Standup comedy takes seat in front of computer

And Reich disagreed with those who say the net doesn’t allow a performer to learn and grow after receiving feedback.

“Online audiences are brutal,” he said. “If our (viewers) on CollegeHumor.com dislike something, they’ll be the first to say that you should have been aborted. The reaction is so violent and immediate that we can really accurately shape our content to please our users. We’ve done that really well over the last few years, going from an average of 50,000 views to 300,000 views per original video.”

In traditional standup, Pollak said, dissatisfied customers — hecklers, if you will — have their place in the comedy dynamic.

“I don’t want to suggest heckling is beneficial because you don’t want to encourage anyone to participate,” Pollak said. “But if you can survive, surviving is character-building. Overcoming an obstacle might help you discover a new bit.”

Reich said that Brooks and Ferguson have a point in one respect when it comes to success and failure. “Online, the SIZE of your audience depends entirely on the merit of your video,” Reich explained. “In that sense, you have infinite opportunities to fail before you succeed. That’s valuable for an artist who is having a hard time finding his niche. You aren’t famous until it’s for a good reason – unless you’re the Numa Numa guy.”

Whether it’s live or on the Internet, performers face the challenge of trying to build an audience at all. Lenny Bruce worked the clubs, and his legend gradually grew. The same was true of Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld and just about any standup who has ever caused or shared a guffaw at the Friars Club.

Now? In some ways, it’s a lot easier to build a following (see Dane Cook). In others, it’s a bear, because of all the clutter.

“We have become such an exhibitionist culture that comedy has been affected by excess and the ubiquity of content,” said Dianne Lynch, dean of the school of communications at Ithaca (N.Y.) College. “The issue isn’t so much about a comic performing before an audience but that the noise is so tremendous out there and building an audience is more difficult than ever.

“It used to be you went to the clubs, you were terrible, but you had an opportunity to grow and learn. You also built a fan base, a consistent audience that looked for your work. The nature of Internet entertainment and YouTube is that celebrity is immediate and fleeting.”

She said many of her students are pointing at careers at places like Disney, or in newsrooms around the country. But many will also seek jobs as independent Internet content producers.

“There’s an incredible awareness among our students and they’re open to possibilities of other career paths,” she said. “The content they most often access and talk about and pay attention to is on YouTube.

“The Sarah Palin impersonation is the ideal intersection of comedy and culture. More of our students say they’ve seen the Sarah Palin-Tina Fey bit online than they did on television.”

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