The History of Stand-Up Comedy

The History of Stand-Up Comedy – a narrative history of the art form, from Mark Twain to Shane Gillis. Not a joke book; the story behind the funny.

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

Learn more about the brand new book, “The History of Stand-Up Comedy”.

From Mark Twain’s lecture halls, to Shane Gillis’ Netflix Roast… and everything in between.

Available now!

https://t.co/LcvL019i3z

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@JimBreuer Comics have always trusted that gut – saying out loud what everyone knows but won't admit. That instinct runs from Twain's lectures through Bruce and Carlin to today. It's the spine of stand-up's whole history, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@TheComedyStore Beautiful tribute – Mitzi up on Sunset is exactly right. She built the room where Pryor, Letterman and Kinison found their voices, and modern stand-up grew up under her roof. Her chapter's essential to the whole story, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@TuesdayStories @JoeListComedy @marknorm Turning being sick into a bit is the observational tradition at its purest – the everyday-gripe comedy Seinfeld turned into an empire. Normand and List keeping that muscle alive. The whole lineage, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

Before the clubs, there was the Borscht Belt – Catskills resorts where Dangerfield, Joan Rivers and Sid Caesar sharpened their acts on brutal summer crowds. That grind built modern stand-up. The whole arc, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@YMHstudios @StephTolev The podcast booth is the new club for building an audience, and YMH mastered it – Tolev's a great get. It's this era's answer to the comedy album's reach. How stand-up keeps finding new stages, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@JimBreuer Breuer's earned this one – decades in clubs and on the road. That pull between the chase and what it costs has shadowed comics since the vaudeville circuit. It's a quiet throughline in stand-up's whole story, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@NetflixIsAJoke Specials aging into anniversaries tells you what the hour has become – stand-up's permanent record, the way albums work for musicians. Whitehall's set holding up 6 years on proves it. How comedy built that canon, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@marknorm Normand is keeping the pure one-liner alive – the setup-punch economy Youngman and Dangerfield built entire careers on, compressed into a single tweet. That joke-writing tradition runs through my history of stand-up, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

In 1960, an ex-accountant named Bob Newhart released a comedy album that hit #1 on Billboard – ahead of Elvis and Sinatra. Vinyl put stand-up in America's living rooms, a whole new stage for the craft. The full arc, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@luisjgomez Skankfest hitting Denver is the underground doing what it has always done – comics building their own rooms and their own audience instead of waiting for permission. That DIY streak runs through the entire history of stand-up: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@NetflixIsAJoke Pete Davidson getting his own Netflix show says a lot about where stand-up sits now – comics used to fight for five minutes on late night, today the platforms build shows around them. How comedy earned that leverage is the story I trace: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@madflavor Joey headlining Atlantic City is a full-circle moment – AC's boardwalk and casino rooms kept stand-up alive between vaudeville and the club boom. That whole lineage, lecture hall to the Mothership, is in my history of stand-up: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@JimBreuer Breuer teasing a Salt Lake crowd about their own city is road comedy at its purest – stand-up was built town by town, comics learning to read each room's secrets. That craft has a 150-year history, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@NetflixIsAJoke "All true, all beautiful" is the whole art form in four words – stand-up became the place where personal truth gets polished into an hour, and Segura works that vein as well as anyone. I traced how it got there, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@JimNorton @GianmarcoSoresi Norton and Soresi trading stories is the old New York tradition still running – comics sharpening comics on air, the way the O&A radio room minted a whole generation. That lineage runs right through my history of stand-up, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@TheComedyStore Fluffy sells out arenas, but the Main Room is different – that stage has been stand-up's proving ground since 1972, and no room on earth holds more comedy history per square foot. I wrote the story of how it got that way, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@NetflixIsAJoke Tomlinson working out the kids question on stage is the confessional tradition at full strength – Joan Rivers made a comic's private life fair game in the '60s and stand-up never went back. I traced that whole thread, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@YMHstudios @bertkreischer Bert ranting about everyone's takes is a century-old job description – Will Rogers built his whole act reading the day's news and roasting it in the 1920s. The podcast couch is just the new stage for it. I traced that line, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

73,946 people watched @Shanemgillis at Lincoln Financial Field last night – the largest audience a solo comedian has ever drawn. Stand-up began at lecture-hall podiums; now it fills NFL stadiums. That whole arc, Twain to Gillis, is the book: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY

[The History of Stand-Up Comedy @HistryStandUp]

@redban @SunsetStripATX @yonderwizzerd A Sunset Strip in Austin says it all – comedy's capital keeps moving, from Greenwich Village to LA's Strip to Texas. Redban's been building rooms for that migration since Deathsquad. The whole map is in my book, lecture hall to the Mothership: https://t.co/T2FQSrr8TY