What's better improv or stand up comedy?

Damn dude, dial it back a bit. I'll back that user up. I like doing improv because you get to feed off other performers. There's also a lot of audience participation involved.

This isn't your blog, tripfag.

/r9k/ pls go. Your memes suck.

I do stand up and improv.

I find that my improv is funnier and that improv is funnier in general.

I think it boils down to an unwritten rule that I only learned a few years ago and that is that comedy must be fresh. Even when comedy is old and tested it must presented as fresh.

You can do this a few ways
>create a base idea for a joke and then improv the details in the performance
>insert current/modern references
>convincingly act like what you're saying is new even to you

Boils down to what kind of performer you fit into. Wit/surreal, observational, conversational.

Improv is the purest form of said rule since you (should) be saying all your comedy for the first time.

Again, most people who enjoy improv are people who DO improv. Improv is pretty much a room full of people playing games together while comedy is an actual show. The average person in an improv audience will think 'I can do that!' And they will be right. Stand up audience members who think that will usually be wrong because stand up is a practiced performance art while improv is an inclusive game.

So I guess you believe theatre and music is impure too? Where is it written that comedy is best performed the first time?

OPs question was

>What's better improv or stand up comedy?

Which I took as "what's more valuable for your skill set", which at the end of the day is improv, which most actors and stand up folk brush with, even though they don't end up doing it professionally.
Just heading out the hard way at stand up is a harder path, better to have done the inclusive game first to prepare for the practiced performance.

Different skill sets though. Improv teaches space work and connecting with other performers. It's harder than you think to smoothly transition on the fly.

Improvised stand up honestly

Almost all stand up is improvised to some degree. You need to work the crowd and listen for what work and what doesn't, know what to pull out of your toolbox and when, deal with different responses and hecklers in the moment, keep face when things are going well and when they're going lukewarm, and know how to evolve and even string together or make up jokes on the fly in order to keep your routine fresh and interesting.

Well I take 'better' to mean more permanent and meaningful due to being a practiced performance with a clear directed message and goal.

I know why people enjoy improv, but I sincerely believe it's artless and childish, because it's just people trying to be silly in a way that doesn't break anyone else's stride. You're supposed to toe the line in improv and if you say anything challenging in a way that makes anyone go off beat they kick you out. Improv is just a bunch of people helping eachother to be silly and practice quick wit, and because of that it's extremely limited in what it can say and what can be communicated.

>unwritten rule
>where is it written

Can Cred Forums agree on the worst genre of comedy? Slapstick? Prop?

There is so much more to comedy than building the skill of the performer.

Slapstick can be great
Prop is shit

Of course. I'm just saying it's good to try out both. Standups are naturally better at writing rapid fire jokes while improv guys are usually better at screenwriting.

Then you're an idiot, because a stand up in front of a crowd is in large part a improvisational effort, and are ignoring the fact that professional improv requires a ton of practiced preformance to fall back on.
But I get it, you prefer stand up as an art form. Can't blame you, but overall it's less valuable as a teaching and experience tool, even if you're a stand up artist, though of course you can brave the open mike until you're good at it. It's just a longer, harsher road for most.

Well it's also an unwritten rule that improvfags are a bunch of dorks who love improv because it's 'learning to be cool and laughing with friends' while stand up comedians are practed performers of written content who can communicate and act on a nearly infinitely wide variety of themes, like a self-directed actor.

this

any legit acting class will have mandatory improv. it's an important exercise to get actors to listen to the other actor which makes it easier to play off each other. doesn't matter if it's drama or comedy it's a great base for anybody. including stand up

youtube.com/watch?v=FIW61hZO170
Is this you?

It bugs me how one hundred percent of the people defending improv in this thread are people who perform improv who assume everyone is also an amateur comedian trying to develop skills.

Improv is embarrassing to watch because it's a bunch of man children circlejerking that they have skills with eachother.

I don't know man. I'd much rather watch bad improv than bad standup any day.

I'm not a comedian buddy, I'm an audience member. I'm not saying that every comedian shouldn't hone their craft by practicing improv, I'm saying paying for a show to watch comedians 'practice' isn't worth it and improv pretty much is something comedians do for themselves.

>t. failed comedian

Anyone can yes and. It's much harder to no but. And stand up comedy is ultimately about no but.

Explain.

>one hundred percent of the people
I'm not one of them. Just worked with enough actors and stand up comedians to know how valuable improv is to just about every aspect of their craft, and how you can find improv in just about every "practiced performance".

But you're still ignoring the improvisational aspect of stand up comedy, which doesn't happen in a vacuum. Improv happens on the stage, during secluded practice, and hell, most stand up comedians bounce ideas and jokes off of one another in a very improvisational way. What bothers me about your attitude is your overall ignorance of your preferred art form. Again, I can understand why your prefer Stand Up, but dismissing improv so vehemently when it's pretty much essential to the field is just sort of baffling to me.

>Improv

Not even once

youtube.com/watch?v=R1TvG0hhW6M

The fundamental principle of improv is "yes and-ing". What this means is when someone says "oh no, a giant dinosaur is destroying the town", you don't say, "no it's not, it's a giant rabbit!" you say, "yeah, and it's wearing rabbit ears!" The idea is to minimize interruptions to keep the pacing fluid, which is a concept in stand up as well. George Carlin talks a lot about the "music" of stand up.

The difference is stand up's approach isn't strictly to take a concept to it's logical conclusion. That's certainly one approach, but stand up is just as frequently about looking at a concept, and instead of saying, "this is how it is, let's see where it goes", saying "This is how it is, wait what, exaggerate for comedic effect!".

Even that's just another style. There are several fundamental styles to standup. Improv just tackles one of them.

>ignoring the improv aspect of stand up
No I'm not even for a second. Stand up is full of improv. I'm talking about those stupid shows where you watch people dance around on stage playing with eachother, and how that's a less mature version than the applied improvisational skill that goes into a designed stand up show.

That's the kind of stuff you mostly see in amateur college improv though. Amateur standup is usually just as cringey.

>stand up
Comedians doing a routine.

>improv
Comedians doing a routine.

Is nu-Whose Line good? I fucking hate that nigress host

This. Improv is extremely limited because it's basically a set of games where you have to think only one way and your only real option is to pile on new positive content, without challenging any of it.

Yep. Shit stand up is shit. However the best stand ups are light years above the best improv performers, and a decent stand up is more entertaining than a decent improv group.

I can no longer find standup or stage improv funny. What's wrong with me?

OH. Which I forgot to add, leads me to the one single point I will say every time, and that is the point of this thread.

Stand up is better than improv.

It's alright.
Last episode was great because you could tell they were enjoying themselves more than usual.
I don't hate Aisha, she's a bro even though she can be a bit annoying, but I miss Drew.

A good improv comedian is better than a good standup comedian.

But there's a damn sight more good standup comedians than there are good improv comedians.

>they'll both die in your lifetime

Same here. I think comedy podcasts are better than both.

>that annon
>imblyding

kys

What are you talking about?

A good improv comedian could pull off a successful stand-up without much preparation.
Same can not be said about most stand up comedians.
That said, I agree with you, as it has been discussed in length in this thread how improv is pretty much preforming 101 for all performance fields.

youtube.com/watch?v=2tAWRNWcrzc

Stream of consciousness unecumbered by audience or other actors, comedy is an art form not some shit you need a bunch of other people's approval for ie needing laughs from an audience

What is good comedy podcasts? I listen to Todd Barry's podcast but it's just him talking to other comedians about venues they have performed at

I was gonna feel bad for you then I realized you had a trip.

so just kys

I started doing stand up this year, and it every time I go up it challenges me to some degree so I get immense satisfaction from it even when I bomb. I've never tried improv but it's mostly because I don't find it funny at all, why do it if it isn't rewarding to the audience or the performer? It just seems like a bunch of manchildren acting out infantile shit. It almost seems like a shared validation from equally untalented and unfunny people whereas I see standup as adversarial and competitive.

ITT: a bunch of unfunny hoohah to explain what is "funny".

Who is the better rapper?
Jay-Z or Juice?

Prop is unredeemable shit.
Slapstick can be brilliant but it has been terrible for a long time.

Great improv is fucking amazing, so is great stand-up. The problem is, 99.999% of both groups range from mediocre to piss poor and there is an enormous gap in between them and the top-tier

Comedy Bang Bang is a good starting point for sure. I also love Hollywood Handbook.

>to