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Stand-up comedy is a type of comedy performance directed to a live audience in which the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues, with occasional physical acts. The performance is usually a rhetorical sketch with rehearsed scripts, but many performers also employ varying degrees of live crowd interaction as part of their routine. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, observations, or shticks that may incorporate props, music, impressions, magic tricks, or ventriloquism. A performer is known by the masculine and gender-neutral terms stand-up comedian and stand-up comic, or by the feminine term stand-up comedienne, or simply stand-up. Performances may take place anywhere, including comedy clubs, comedy festivals, bars, nightclubs, colleges, or theaters. History Stand-up comedy has roots in various traditions of popular entertainment of the late 19th century, including vaudeville, the stump-speech monologues of minstrel shows, dime museums, concert saloons, freak shows, variety shows, medicine shows, American burlesque, concert saloons, English music halls, circus clown antics, Chautauqua, and humorist monologues like those delivered by Mark Twain in his first (1866) touring show, Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands.Charles Farrar Browne (April 26, 1834 – March 6, 1867), better known under his nom de plume, Artemus Ward, is considered to be America's first stand-up comedian. The character was portrayed as an illiterate rube with "Yankee common sense," and he was played by Browne in public performances. The first documented use of "stand-up" as a term was in The Stage in 1911, detailing a woman named Nellie Perrier delivering 'stand-up comic ditties in a chic and charming manner,' though this was used to describe a performance of comedy songs rather than stand-up comedy in its true modern form.In The Yorkshire Evening Post on November 10, 1917, the "Stage Gossip" column described the career of a comedian named Finlay Dunn. The article stated that Dunn was "what he calls a stand-up comedian'" during the latter part of the 19th century, although the term may have been used retrospectively. Genres Stand-up has multiple genres and styles with their formats. Common ones include: Alternative: Intended to counter the established figures of mainstream comedy. Anecdotal comedy: Storytelling using exaggeration and humor Character: A fictional persona created by the performer. Deadpan: The deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. This is also called dry humor, or dry-wit humor. Insult: Consists mainly of offensive insults, usually directed at the audience or other performers. Musical: Humorous songs or musical parody sometimes without lyrics. Observational: Conversation on the absurdities of everyday life. Satire: Ridicule of people, institutions, or ideas through jokes. Topical: Framed around a specific topic related to current events or dealing with issues that are important or popular at the current time. Wordplay comedy: Tends to involve the use of tactics like puns, double entendres and rhymes to entertain audiences. Thus, delivery tends to be filled with many one-liners.Stand up performances Opener, feature, and headliner The host, compere, or emcee "warms up" the audience and introduces the other performers. This is followed by the opener, the feature, then the headliner. The host may also act as the opener for smaller shows. Proven comics tend to earn regular bookings at clubs that are part of a chain and comedy venues. Jobbing stand-ups may perform sets at two or more venues on the same day. Open mic Clubs and small venues often run open mic events; these slots may be booked in advance or left for walk-ins. Comedians use open mics to work on material or to show off their skills to get an opener slot. "Bringer shows" are shows that require amateur performers to bring a specified number of paying guests with them to receive stage time. Festivals As well as being a mainstay of the comedy circuit, festivals often also showcase up-and-coming acts, with promoters and agents using the festivals to seek out new talent. TV specials and albums Experienced comics with a following may produce a television special or a comedy album. It may be recorded on tour or at a show advertised and performed specifically for the purpose. A TV special originally released on television, video on demand, or film theaters may be re-released as an album on audio CD, LP record or audio streaming. A "half-hour special" is typically between 20 and 35 minutes in runtime excluding commercial breaks and an "hour-long special" is typically between 40 and 65 minutes excluding commercial breaks. Comedy Set Routine Stand-up comedians define their craft through the development of routines, which they construct and refine with jokes and interconnected "bits." These bits form an interwoven narrative, leading to the "closer," the final joke that ties the show's themes together for a satisfying conclusion. Most jokes are the juxtaposition of two incongruous things and are made up of the premise, set-up, and punchline, often adding a twist, topper or tagline for an intensified or extra laugh. Delivery relies on the use of intonation, inflection, attitude and timing as well as other stylistic devices, such as the rule of three, idioms, archetypes or wordplay. Another popular joke structure is the paraprosdokian, a surprising punchline that changes the context or meaning of the setup.In order to falsely frame their stories as true or to free themselves of responsibility for breaking social conventions, comedians can use the jester's privilege, which is the right to discuss and mock anything freely without being punished. Social commentators have referred to the concepts of "punching up" and "punching down" in attempting to describe who should be the "butt of the joke". This carries the assumption that, relative to the comedian's own socio-political identity, comedy should "punch up" at the rich and powerful without "punching down" at those who are marginalized and less fortunate. Many comedians have criticized the cultural rhetoric concerning "punching up" and "punching down", including Colin Quinn, who described the terms as a product of activism and "not created by humorous people." Joke theft Appropriation and plagiarism are considered "social crimes" by most stand-ups. There have been several high-profile accusations of joke theft, some ending in lawsuits for copyright infringement. Those accused will sometimes claim cryptomnesia or parallel thinking, but it is difficult to successfully sue for joke theft regardless due to the idea–expression distinction. Audiences According to Anna Spagnolli, stand-up comedy audiences "are both 'co-constructors of the situation' and 'co-responsible for it' ".In stand-up comedy, an unspoken contra.... Discover the Mark Shatz Mel Helitzer popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Mark Shatz Mel Helitzer books.