Sometimes, comedy seems like the easiest thing to do when you see people laughing at something you said for fun. But it’s only when you think of being an actual comedian that you come to know the real struggle. Following are some of the challenges faced by the comedians:
Humiliation
The initial few years of being on the stage are very tough for a comedian. When there’s a dancing or singing performance, even if people don’t like the show, they clap and cheer at the end, out of courtesy. But, the same situation is humiliating for a comedian if the default reaction by the audience is silence. Some people even humiliate the comedian while he is on the stage by pointing out negative aspects of his performance.
Topic
Most comedians face a truckload of issues when it comes to writing a good script for the performance. The first and the foremost thing is a topic which should be non-offensive and funny. It should be a current topic to which people can relate. It should be understandable for the audience and should instantly connect with the people attending the performance.
Content and Punchlines
Comedians spend a sea of time preparing content for their 3-5 minutes performance. This might seem like an intimidating task to come up with a punchline which makes people laugh their head off. Thinking of a character that he can perform with confidence and that can also make the audience laugh might prove to be a challenging job. A comedian also has to judge his content so that it’s offensive to his audience.
Reaction of the audience
A comedian tries his best to come up with humorous situations and the best punchlines. In spite of that, he might not get a good response from the audience, which shoots down his morale. This might be because of his lack of understanding of the audience. If a person is joking about student life in front of an audience aged 40-50 years, they won’t get it and eventually won’t make them laugh.
Trolls
In this digital era, everyone is free to express their views and opinions over the internet. Some people consider it as an opportunity to troll and bully comedians. They insult them publicly and pass harsh comments, which disturbs the mental health public figure. It is indeed very difficult to ignore the trolls, especially when you’re just starting out. Sometimes, the extent of trolls is so much that it even starts affecting the family of the comedian.
Stage fear and Confidence
The stage is a comedian’s best friend. Being on the stage is the most important thing for a comedian. He has to let go of his stage fear in order to present himself in front of the audience and make them laugh. Well, it surely isn’t as easy as it sounds like. A person has to practice for an enormous number of hours for a single performance on the stage.
Lack of recognition and opportunities
Comedy is not very much favored as a profession. Most people think of it as a side gig when it actually is a tough full-time activity. Due to lack of recognition, there’s a lack of support which pulls back an aspiring comedian to grow and flourish. There is also a lack of opportunities as there is no established industry like Bollywood or Hollywood for comedians. They keep struggling in order to find a suitable industry to work with.
Favouritism
Most people don’t even give a chance to the budding comedians as they tend to listen and watch the existing and established comedians only. Like the way we compare actors and singers, comedians are compared with each other. Sure, some of them might be better than others. Still, it is important to give an opportunity to the new ones to prove themselves and to grow in the industry.
Energy
A comedian has to set aside his internal feelings of sadness such as personal issues, illness, grief, and other such feelings and be energetic and joyful on the stage so as to make the people feel the same. It is very difficult to ignore the negative thoughts, and hence it’s one of the most faced challenges of being a comedian. It also requires the comedian to be at the top of his energy level in terms of voice, tone, and expressions so that the people enjoy the performance.
Tone and Performance
Even if the script is good but the tone isn’t, it would be no good. A comedian faces the challenge of picking up a tone that is funny enough to make people split their sides. When the script is not well written, the comedian has the pressure of performing the given script in a way that the audience doesn’t notice the poor dialogues.
It is not easy at all to cope up with so many challenges initially. But you will be able to start off way better than others if you learn comedy under expert guidance.
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