Alternative Comedy

Alternative comedy is a style of comedy that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and 1980s which would eventually go on to become mainstream in the 1990s and up to the present day. It has its roots in British nonsense writings of the Victorian Era, and their logical extension through the works of Canadian author Stephen Leacock and his influence over the Marx Brothers and The Goons. It coincided with other comedy movements of a similar style around the world, although the British scene had many unique aspects. A major alternative scene existed in L.A. during the early 1990s, in which David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, Julia Sweeney, Margaret Cho, and Beth Lapides, among others, rose to comedic promenence. There are currently three major "alternative" movements in English-speaking North America, in Los Angeles, in Toronto and in New York (centred on the East Village).

It should be noted that for an alternative comic to rise to comedic prominence does not mean that they rose to any public consciousness.

Definition

Alternative comedy can be alternatively defined as a) any comedy style that make a conscious break with the mainstream comedic taste of a particular era (meaning that what was alternative 20 years ago might now be commonplace, and so no longer alternative) or b) in reference to a particular British "post-punk" comedy movement that relied not on punchline-based jokes, like traditional comedians. Instead a typical alternative comedian might rely on one, all or a selection of the following:

• Observational humour: Making humour out of everday occurrences, and also laughing at one's own foibles and weakenesses (traditional comedians laughed at other people, such as ethnic minorities or "the mother-in-law", while alternative comedians laughed at themselves, their situation, and at the human condition).

• Political satire: Or, at the very least, a radicalised political awareness rooted in socialism; if a comedian was floundering, he/she could get a cheer out of the audience by simply making a joke about Margaret Thatcher (Ben Elton, a well-known alternative comedian, referred to her as 'Mrs Thatch' and would often say, "Ooh, little bit of politics!" when he drifted into political satire). Nearly all female comedians described themselves as feminist to a greater or lesser degree.

• Breaking social taboos: Particularly those relating to sex and bad language; alternative comedians swore on stage and, continuing the theme of observational humour, often made jokes about sex acts and sexuality. Toilet humour was not uncommon either.

• Surreal whimsy: A comedian might start with observational humour and then drift into a degree of surrealism. For example, Paul Merton's Policeman on Acid sketch, or much of Alexei Sayle's material.

• Intellectual humour: Generally speaking, alternative comedy required an educated or knowledgeable audience. It required the audience to participate and understand the humour, rather than simply sit back and expect to be made to laugh.

• Extreme slapstick: People were often set on fire, had bricks smashed over their heads, or were flung through walls etc. This is arguably a less common trait of alternative comedy, however, and was only practiced by a handful of artists, such as Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson (and also Rowan Atkinson in the Blackadder television shows).

• Improvisation: Working without a script or plan and making up comedy on the spot in response to audience suggestions. This was usually during nights dedicated to 'improv', however.

• Story-telling & Personal Narrative: Emphasizing story, personal experience and individual rhythm instead of the rigid set-up/punchline jokes and rhythms of mainstream comedy as exemplified by Un-Cabaret in Los Angeles and The Moth in NY.

Alternative comedy was radical, both for its time and even today. Alternative comedians were passionate performers. Many were not driven exclusively by the desire to entertain, but also by the fact they had a message to get across (or simply because they wanted to smash social boundaries).

Nearly all alternative comedians were university graduates. Many came from a middle-class background and most held strong political and/or social beliefs. Most weren't trained actors or experienced comics. They didn't come from a variety or show-biz background. The sought to redefine the rulebook on comedy entertainment. Considering the mainstream success of most alternative comedians today, it could be argued that they succeeded.

History in England

Alternative comedy was a product of its time. In the early 1980s Britain was a politically divided country, although alternative comedy also had a nihilistic streak running through its core. Margaret Thatcher had come to power and was pushing forward free trade reforms, but many still believed that Britain would one day be a socialist country. Punk rock had just come and gone in the late 1970s and Britain was changing forever in ways few people understood. From this melting pot alternative comedy was born.

It could be argued that alternative comedy was a natural progression of anti-establishment comedy which had started in the 1950s and 60s with the Satire Boom, the best-selling stage show Beyond the Fringe and TV shows like That Was The Week That Was. In addition, the bizarreness and surrealism of TV shows such as Monty Python's Flying Circus and Spike Milligan's Q5 (also known as Q6, Q7, Q8 and Q9) undoubtedly had an influence.

With regard to the origin of the term "alternative comedy", pioneering alternative comedian Malcolm Hardee wrote in his autobiography "I Stole Freddie Mercury's Birthday Cake" (1996) that fellow comedian Tony Allen coined the phrase. He goes on to claim its origin was the series of 'alternative cabaret' shows staged in 1978 by the owner of the Ferry Inn at Salcombe, Devon. He advertised that his cutting-edge comedy was 'alternative' to the more mainstream comedy being put on by the local yacht club.

But most would argue that alternative comedy found its home in London, in The Comedy Store and The Comic Strip clubs (later also Jongleurs as well as others). As alternative comedy became more popular, similar clubs were opened in most British cities. They were (and still are) live venues which presented nothing but comedy and, although described as clubs, membership was not necessary. The "stage" was usually a raised platform inches away from the audience, which made for intimate and less theatrical performances.

A number of key alternative comedy performers had been students at Manchester University (a university in the northwest of England), including Adrian Edmonson, Rik Mayall, and Ben Elton.

Transition to mainstream

Spurred on by the actions of up coming television producers, such as Paul Jackson, Geoffrey Perkins and Jimmy Mulville, alternative comedy spilled onto TV in the 80s. It was supported by minority channel BBC 2 in the form of The Young Ones and other sitcoms. These were seen as cult programmes, although there was some mainstream success for shows like Not The Nine O'Clock News and French & Saunders, both of which eventually switched from BBC2 to BBC1.

The UK's other minority channel, Channel 4, hosted Saturday Live (UK) (later Friday Night Live), which effectively provided a TV platform for all those appearing at the Comedy Store at the time. Channel 4 also commissioned most of The Comic Strip pastiches as a central part of the channel's early development.

The problem presented by alternative comedy on television was finding the correct format - a stand-up comedy performance was at odds with the needs of TV. Sketch shows, which relied on punchlines, were alien to the nature of alternative comedy. This lead to a very high quantity of failed TV pilots. If there wasn't an alternative comedy star or top-rated programme in the early days, it wasn't through lack of trying.

However, despite that, 'alternative' comedy would eventually become mainstream, with the likes of Absolutely Fabulous becoming prime-time BBC viewing. In the early 1990s Ben Elton presented the UK TV chat show Wogan, in the host's absence, signifying that alternative comedy was to be thrust upon mainstream audiences whether they liked it or not. When comedy duo Rob Newman and David Baddiel played the largest ever stand-up gig at Wembley Arena, alternative comedy was hailed as "the new rock and roll" and acts made significant sums from merchandising, recordings of their TV shows and live performances.

Traditional comedy, characterised by Bernard Manning and Frank Carson, would be relegated to the sidelines in live venues such as working men's clubs. Nowadays traditional comedians appear on television only as curiosities in mockumentaries, or as game show hosts.

Modern British alternative comedy

It's debatable whether alternative comedy still exists. Comedians have always been averse to describing themselves as alternative, even during the genre's heyday. Comedians like Mark Thomas, Mark Steel, and Jeremy Hardy still perform stand-up with a hard political and intellectual edge but their isolation makes them conspicuous, and they're far from being household names. Few of the original alternative comedians appear on stage any longer, least of all performing stand-up comedy. Ben Elton, arguably the epitome of an alternative comedian for much of the 1980s, now considers himself a writer, and has scripted several West End stage musicals.

There is certainly still a strong scene of underground stand-up comedians supported by the likes of the Edinburgh Fringe and various live comedy clubs up and down the country. Proponents include Boothby Graffoe, Ross Noble, Dominic Holland, Sean Lock and Dave Gorman. BBC Radio 4 sponsors many up-and-coming alternative comedians, such as The Consultants, via half-hour shows. Character comedy is also a large part of modern alternative comedy and modern alternative comedians are usually also actors.

It's worth noting that the comedy clubs which sponsored alternative comedy are still in operation and a search of their Friday and Saturday night list of acts shows the contemporary scene off very well.

Modern alternative comedy tends to be more absurdist than previously, perhaps as a reaction to the pointed satire and deliberate intellectualism of the earlier generation which had become odious. It's also more international than previously, with Australian, Irish, and American comedians mixing in well with what was at one time an almost exclusively British scene. One suggestion towards a definition of modern alternative comedy might be that it is popular but in a limited way (i.e. it achieves cult status). Recent examples include Brass Eye, The League of Gentlemen programmes or, from a previous generation, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer (Reeves & Mortimer).

[edit] Major Alternative Comedy Scenes (2001 - Present)

Currently, Alternative Comedy is experiencing a rennaissance. Necessarily, what is alternative to one generation is staid to another, and the young comedians in the East Village and Toronto have put their new stamp on what is considered "not mainstream". The idea of a "non-physical venue" is also on the rise, with downloadable acts in the form of a video podcast using the viewer's iPod or computer as the new stage. Such groups as The Lonely Island and [Train of Thought Sketch Comedy] have been able to promote their unique brand of humor in the form of short skits and vignettes that you can either download or stream from their respective sites. Without the pressure of renting a performance space or getting a "bad performance time" the focus is put on providing a non-traditional form of comedy that not only plays with content, but with concept and medium as well.

The Los Angeles Scene

American alternative comedy was born in Los Angeles in 1990 when performance artist-turned comedian Beth Lapides started bringing comedy to "alternative" venues like The Women's Building and Highways Performance Space. In contrast to the material onstage at the Comedy Store and the Improv, Lapides and her fellow-travellers were interested in comedy that was un-homophobic, un-xenophobic, un-misogynistic, and dubbed their show "Un-Cabaret".

Un-Cabaret took up residence in 1993 at LunaPark, an eclectic music club in West Hollywood, with Sunday night shows for the next seven years featuring performers who had been active in the straight clubs like Taylor Negron, Dana Gould, Andy Kindler, Judy Toll, Laura Kightlinger, Margaret Cho, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, plus others like Julia Sweeney, Kathy Griffin, Scott Thompson, et. al. who came from The Groundlings and other sketch traditions. Un-Cabaret's brand of alternative comedy was based in storytelling and stream-of-consciousness rants, and added a structural innovation: a second microphone in the back of the room that Lapides used to talk to other performers while they were onstage. This ensured an informal, conversational and spontaneous performance situation in keeping with Un-Cabaret's insistence that performers never "do their act".

The alternative comedy scene flourished, with many other shows pursuing more surreal sketch & musical forms. It was at this time that Bob & David started workshopping "Mr. Show" in a live club context. Un-Cabaret also created a one-hour special for Comedy Central.

When LunaPark closed, Un-Cabaret moved to the HBO Workspace, Knitting Factory, and then M-Bar, with increasing focus on getting funny people to tell unusually honest stories about their real life. TV writers like Michael Patrick King, Judd Apatow, Larry Charles and Winnie Holzman started performing with Un-Cabaret as a creative alternative to their network day-jobs. This led to other Un-Cabaret produced shows like "Say the Word" (writers reading their own true funny stories) and "The Other Network", a collection of un-aired TV pilots introduced by their creators.

Un-Cabaret continues to present live shows and conduct workshops to help comedians and writers explore this style of funny personal narrative. www.uncabaret.com

Many of the comedians from the '90's LA alternative scene (David Cross, Janeane Garofalo, Patton Oswalt) were outspoken in their leftist political beliefs, a remarkable contrast to the current downtown New York scene that prefers absurdism and irony to making statements.

The Toronto Scene

To understand the Toronto Alternative Comedy Scene, you must first understand that Toronto is a city renowned for creating comedy. Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Eugene Levy, John Candy, and many others have roots in Toronto. The city's comedy scene has been dominated by Yuk Yuk's standup comedy club and Second City improvisational theater for quite some time. The success of SCTV, a Toronto produced television show based on characters developed at Second City, became the benchmark for Canadian comedy. Yuk Yuk's, conversely, renowned for bawdy humour, caters to lovers of traditional "set-up/punchline" stand-up.

The roots of Toronto's alternative comedy scene lie in The Rivoli in the 1980s, where the Kids in the Hall presented their revolutionary sketch comedy. The venue became host of the weekly ALTdot COMedy Lounge in the 1990s, which continues to be the city's #1 alternative comedy show. Other prominent venues have come and gone, including Pirate Video Cabaret at Clinton's, Sketchy at Best (produced by The Vanier Improv Company's Dave Crawford at Second City's Tim Sims Playhouse) and The Laugh Resort (now considered more of a mainstream venue). These shows blended stand-up, sketch, character pieces, video and multi-media performances to create the roots of Toronto's alternative scene. Indeed, The ALTdot was so successful that a second night was added to accommodate sketch troupes and filmmakers: The Sketch Comedy Lounge.

Another mainstream source for comedy that deserves mention as "alternative" was Calgary's Loose Moose Theater, which supplied many of the top improvisors to Toronto in the 1990s. This theatre is now also considered "mainstream" by many, as is the Second City modeled Bad Dog Theatre.

Because of the widespread popularity of comedy in Toronto, and the sheer number of shows, "alternative comedy" in the city is difficult to define, but it usually refers to comedy outside of the Yuk-Yuk's and Second City umbrellas.

Recently the Toronto alternative comedy scene has been going through a bit of a renaissance, fueled partly by the bankruptcy and moving of The Second City but also by the establishment of a comedy program at Humber College. Many argue that Humber's program teaches mainstream comedy and is therefore detrimental to the "alternative" scene, but some of the most noted alternative comics did study there.

Graduates of Humber have established many of Toronto's newer alternative shows, such as Sunday Night Live

Outside the Humber umbrella, Red Maneouvers (produced at The Cameron House by David Dineen-Porter, Chris Locke & Brian Barlow of The Gurg, Adam B. Picard and Jennifer Warrens) was followed by Righteous Wednesdays (at The Oasis, which became the first show to offer "best-of" excerpts via podcast), which then became Laugh Sabbath (at The Rivoli). Laugh Sabbath consists of four rotating shows: Comedy and a... (featuring The Distractions, Knock Knock. Who's There? Comedy! and musician Bob Wiseman), Let's Get Hot, The Loner Show and Comedy Concert Concerts.

Another show which features many of the city's best alternative comedy acts is The Joke Club, a monthly stand-up and video show at The Drake Hotel produced by local alternative comedian Nick Flanagan (who cut his teeth touring with Neil Hamburger).

On the sketch side, The Distractions and The Understudies) established Tuesday Sketch Day, while Becky Johnson & Graham Wagner (of Iron Cobra), Kurt Smeaton and Julie Dumais set up the alternative improv show Catch 23. Both shows ran monthly at Clinton's. Both shows are now defunct.

Other benchmark shows on the alternative scene that were not regular include Dave Martin's "Jekyll & Hyde" show, Scott McCrickard's "Other People's Stuff", Ron Sparks, Fraser Young and Andy Boorman's Downtown Comedy Festival and Shane MacDougall's The Dark Show. Boyd Banks also began an alternative-friendly stand-up room at the Dominion Pub in 2005.

The Toronto scene has been noted for its innovation on several fronts, with many prominent exemplars garnering awards and nominations at the highest levels in Canada. The group has blurred the lines between and excelled at sketch, improv, standup, character monologues, multimedia displays, musical acts, etc, at several different venues.

The Toronto scene blends variability, adaptability and creativity; key aspects include a fusion of intelligence and stupidity, delving into the macabre. Comedians tend to perform in a variety of formats, trying their hand at everything rather than trying to "perfecting their schtick".

Prominent acts include:

Stand-ups/Solo Performers

• Mark Andrada

• Brian Barlow - of the Gurg

• Sandra Battaglini

• Andy Boorman

• Terry Clement

• Gavin Crawford

• Katie Crown - of KKWTC

• Sean Cullen

• David Dineen-Porter - of the Iliads

• Gord Disley

• Aaron Eves - Of KKWTC

• Nick Flanagan

• Mark Forward

• Chris Gibbs (born in the U.K.)

• Rebecca Kohler

• Mack Lawrenz

• Chris Locke - of the Gurg

• Levi MacDougall - of the Distractions

• Thomas Middleditch - of the Iliads

• Nikki Payne

• Kathleen Phillips

• Tim Polley - of the Distractions

• Jason Rouse

• Paul Schuck - of the Distractions

• Ron Sparks

• Winston Spear

• Graham Wagner - of Iron Cobra

Sketch Troupes/Group Acts

• Calcu-Lator and the Oral Presentation

• Corky and the Juice Pigs

• Dead Kid Did It

• The Distractions

• The Gazebo Pals

• The Gurg

• The Iliads

• Iron Cobra

• The Kids in the Hall

• Knock Knock. Who's there? Comedy!

• The Minnesota Wrecking Crew

• The Sketchersons

• The Understudies

• The GTOs
   

Major Works

The Distractions have a feature film deal with the Comedy Network, written and developed by Blair Powers.

Adam and Dave (of Knock Knock. Who's There? Comedy!) have completed the film Switchstance with John Ennis of Mr. Show.

A cycle of radio plays by the Iliads is set to be released this summer, rumour has it, with major label support.

The East Village Scene

In downtown New York, comedy flourishes outside of the stand-up club circuit. Theaters that are more known for improv or sketch comedy, like the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (UCB), and The Peoples Improv Theater (PIT), as well as cabarets that do not exclusively offer any kind of comedy, like Rififi, have weekly comedy shows. The UCB Theater has Crash Test every Monday, hosted by Aziz Ansari. The PIT has Hot Tub every Friday, hosted by Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal. Rififi has Giant Tuesday Night of Amazing Inventions And Also There Is A Game and Invite Them Up.

The comedians at these shows offer character-based humor or surreal humor as opposed to observations of everyday life or more polemical themes. A growing number of comics (Demetri Martin, Slovin and Allen, Andres du Bouchet, Joshua Grosvent and Michael Ennis) do not only tell jokes, opting to play music, give Powerpoint presentations or act out sketches as well. It's rare to see these performers in a traditional New York comedy club much like it's rare to see a traditional "club comic" in an underground room. A few alternative comics (David Cross, Todd Barry, Patton Oswalt) have enough crossover appeal to play in more mainstream venues.

Comedy group Stella (Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain) and the sketch group Upright Citizens Brigade were heavily influential on the current NY alternative comedy scene. Stella -- a trio whose absurdist humor has been compared to the Marx brothers -- began doing their shows (in which they would perform along with other comics and sketch groups like Eugene Mirman and the Upright Citizens Brigade) at the NY club Fez in 1997. In 1999, the original Upright Citizens Brigade Theater opened in Chelsea. Four years later, in 2003, several performers at the UCB spun off their own theater, and formed the PIT.

Criticism

Many people are critical of alternative comedy and there is a strong generational divide between those who like and dislike it. Older people in particular find the swearing and no-holds-barred nature of alternative comedy to be offensive. In the early days of alternative comedy, a frequent criticism was that nobody found a person standing on a stage simply discussing events in his or her life particularly funny. There was a joke said at the time: "I'm an alternative comedian... every other joke I say is funny."

The aggressive attitude of alternative comedians was also off-putting for many and shocking when compared to the measured and heavily styled delivery of traditional comedians. Modern British 'alternative comedy', if it can still claim to exist as such, takes the form of comedians like Graham Norton, who rely on sexual explicitness and strong innuendo. Many people find this upsetting. Because of the controversial nature of many modern comedy stars, some argue there is no longer the possibility of nationally appreciated comedy stars like Morecambe and Wise, Dick Emery, Benny Hill or Tommy Cooper. Although Eddie Izzard plays to huge auditoriums, and in spite of the relative success of Ricky Gervais' comedy The Office, many feel alternative comedy destroyed the much-loved light entertainment scene which predominated before.

In North America, alternative comedy was slower to emerge, and is only now experiencing its fullest flower. The Surprise MTV hit Wonder Showzen, the HBO DVD success story Mr. Show, and other examples indicate that while American comedy remained relatively tame throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s (with notable exceptions, for instance Bill Hicks) that truly alternative comedy is finding a home.

The internet has played a major role in the rise of "alternative" comedy and its continually tenacious competition with mainstream network television and hollywood comedy films. Andy Samberg and his compatriots on the The Lonely Island disseminated their works which catered to a particular niche on the internet for a while, before being absorbed into the SNL machine. Their film Lazy Sunday about seeing the film adaptation of Chronicles of Narnia became a major internet sensation, and Un-Cabaret has started making their archives available at www.Audible.com.

Many believe that this indicates that "alternative" comedy is no longer or never was alternative. It was an alternative to the comedy offered by major networks, but it was always part of the latent mainstream sense of humour, always something they would find funny, but it was merely ignored for fear or just for incompetence on the part of the networks. This theory has been given credence by the increasing number of breakaway internet successes that surpass network comedy in terms of overall viewers.

By their very success, they might forfeit the title "alternative" however, though some argue that "alternative" doesn't refer to success or popularity, but in the attitude taken toward the conventional distribution methods and messages. This is debatable and either side makes a strong argument.

Despite the ubiquity of alternative comedy on the internet, it seems to be more of a niche success than a broad success. Aziz Ansari was the star of a popular Internet viral video, but a cursory glance at Dane Cook's MySpace profile will tell you that he is more popular than Aziz Ansari, who also has a MySpace page. Like popular indie bands, alternative comics might play to packed houses, but the packed houses are usually small and are not reflective of the broader youth market that prefers Dane Cook and Avenged Sevenfold.

Though alternative comics push the envelope and change the form for the better - Demetri Martin and Improv Everywhere come to mind - alternative rooms also have hack comics. While bad club comics often touch on hackneyed topics during their act (relationships, airplanes, the French), these hacks have made once-interesting alternative tropes trite (absurdist wordplay, cultural references to '80's pop, geek culture or hipster trends).