Lev Fer Thinks Comedians Should Laugh at their Own Jokes; Here’s Why
“Complicated with Lev Fer” is a podcast hosted by NYC comedian Lev Fer. Every week he interviews great comedians, artists and people about their careers and lives. Past guests have included great comics like Tim Dillon, Mark Normand and Tamer Kattan. Listen to Mark Normand talk about what it’s like to fly on private jets with the likes of Louis CK and Amy Schumer, or tune into Tamer Kattan talking about the complicated love between a father and son. Every Monday morning on iTunes, SoundCloud, YouTube, Laughable and Stitcher.
“Ugh, that guy laughs at his own jokes on stage.” As a comic coming up in New York City, I hear that complaint about comedians pretty often. Somewhere along the way, somebody’s uncle somehow slipped in the idea that comedians shouldn’t laugh at their own jokes on stage. What’s crazy is that some people actually bought into it, despite seeing the greatest comedians of all time doing exactly that on their comedy specials. Richard Pryor, arguably the greatest comedian ever, often snuck in careful laughs during his sets as a way to buffer between jokes, and more importantly, show his audience that past the fame, he was also a real person, just like them.
Dave Chappelle, an absolute comedy legend, is famously known for his trademark laugh where he falls back and hits the mic against his leg. What a lot of people don’t understand is that comedians aren’t laughing at their own jokes on stage because they think that they’re so unbelievably funny. By the time a joke makes it to a comedy special, it’s been told over and over, night after night for at least a year, oftentimes even longer. They’re no longer laughing at the bit, but they are laughing as a part of the performance. Stand-up comedy relies on getting laughs from an audience, but a comedian’s own laugh is an important delivery tool, just like making a face or doing an act-out. A laugh from a comedian subconsciously tells the audience “this is a funny part, it’s okay to laugh here.”
Louis CK has become an absolute master in the performance of stand-up. Every single line in his material is not only told, but performed, each emotion being expressed with a certain look in his eyes or a different tone of voice. He also uses his own laugh on stage better than anyone I’ve ever seen. Watch the way he breaks out into laughter when he says certain words, to instruct his audience when to laugh. We’re creatures that rely heavily on body language, and that laugh tells us that he’s just having fun by saying this ridiculous thing, and that it’s just a joke. It disarms us. Louis also has a very iconic move as a comic where he sort of laughs nervously as he says a premise to make it feel like a confession that he probably shouldn’t be saying out loud. He does it often on his specials and they help him build these “confessions” into great moments.
Some comics aren’t storytellers and don’t do a conversational style of stand-up. One liner comics or dead-pan comedians may never feel the need to laugh at their own bit, as it may go against their style, but as far as conversational comedians, I think it’s easy to close the book on whether or not they should laugh at their own jokes. The best ones usually do. They might do it because they like saying a certain word, or they want to disarm their audience, and sometimes they might just do it to let you know that they just got away with something.
