Comics have long pursued authenticity.
But what that looks like and how genuine it is is ever-changing.
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The consensus, at least on social media, seemed to be that Minhaj was in the wrong.
The story illustrates just how invested fans and assorted onlookers have become in the idea of comedians credibility.
The relationship that comedians have with the truth has evolved over the last 75 years.
), most contemporary comics agree their work should have some kernel of personal truth to it.
They just have different perspectives on how to achieve that goal.
Every performer takes a different approach to stretching, reformatting, and intensifying the truth in their work.
Others have a go at expresstheirtruth based simply on how they remember a given situation.
A few invent stories and situations but hope to create something thatfeelsuniversally true to their audience.
Most often, stand-ups start with the truth and then tinker with the particulars based on audience response.
I wanted to share things that couldnt be faked, and that was a mistake, he said.
I dont think anyone really cared if it was true or not.
The chapter, its worth noting, was written well beforeThe New Yorkerstory was published.
Instead, the chapter provides context for understanding the story and how something like this happens.
The hope forComedy Bookwas not to changewhatpeople think about comedians and their comedy buthow.
I do not use the term emotional truth, but I get pretty close.
Many Americans were attempting to find their real selves,wrote Michael J. Arlen inTheNew Yorkerabout this movement.
As Bob Dylan said, the only way to live outside the law is to be totally honest.
So I will remain lawless.
Now, the perceived culmination of a lot of these ideals
Louis C.K.
In the story of comedys march to be taken more seriously, C.K.
was, for nearly a decade, its avatar.
And at the center of this celebration was truth.
Like Carlin and Pryor before him, C.K.
has his own legend of being awakened to the truth.
had a breakthrough after his first kid was born.
My daughter is always asking for money to go SHOPPING!
The mythology of his honesty was then supported by a few professional decisions.
Known in the industry as theLouiedeal, it involved C.K.
was doing it all by himself gave off and there is no other way of putting this auteur vibes.
Then, in 2017, theNew YorkTimespublished a storyrevealing five accusations of sexual misconduct against him.
And I remember feeling something breaking.
He talked about masturbating frequently in his act.
But trust is essential for the comedian-audience relationship.
It is impossible to carry on the same without it.
It is hard to separate the art from the artist with stand-up comedy, because the artisthe artist.
Yes, what C.K.
did was terrible, but it also is just terribly ironic.
The most honest man is a liar?!
The truth is he was never televisions most honest man.
Gervais says Seinfeld turned it into a joke and that he doesnt think C.K.
He explains, I just [think],This is a man falling apart for my pleasure.
This is a man spilling his heart out, telling me what a bad day hes had.
It wasnt hard for Louis C.K.
What he wasnt was vulnerable.
And for there to be real truth in comedy, vulnerability is necessary.
I believe being VULNERABLE is vital to creating MEMORABLE comedy, wrote Gary Gulman in May 2019.
It continued, For the 1st few years just getting on stage is vulnerable.
It was material that would become the acclaimed HBO specialThe Great Depresh.
And somehow she made it all funny.
I didnt know what to say to that, she tells the audience.
I always thought I was okay-looking.
I had no idea I was [crescendos into a shout] this giant face taking over America!
[Smiles, then switches into mock-horror] Here comes the face!
Its just bringing an ancient way of healing into this era of comedy, politics, gender, queerness.
Is everybody having a good time?
Inan interview with Slate in 2020, she provided the perfect image of what it looked and felt like.
I felt very much like a baby giraffe trying to stand up, she said.
I had never been so vulnerable or personal onstage.
I had not shared my dating life.
I was scared I wouldnt work again.
She is driven to talk about things that are hard to talk about.
If its mockable, it is manageable.
Its a pointNotaro echoedwhen I spoke to her nearly a decade after her breakthrough set.
I certainly had friends and family, but my mother and my primary relationship were gone.
Truth is an impossible-to-achieve standard.
The search does not have to be done selflessly, but it cannot be done selfishly.
It cannot be done alone.
In early 2017, John Early and Kate Berlant performed onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
It was quite an unusual set as late-night sets go.
However, it was still better than the alternative.
That is so embarrassing to me.
Early cocked his head and raised his eyebrows, as if he really wanted to know.
Even I, one of the few straight men in attendance, was stumped.
His face constricted and he made a fist to accentuate the answer.
Lowering his voice to convey a passionate masculinity, he told us: The truth.
He explained that she was doing hyper self-aware deconstructive performative liberal stuff 5 years before anyone else.
As Butler writes inGender Trouble, Laughter emerges in the realization that all along the original was derived.
There is no true self for you to show the audience.
Its why Berlant finds readings of comedy like Gervaiss of C.K.s ridiculous.
Look how stripped down and raw.
Its so funny, Berlant explained to Fielder.
We know what its like to construct a self in a performance, just existing walking down the street.
It is this comedic philosophy that placed Berlant and Early at the forefront of a new comedy vanguard.
These comedians were not pretending that Im just a regular guy just talking up here.
To their audiences, at least, this rings true.
He remained silent for minutes at a time.
To him, it appeared the word meant being free of ego and free of fearing societal expectations.
When I saw you onstage, Shandling said to Burnham, I didnt see a fake moment.
And then … the funniest thing happened.
/ Are you having fun?
It didnt make sense until one day, when I was scrolling, I heard my voice.
Or at least I thought it was me.
Tips on cooking steak.
All Eyes on Me lip sync.
This time, I could clearly see it was me talking to Burnhamat Vulture Festival in 2018.
I confirmed this as I was shown another video of myself later that day.
And another the next day.
Bo talking about meanings behind lyrics.
It made me uncomfortable.
I felt compelled to reply to these videos, saying This is me!
as a way of reconnecting myself with this image of me.
Although I didnt like any of this, it did make me understand the reaction toInsidebetter.
And it made me understand what Shandling saw in Burnham all those years ago.
Insideisnt a live performance.
There are multiple takes and camera setups over the course of many months.
It posits that attempts to remove artifice are actually artifice, but one can attempt to create artifice genuinely.
This proves that its real.
The goal for Burnham, like Shandling, is never personal truth but truth period.
Adapted fromComedy Book,by Jesse David Fox.
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Copyright 2023 by Jesse David Fox.
All rights reserved
