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Stand-up ComedyStand-up comedy is a performance style typically featuring a single performer who aims to make an audience laugh. It evolved from several 20th-century American comedy traditions and has since grown into an influential—and commercially successful—international artistic form.
The genre was born from burlesque shows, a bawdy offshoot of vaudeville theater. During the Great Depression, many burlesque comics, like Bob Hope, took to the airwaves as variety show hosts, offering topical (and sometimes controversial) jokes. Entertainment circuits in upstate New York and the South offered Jewish and Black comics venues to develop their craft and, in turn, the nascent genre.
The rise of mass media made stand-up comedians household names, thanks to late-night talk shows, “Saturday Night Live,” and HBO. That trend continued through the rise of the internet, with stand-ups pioneering the podcast, turning it from a fringe format into a dominant medium.Explore Stand-up Comedy
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Stand-up comedy podcasts have realigned political campaignsSome of the world’s most popular podcasts, like “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von,” are hosted by stand-up comedians. They also now play a role in American politics, with representatives, senators, and even presidents taking part in their freewheeling conversations WUNCJean Carroll was one of the first women to make a name in stand-up comedyCarroll cut her teeth in vaudeville alongside Buddy Howe, her husband, who later became her manager. Despite operating in a male-dominated field, she became a popular headliner and was a mainstay as a stand-up on "The Ed Sullivan Show," which led to her own sitcom. analog36HBO effectively created the hourlong stand-up comedy specialStand-up comedy was already on television in the 1970s thanks to Johnny Carson, but comics were limited to clean sets that typically lasted five minutes. HBO, on the other hand, offered stand-ups the opportunity to air their unadulterated material like they would at a club. Cracked.comMo Amer shares his immigration journey through comedy and storytellingIn the 2025 "Code Switch" podcast, comedian Mo Amer discusses how his Netflix series, "Mo," and other stand-up specials draw on his real-life experience as a Palestinian refugee navigating the US immigration system. Code SwitchMario's archnemesis hosted a children's show in the 1980s"Super Mario Bros." grew so popular in the '80s, even King Koopa, the video game's villain, had his own television show, though it's been all but erased from TV history. There's good reason for that: It was a bizarre enterprise, featuring '30s cartoons, a grumpy stand-up comedian, and cheap production. CBRWinning a Steve Martin look-alike contest led Bill Nye to pursue comedyDoing impressions helped Nye realize he enjoyed making people laugh, and he pursued stand-up and comedy writing gigs while working at Boeing after college. On October 3, 1986, he left his engineering job to pursue a full-time career in the entertainment industry. ELLEWill Rogers' political humor was an early predecessor to stand-upRogers got his start spinning ropes for circus shows and broke through his association with Florence Zeigfeld's Follies and Frolic. It was his humorous political commentary, though, that would solidify his celebrity status. His goodhearted ribbing of society's "big men" predated the common notion of stand-up comedians as truth-telling jesters. Oklahoma Historical SocietyStand-up Marc Maron invented the modern comedy podcastIn 2009, Marc Maron created his podcast “WTF,” featuring the stand-up holding long, candid conversations with an eclectic selection of guests. That template now defines modern podcasting, including some of the medium’s most popular shows. The Telegraph via Yahoo EntertainmentJohnny Carson was a stand-up kingmakerWhile it was on the air, “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” was a prime outlet for stand-up comedy. Getting invited over to Carson’s couch meant he’d enjoyed the set—and that the comic was destined for great success. The New York TimesThe Borscht Belt was a haven for Jewish vacationers—and comedy fansNew York’s Catskills region resorts were informally named after a dish popular with Ashkenazi Jews. The area offered affordable vacationing, as well as cutting-edge stand-up from future stars like Milton Berle, Mel Brooks, and Joan Rivers. Smithsonian MagazineStand-up became more popular during the Great DepressionThe stock market crash of 1929 caused vaudeville theaters to shutter. Audiences were looking for lighthearted distractions from the country’s financial problems, though, and stand-up became more popular, albeit in very different venues. NPRMark Twain was an early influence on stand-upThe writer’s live lectures looked a lot like modern stand-up comedy specials. Twain’s world tour in the 1890s featured 90-minute performances in which he stood alone on the stage, delivering long, comedic monologues with his hand perched on his chin. PBS NewsEdgier burlesque shows helped define the formStand-up came into its own at burlesque shows, thanks to audiences who sought humor that reflected the hectic, urban settings where they lived. According to historian Joseph Boskin, “The tempo of the comedy, like the movement of city streets, was swift and jolting and possessed highly recognizable parameters.” Slate MagazineChris Rock believes TV ruined stand-upChris Rock is one of comedy’s stand-up superstars, breaking through with several specials in the ‘90s. In this interview with stand-up legend David Steinberg, Rock explains how comics began working towards landing a spot on TV rather than focusing on creating a long, inspired stand-up set. Deep C DigitalSteve Martin was a wildly successful stand-up—and abruptly quit doing itIn the ‘70s, few stand-up comics were bigger than Steve Martin, who released multiplatinum albums and regularly sold out arenas. As he detailed in his 2007 memoir, Martin had grown disillusioned with his success as a stand-up and pivoted into film. Katie MearsLenny Bruce's stand-up challenged US lawBruce came up in burlesque theaters, but began to find success as stand-up comedy developed a more political and subversive bent. His sets often satirized what he believed to be an oppressively conformist society, which led to his arrest on several occasions. Ridiculous HistoryHBO invented the modern stand-up special in 1975When they appeared on TV, stand-ups were typically limited to five-minute spots on late-night talk shows, like “The Tonight Show.” That changed with the fledgling HBO, which offered comics hourlong slots. The first was “An Evening with Robert Klein,” a special that would define “the hour” for decades. 800 Pound Gorilla MediaMort Sahl released the first stand-up albumThere were comedy records that came before “The Future Lies Ahead,” but Sahl’s 1958 album, released by jazz imprint Verve, was the first official recording that captured a complete stand-up set. Panflute ExtraBob Hope's radio shows brought stand-up to the massesBob Hope’s 1930s variety shows featured comedic monologues. Unlike the tightly scripted and evergreen sets of vaudeville, Hope’s monologues leaned into topical and political humor, sometimes to the disapproval of his network. Library of CongressHear a joke from Charley Case, the first stand-up comedianVaudeville performer Case is believed to be the first modern stand-up. While others before him told jokes onstage, Case was the first to do it without props or costuming. This 1909 recording features one of his jokes. The content may be outdated, but the structure can still be found in stand-up sets today. Tim GracykStand-up arrived in the late 19th centuryVaudeville theaters featured family-friendly comics, often working in teams, to execute tightly written comedic back-and-forths. Burlesque, vaudeville’s bawdier offshoot, often featured single comics delivering rapid-fire, joke-filled sets. The Milo Miles TooAt its core, stand-up is about a comic making a crowd laughThe performance style typically features a single performer who aims to make an audience laugh. It evolved from 19th and 20th-century American comedy traditions and has since grown into an influential—and commercially successful—international artistic form. Jangles ScienceLadThe network’s early days were focused on movies and sportsHBO launched in 1972, with an initial focus on commercial-free movies and sports events. The network’s first-ever broadcast was an NHL game between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks, signaling its commitment to premium, live content. Click AmericanaNetflix has sometimes struggled with technical aspects of live-streamingAnne Aaron, Netflix’s senior encoding tech director, spent a decade improving how Netflix streams its content. Then came the challenges of live events. Netflix has experimented with live content like stand-up comedy and sporting events. In this interview with The Verge, Aaron walks through the associated technical and coding challenges. The Verge
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