Whats funny - by Vanessa Lépine

This title was suggested by our dear Olivier. I thought it was a very interesting question to explore. Spoiler alert; I don’t know what’s funny. 

Since I started doing comedy, I often see people after a show, open mic, or even at a family gathering saying a joke and then making eye contact with me, waiting for my approval. Or even better; whenever a comment gets the slightest giggle they ‘’give me the joke’’. It makes me uncomfortable because often the joke isn’t funny (probably racist if it’s from my grandmother) but also because it implies that I have a certain comedic authority. As someone who does comedy, I get to decide what’s funny or not. I shouldn’t as most of the time, I’m wrong. 

There are a lot of techniques about how to structure a joke, create a surprise, or misdirect the audience. I use most of them, but they don’t guarantee I’ll be funny. That’s why we have Open Mic; safe space where we get to try our jokes which we think are funny (most of them are not). To give you an idea, the standard is 1 joke out of 10 will be good. This ratio tells you how many shit jokes we have to birth before having something with potential. Once a joke gets a laugh, it’s far from being over. The same joke can kill one night and bomb another. There are many factors that can influence the reaction of the audience; line-up, room, weather, etc. As a comic, it’s our job to adapt and make the best out of the circumstances. There is never a guarantee that we will be considered ‘’funny’’.  We know it, we expect it, we accepted it.

Writing comedy is an ongoing process.Part of being funny resides in the coherence between my stage persona and how the audience sees me. Personally, I’ve learned that I can’t make jokes about crying myself to sleep (‘’jokes’’) without the audience exclaiming: aawww. With time, my writing will improve and so will my understanding of myself and my stage persona. This is why my first jokes don’t work so well anymore.  I’m evolving, so should my jokes. The correct answer to the infamous interview question: ‘’where do you see yourself in five years?’’ is: laughing at something else. 

Comedy is very subjective. There are so many types of humor. We can’t please everybody but also you can find your audience which is specific to you (even if it’s just your mom). Some like family-friendly observational humor when others will need a story punctuated with words I shouldn’t write in a blog post. This is why I can’t tell you what’s funny. I don’t have this authority and I’m aware that comedy is too subjective for me alone to be the judge of it. What is funny? I don’t know, but I invite you to join us at one of our open mics to help define what is funny on that particular night.

Vanessa Lépine

Vanessa is a rising newcomer in the comedy scene from Montreal. She lived in Switzerland for the past 4 years. She performs in English and that weird language she calls French. She talks mainly about the joy (or the lack of) of being a single woman in her thirties. She hosts “The Comedy Open Mic” at HEIMAT Basel.