But in the time at the counter, he evokes
points of clarity on his: leather man
satchel, cross dressing, impersonating
trolls, training camels, teaching horses
to make unusual movements, sex workers with springy shoes, animals pooing
oscar awards, and only after this are we
reminded that we’re still talking about his
experience with the customs officer.
In both of these examples, the story is
irrelevant. It takes a look into the works
of Patton Oswalt and Mike Birbiglia who
use the story as a means to tie everything together and most importantly,
especially in Birbiglia’s case, most stories told have a moral. Every story worth
telling has a moral. A point. A corrective
message that while funny, sheds light on
an issue. Even if the moral is farcical, is
still present.
(VIDEO) - Mike Birbiglia what i should
have said was nothing.
(VIDEO) - Ross Noble NZ customs
In comedic storytelling, the poignancy of
the moral is not as drastic to communicate as the need to get laughs. Although
in storytelling, pacing is king. Stand-up
comedians live and die by the laugh per
minute ratio which dictates their standing
as a performer. It’s hard to measure the
engagement and the captivation of an
audience. For now, the art form that is a
found in a well told story mixes well with
stand-up comedy and is far from being at
odds with it, lending to the possibility of
us seeing many future comics using
story telling as a device that simply
works.