I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately: Stand-up comedy is meant to be felt, not just watched. In person, people come in ready to laugh. They’ve paid for a ticket, gotten a babysitter, maybe even put on decent clothes, and their mental state is: I’ve done all the work; I’m gonna laugh. And usually, they do and, when that’s the case, there’s an energy in the room. Before the show even starts they’re thinking: I’m here to have fun. But…when you strip all that away and put stand-up on video? It’s rarely the same. In fact, I’m not sure it can be the same at all.
As with everything else in language, even the best jokes lose something in translation. Live laughter is contagious because live, laughter is contagious. One person laughs, then another, and suddenly the room is rolling. On video, that momentum typically disappears. A great joke might land when you’re watching alone, scrolling through your phone, or sitting in dead silence on your couch, but chances are it’s landing differently than if you had been there in person.
As we’ve all noticed lately, there’s the explosion of crowd work clips online. They’re everywhere now. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube—comedians dropping bite-sized interactions with audiences because, well, those get views. Crowd work plays well online because it feels spontaneous, like you’re seeing something unfold in real-time. But even then, what’s missing is the room. You don’t feel the tension, the surprise, the unpredictability of being there live. You can really only get a hint of that.
Same with the onslaught of comedy specials. It used to be a big deal when a comedian released a special. Now, there are so many dropping constantly that most don’t hit the same way. Even great material can feel less impactful when you’re watching on a screen rather than in a packed venue where the laughter is bouncing off the walls. Is that why so many of them have low IMBD ratings? I suspect that has something to do with it.
None of this is to say comedy shouldn’t be shared online—if anything, it’s more necessary than ever for exposure. Share away! All I’m saying is no video, no matter how well-produced, will likely ever capture the full potency of the live experience. You can watch stand-up, but to really get it? As the old saying suggests, you kinda had to be there.