suspense. Tension and release are very
important in storytelling as devices. So
much so that there is no premium held in
trampling on the laugh per minute ratio.
Quality over quantity is valued in storytelling. But maybe that is just what storytellers tell themselves for not being as
funny as comedians. Maybe.
Herein lies the biggest difference between a storytelling approach and a
stand-up comedy approach. Laughs
per minute. Stand-up attempted to kill
the beginning, middle and the end. In
stand-up, the punchline
was king. The set up was
a necessary evil. Get to
the point. This pithiness
seemed to run anathema to quality storytelling
which was in no hurry to
reach the end. A comedic
story has many stations throughout its
journey which can be appreciated.
But the function of modern comedians is
to meld the two. Being a pithy wordsmith
and a raconteur are two distinct skill sets
that require almost two different parts of
the mind.
storytelling thrives in the modern world.
David Sedaris is widely acknowledged
as one of the most marketed and recognised humourists of our generation,
using his incredible grasp of the English
language to tell a story, he is the author
of many books such as ‘Me Talk Pretty
One Day”, “Let’s Explore Diabetes with
Owls” and “When You Are Engulfed in
Flames”.
If Sedaris was to convert his skills as a
storyteller to the stage as a stand-up,
despite his skill as a public speaker, no
doubt he would not as easily find a home
in the craft. In that regard, should we then
conclude that stories
are about words and
stand-up is about timing
and delivery?
Should we crassly state
that all comedians are
storytellers but not all storytellers are
necessarily comedians?
(The demand to make a story funny is
palpable. But how do great raconteurs
make good on an average tale?)
One of the great storytellers is a perWe are now seeing the commodification son who learnt how to spin a yarn in the
of storytelling. The joke was converted
docks of Glasgow. Growing up in a culinto a unit of currency in the 1980’s in the ture which emphasised that it shouldn’t
clubs of the United States and Britain. To let the truth get in the way of a good tale,
make a living in stand-up comedy, one
Billy Connolly is known for his over-thesimply had to bump all of their jokes into top execution and dangerously catapulta row and reel them off. With the turn of
ing tangents that seem to have no rhyme
the 21st century, the way we consume
or reason. However through years of tellideas is slowly changing to the point
ing stories to his mates over a beer, he
where comedy, whilst still in high defound a technique that has since been
mand is now turning to the internet as its emulated and mastered by his contemmain domain of consumption.
porary, Ross Noble.
Podcasts, audiobooks and streamable
content are some of the ways which
Noble has mentioned in interviews about
his absurdity being tempered by a form