poor on stage improv.

15

Will Farrell is not funny anytime.

16

one of Maria Bamford’s recent bits was about this. roughly:

Bratty Kid: “My dad said you’re a comedian.”
Maria: “Yes.”
Bratty Kid: “Tell me a joke!”
Maria (gritted teeth): “It’s not like that…”

17

Just as you shouldn’t expect to get a diagnosis from a physician if you encounter him/her in a social situation, I don’t think it’s fair to expect a performer of any category to have to be in performance mode at all times. I can’t imagine being a celeb and having to be “on” all the time, even when I just wanted to run to the store for some groceries. So I wouldn’t expect a comic to crack me up in the check-out line.

18

try being an auto mechanic.

19

The late Jonathon Winters lived in my town and loved talking to people on the street. He was hilarious. But you could tell that he was performing for you and that the real him was buried deep.

20

It would drive me crazy to have a partner or friend who was a comedian and was always on. I would much prefer to have the “real” person. The way your friend is.