the.com/comedian
a professional who turns trauma into ticket sales and pain into punchlines
means A performer whose job is to make audiences laugh, whether through stand-up, sketch, film, or sheer force of personality.
from From the Greek 'komoidos,' a singer or performer in a 'komoidia' — a comedy. That word likely braids together 'komos' (a riotous, drunken revel, the kind of merrymaking band that would parade through the streets) and 'aoidos' (singer). So at its root, a comedian is literally a singer at the party — the funny one in the procession. It travelled through Latin 'comoedia' and Old French before settling into English, where by around the 16th century it meant a stage actor in comedies, only later narrowing to the joke-teller we picture today.
- clinical edge
- Studies link comedians to higher rates of psychotic traits
- death origin
- The word stems from Greek komodos, a reveling singer
- deadly job
- Comedy duo Tommy Cooper died onstage; crowd laughed
- rule of three
- Setups land best with a third escalating beat
- silence weapon
- The pause before a punchline does the heaviest lifting
dave chappelle — performed 8 specials on netflix since 2017, won 3 emmys
dave attell — host of insomniac since 2001, toured 300+ nights per year in 2000s
maria bamford — netflix special 'weakness is the brand' 2020, writes about bipolar ii disorder
bo burnham — special 'inside' 2021, won 6 emmys, filmed entirely in home studio