The Art of Comedy

Last Tuesday, I attended a buddy of ours’ Jorge Emanuel Barrios’ solo show at The Second City - an improv/comedy school in Hollywood, Toronto and Florida. My buddies, Nguyen and Ara, are two dope guys I’ve had the honor to link up with this year. Nguyen redid my much-needed logo and is like an older brother to me. Even though we’ve followed each other on social media for a year or two, it was like family once we linked up (someone I’m hoping to get on the podcast because he’s dope af). Ara is an up-and-coming comedian. Funny as hell - a compliment I don’t give too lightly. I watch a lot of stand-up comedy and have seen a lot of comedians do their thing - Ara is pretty fucking hilarious. So we go to support Ara’s friend, Jorge, and it’s a show that the students are required to do. This just happened to be a solo show. Jorge told the story of his life, growing up in Florida, losing a bunch of weight, struggling to fit in, getting his gf at the time pregnant, having a miscarriage and then moving to Hollywood for a dream of being a comedian/actor. His Cuban impressions were on point, stage presence was there, you could tell that he was nervous but he recovered well. What I realized sitting in that seat was that damn…it takes guts to get up there and try to entertain the 30 people in the room, putting yourself out there to be judged and ridiculed and that maybe life is really about risking everything for something only you can see. It was a small show but it was full of his friends and family. It reminded me of Hassan Minhaj (who I don’t really think is a great stand up comedian but…a good story teller). I think there’s a difference when it comes down to it. Obviously, bits and jokes are rehearsed and told for months before you see the final product but there’s a difference between coming off like a genuine conversation with the audience vs. the rehearsed act. For example, look at Kevin Hart’s standup when he first started to now. It’s a little too much now. Too choreographed. One thing you’ll see that is kind of disappointing is that comics will retell jokes and if you hear it again it kind of throws you off like “I’ve heard this before.” But the reason why they do that is because they usually work on their set throughout the year and perfect it before shooting a special. For example, Jo Koy’s new special on Netflix. I heard about 90% of his special at the Irvine Improv earlier this year. He probably shot that special end of last year and it took all this time to be edited and approved. So just know these are some things you may encounter when you’re seeing your favorite comedian. Anyways, comedy is an art that I’m so fascinated about.