With comedy clubs from California to New York dark due to social-distancing mandates, comedians are finding ways to keep bringing the laughs to the public
In this April 20, 2020 photo, a pedestrian walks underneath a marquee advertising a"Laughter is Healing" stand-up comedy livestream event at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles. With comedy clubs closed and concert tours put on hold, comics like Craig Robinson, Tiffany Haddish, Will C and others are keeping the jokes flowing on webcasts and Zoom calls even without the promise of a payday, because they say the laughs are needed now more than ever.
“You told me you loved me, then bring me some groceries. I’m down to my last role of T.P.,” she sang as she opened her act with a raucous tune she said she'd written just the day before to sum up what weeks of self-isolation has been like., where she got her start as part of a kids’ comedy camp more than 20 years ago. No one was in the audience on that weekday afternoon, save four people including a guy videoing the show.
The theater sells virtual tickets to its several shows a week, as do some other venues scattered around the country. But people who can't afford a ticket to a Magnet show don't have to pay. Or they can throw a couple bucks into the virtual “busker's hat” afterward. A recent performance drew 250 viewers, far more than the 70 who could have squeezed into the small theater.Story continues
Veteran stand-up comic Bob Zany said he still sometimes pauses during the moments where the laughs — or sometimes the hoots of derision — are supposed to be.“In the old days I'd do spots like at the Improv at 1:40 in the morning to two people. And they were passed out drunk," he recalls with a laugh."So what's the difference?”
“I find whenever I’m feeling down, a good laugh really changes everything and makes me feel better. A lot of people are down and depressed right now and maybe I can inspire a little laughter in them,” she said after spending an hour performing in front of a microphone, which she had generously doused in Lysol.
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