What makes a comedian great ?

[pat o shea]

A question for you all,"What makes a great comedian". Most of us have gone to see comedians at some stage, most have made us laugh, some kept us laughing for a long time afterwards. But what is it that makes one comedian completely outshine all others ?. I know the usual components apply, the chosen gags, presentation and interaction etc,etc, but most comedians already have this, so for you the person who will pay the money to see your favourite comedian, what is it that makes that comedian the best, what is the x factor with regards to comedians.

[ebenezer]

What makes a comedian great ?


A good hairstyle.

[keanos dog]

A question for you all,"What makes a great comedian". Most of us have gone to see comedians at some stage, most have made us laugh, some kept us laughing for a long time afterwards. But what is it that makes one comedian completely outshine all others ?. I know the usual components apply, the chosen gags, presentation and interaction etc,etc, but most comedians already have this, so for you the person who will pay the money to see your favourite comedian, what is it that makes that comedian the best, what is the x factor with regards to comedians.



Timing.

[VirtualLab]

confidence.

[plug]

confidence.exactly. saw the thread title and thought the very same thing. very important. I would imagine that this comes first, and everything else comes right after. assuming that the material is good of course!

[pat o shea]

originality to me is most important, too many comedians have such similar stories you dont know who is robbing from whom. Delivery and timing come together, when they work together it make all the difference to the comedian. Freshness in the material must be included, too many comedians stick to the same material for way too long, once you have seen the comedian perhaps 3 times you can almost quote their material.
I once asked Brian at city limits ( and this guy knows his comedians), what makes a great comedian his answer was constant writing and searching for new material. I think the end goal for any comedian is not the applause ( though God knows it helps), certainly not the money unless your at the top at the game, the end result is finding that magical story, the one you automatically know is the perfect story, alas too many comedians ( myself included) will never find that perfect storyline

[Jack the Lad]

yo pat what makes a comedian great is their belief in themselves, more importantly taking the set from them selves, making the set as part of them self as much as possible

[SeamusShocks]

all my friends are very funny, thats why i hang around with them
and they say shit that you would never hear on stage, really!
but it take some balls to get up on a stage
i seen feens on stage and their shit, but i doesnt take a tac out of them
its embarrassing:bday:

[daphne6]

a stage for you to stand up on if you're a stand up comedian.

[Albert J Arbuckle II]

Their Audience to be mouldy ....