How Has Social Media Changed Comedy?

How Has Social Media Changed Comedy?

BY SAM WADE

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people”*

Social media means that laughter can connect people across the globe. So I guess the world is getting smaller?

I’m old enough to associate TikTok with Kesha (still a banger, yes I will die on that hill) and young enough to have grown up in and around the early internet. Like the dial tone was the song of my MSN using people.

Social media has definitely changed how we view and share comedy. How comedians can get their start, find an audience and maintain relevance.

Social media has made it easier to make and connect comedy with an audience. You can film/draw/tweet a joke and immediately have access to billions of potential chuckles. It’s not being #gatekept by big comedy, it’s easy, immediate.

There’s so much demand for comedy/content too. Not only from the audience but mainly the apps. The algorithm is a hungry hungry beast. You’ve got to be feeding it content on the reg for it to even notice you. There’s a lot of pressure to keep producing and publishing. To continually yeet your jokes out there 24/7. Asking you to grow it’s content library exponentially.

@wadeisaverb_

Imaginary zoo’s are recession proof#comedy #funny #standupcomedy #comedian #fyp #zoo #bourgiousie

♬ original sound – Wadeisaverb_

That growth has made the market so saturated that it’s harder to make a ‘profession’ out of it.

Because no matter how well you understand joke structure, how specific your observations or how tight your set is you’re always one 15 second “cats but doing human things, but still being a cat so it’s funny and also cute” clip away from being utterly irrelevant.

*Victor Borge (I start everything with a quote now, I’m very fancy)

Sam Wade is a local Sydney stand-up comedian who will be performing his new show ‘Sam Wade vs The Void’ at The Factory Theatre on May 7-8. $15-$20+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.factorytheatre.com.au

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