Louis CK Refines the Art of Comedy
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Dan Friedman January 18, 2017
We know that Louis CK is very funny, with a scathing take on contemporary society. But Nerdwriter1’s seven minute YouTube analysis explains that CK’s technique has three major pillars.
First. However spontaneous he sounds, CK has meticulously planned every word. As a matter of survival, comedians need clear premises. If the audience doesn’t know what comedians are talking about, it isn’t going to laugh at the punchline.
Second. CK uses every word. Punchlines are the biggest surprises, but there are laughs in, for example, judicious use of over-dramatic adjectives in the premise. His 6-year-old daughter will lose at monopoly. But saying she will “inevitably” lose “every” game is as clear — and funnier.
Third. CK stays in the moment, as taught him by Sir Jerry Seinfeld. If the audience is enjoying his anger, he stays angry. If they are enjoying his sadness, he stays sad. If they are enjoying his malevolent paternal glee at crushing his daughter in Monopoly, he stays malevolently paternally gleeful.
Dan Friedman is the executive editor and comedy correspondent for the Forward. Follow him on Twitter, @danfriedmanme
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
