{"id":14321,"date":"2017-04-02T03:58:35","date_gmt":"2017-04-02T08:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/?p=14321"},"modified":"2017-04-02T15:11:20","modified_gmt":"2017-04-02T20:11:20","slug":"you-cant-teach-a-98mph-fastball-pupinia-stewart-comedy-alpha-predator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/?p=14321","title":{"rendered":"Pupinia Stewart comedy Alpha Predator"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14331\" src=\"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Pupinia-300x277.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"277\" srcset=\"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Pupinia-300x277.jpg 300w, http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Pupinia.jpg 426w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Pupinia Stewart comedy Alpha Predator<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">I decided I wanted to do comedy for a living when I was about 12.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s be clear on what that job is&#8230;it is too make people laugh.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">It is a tough job.\u00a0 It is your job to produce a response that is at best &#8220;murky&#8217; as to what causes it.\u00a0 It is as nonsensical trying to explain why something made you laugh as it is to try to explain why you love someone.\u00a0 Words don&#8217;t quite do it. It is a job that is very hard to give quantifiable standards to.\u00a0 Even in dissecting rhythm and timing and structures of jokes, and deliveries&#8230;it always seems to come down to some element that you can&#8217;t define.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Gary Larson has said it as well as anyone.\u00a0 &#8220;our brain is suddenly jolted into accepting something that is unacceptable&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">I have done a lot of great work. A lot of groundbreaking things I am proud of. And along with the element that can&#8217;t be defined&#8230;it took a lot of learned skill. and study, and practice. Some aspects of the job come easy and some don&#8217;t depending on who you are.\u00a0 And any joke can be made better or worse depending on how well you craft it and how well you deliver it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">By chance this week I found Pupinia Steward on Youtube.\u00a0 I say the following with all the knowledge and credibility I have&#8230;this woman is brilliant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Probably 90% of the people who see her stuff don&#8217;t get it, or don&#8217;t understand it is comedy. It brings to mind Phil Hendrie or Emo Phillips or Andy Kaufman where it is nearly impossible to tell at first glance what is going on&#8230;and once you do, you are in awe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">These videos I&#8217;ll show you &#8230;they don&#8217;t SEEM\u00a0 like there is much to them.\u00a0 You laugh and think there isn&#8217;t much to what she is doing&#8230;there is. The great ones make it look easy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Let&#8217;s start with a simple one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1060\" height=\"795\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZctZRm0_chQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">A Simple &#8220;I&#8217;m stupid&#8221; gag.\u00a0 But&#8230;she is not stupid, so she had to capture every subtle nuance of a f*cking simpleton- posture, tendency to be distracted, , pregnant pauses at just the right time to make it seem as though she doesn&#8217;t know where she is going with her thoughts.\u00a0 None of that is easy to do&#8230;yet she does it so well the bulk of the internet thinks it&#8217;s real. part of you probably thinks it&#8217;s real even having read all this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">She even gave a head fake with the off handed comment of her initial motivation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Let&#8217;s move on to another one, one that&#8217;s a bit smarter&#8230;by that I mean one with a more solid &#8220;joke&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1060\" height=\"795\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/51hBrNoewAs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Remember who I am. When I say it&#8217;s a funny abortion joke&#8230;it IS a funny abortion joke.\u00a0 This joke is brilliant. The set up is SO long and let&#8217;s itself lean on her other work so well that up until the very last minute you think it&#8217;s about her being snotty and stupid to some guy&#8230;but at the end is the juxtaposition of a lame comeback and a horrific incident, and the delivery mechanism is our acceptance that she is this easily confused.\u00a0 Juxtaposition jokes are the highest level of joke.\u00a0 They take the most thought and ability to see what others don&#8217;t.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Here is a similar set up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1060\" height=\"795\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_35poP4da0I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Similar set up, similar delivery mechanism&#8230;but this time she is not confused, or stupid, this time it is a profound thought produced by someone we have so accepted as stupid and confused that it&#8217;s clarity knocks us right over.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">She isn&#8217;t hitting home runs off of softballs being thrown down the middle of the plate every single time.\u00a0 A lot of her stuff is damn difficult to pull off and expert level juxtaposition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">So there is that&#8230;that amount of skill by itself would be impressive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">But she also has an expert level of discipline. The pregnant pause is one of the most important tools in the comedy tool box. And it is the tool that takes the most amount of skill to use correctly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Watch this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1060\" height=\"795\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4YKEfrhk1Xo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">She&#8217; s 19&#8230;she has just started.\u00a0 She isn&#8217;t anywhere near as good as she will be if she keeps going.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">She already has an amazing, level of discipline with he delivery. Note the pregnant pause before she starts in singing. The gag is &#8230;standard stuff. It&#8217;s another &#8220;I&#8217;m an idiot&#8221; joke&#8230;but she is SO far out of left field with what she cobbles together as what is being confused that it is clear to me much thought went into it AND that pregnant pause..perfectly done. AND&#8230;and this is important&#8230;the lack of ANY pause when she starts over in the beginning.\u00a0 It helps to set up a pregnant pause, to give it contrast, people often forget that.\u00a0 She didn&#8217;t.\u00a0 Her rambling right through take one and take two made the pregnant pause before the song that much better.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Speaking of discipline&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">See this video (below)&#8230;this is a pretty simple gag, but she commits to it like a mutha fucka. 15 MINUTES of Mozart on the Kazoo&#8230;this is the kinda sh8t you just can&#8217;t teach&#8230;patience, discipline and letting the joke grow into something. Not every joke slaps you in the face right out of the box&#8230;in fac<span class=\"text_exposed_show\">t most of the best ones don&#8217;t. Often with the funniest gags you have to let them be really dry and seemingly aimless, and then it is really just honed instincts on how to get the laugh.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"text_exposed_show\" style=\"color: #290707;\">This is a type of joke \/ set up that is very tough to pull off. It is something sorta mildly funny&#8230;then gets dragged out&#8230;and dragged out to the point that it is no longer funny at all&#8230;then it drags on so much longer that it becomes so funny you can&#8217;t stop laughing. It&#8217;s a set up that isn&#8217;t used much because it is hard, it takes a ton of commitment, and sharp SHARP instincts. 15 f*cking minutes&#8230;this woman is an comedy Alpha Predator and she&#8217;s only like 19.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1060\" height=\"795\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2JBTTico1DA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Now, maybe a lot of what I pointed out just comes naturally to her or maybe she had to methodically plan it out. Probably a little from column A and a little from column B. It doesn&#8217;t really matter for our sake. What matters is that she is good, and I can see progress in her videos, she is getting better.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">I&#8217;m glad I found her, I&#8217;m glad she&#8217;s out there..it gives me hope for the future of comedy.\u00a0 Because up until last week&#8230;it didn&#8217;t look good. It was a bunch of 20 somethings that were pale imitations of the Gen X comedians that came before them.\u00a0 Pupinia is evidence that there are still new ways of doing things to be found, new kinds of jokes to be told, new delivery mechanisms to be explored and new ways of using the old ones, those of us working now might all get passed up.\u00a0 And that&#8217;s all good. It makes you work harder.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">Maybe after all this a few of you still don&#8217;t see what I see.\u00a0 Maybe you didn&#8217;t laugh as hard as I did and\u00a0 think I&#8217;m reading to much into some youtube videos.\u00a0 I can tell you this, when I was 13 years old I was onstage in front of several hundred people performing stand up comedy and I bombed.\u00a0 I bombed with the same kind of jokes I made a lot of money on years later.\u00a0 I would never recommend this job to anyone, but I hope Pupinia takes it on anyway, for all our sake. and I hope she knows how good she is&#8230;.I suspect she does.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1060\" height=\"795\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NWn_1QBFmuI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\">When Douglas is not here, he and his work can be found at<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #290707;\"><a style=\"color: #290707;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.arseniclullabies.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.arseniclullabies.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pupinia Stewart comedy Alpha Predator I decided I wanted to do comedy for a living when I was about 12.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s be clear on what that job is&#8230;it is too make people laugh. It is a tough job.\u00a0 It is your job to produce a response that is at best\u2026 <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/?p=14321\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14321"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}