The seven funny people reshaping comedy
Introducing the new kings and queens of LOL
IT'S A WHOLE NEW ERA OF COMEDY. If you haven’t been paying attention, start now, and you’ll see it exploding all around you. From major networks to streaming services, social feeds and live comedy clubs, it’s a subculture-driven landscape. So we gathered seven comedians who represent this digitally savvy and wonderfully inclusive new wave. It’s not inconceivable to think that this generation’s Tina Fey, Chris Rock, or Jerry Seinfeld stands among them. So are they upending the form or staying true to its roots? We say both. As Jaboukie Young-white noted while surveying the room of fellow 20-something-ish comics at the studio where their first shoot together was being held: ‘Damn, this really is an iconic group.’
GQ: People have used the term “alt comedy” for what seems like forever, but it feels like this is a new moment. how would you describe it to my 83-yearold grandmother? joel kim booster: I would say to your grandmother that this moment in comedy is about technology moving to a point where we've all found our audiences. The cake is being sliced – because grandmas bake cakes, and I just want to speak to her in a way that she'll understand – and there are more slices now. There are more audiences. jaboukie young-white:
Interestingly, people always say it's a new moment because so many of us are doing traditional comedy. Almost vaudevillian, classic comedy in a way that I think an older person would be able to latch onto. Subjectmatter-wise, we're talking about new things, but a lot of the forms we use are forms that have been around for a while. catherine cohen: Like cabaret, for example. Invented by me. In 2019.
JKB: The alt-comedy thing is so weird, because we've been getting that since we started together. Just because I'm talking about farting cum out of my butt doesn't make it alt. It's structured in the same way as a John Mulaney joke – it just happens to be about a life experience that, maybe, I don't know, he hasn't had.
Patti harrison: I felt like “alt” was applied to me so much that I rolled my eyes and used it »
to describe myself because there wasn't a more succinct way to do it, even though I didn't necessarily subscribe to that term.
mitra jouhari: I'm a mumblecore comedian. I'm really subtle.
GQ: Within this group – and, more broadly, among young comedians right now – there seems to be supportive energy. you lift each other and help each other succeed. mj: There's room for more than one of us because we collectively decided that there would be room for more than one of us, so they have to make space because we're making shows, we're hosting shows, we're making things together that incorporate people of all kinds.
JKB: Before, there was this idea that there was room for one of us and whoever got there first pulled the ladder up as quickly as they could behind them. I don't feel that way anymore.
GQ: Tell us about your relationship with the internet, which is an incredibly powerful tool for comedians but also a double-edged sword. mj: It's access. A lot of people who wouldn't otherwise have access to those spaces create pathways through the Internet. People belittle it because it's new. It's not as respected because it's not from the past.
JYW: That was my biggest challenge getting a writing job at first. People said, ‘Oh, well, you're from Twitter,’ and it's like, ‘Okay, but you're going to steal my tweet and turn it into a monologue this week, so why not just have me write it for your show?’
JULIO TORRES: But you don't get to do it, because you didn't get to go to the places they went to.
MJ: Not everyone has the money to go to a top-class university or take improv or stand-up classes.
JKB: Or accept an unpaid internship as a writer.
MJ: But anyone can be online.
GQ: on the other hand, it's the Wild Wild West out there when it comes to joke stealing and meme accounts re-posting content without attribution.
Zack fox: That shit is rampant. jyw: Someone commented on one of my Fallon sets: “This guy stole all his jokes from Twitter.” I was, like, these are the fucking jokes that
I told on Twitter and now I’m telling them on TV. That drove me fucking insane. I have a weird relationship with it because although I got thousands of followers and the social capital helped me get to where I am now, I didn’t make any money from it.
PH: It's the Internet – the amorphous nature of IP now. If you're tweeting, the risk of you tweeting jokes all the time for free is that someone can take your joke structure, your tone and your voice.
JKB: Interestingly, I’m starting to see more Catherine Cohens and Patti Harrisons. The lineages are starting. And I think it’s great. It’s good that there are more options to ape than fucking Carlin and Mulaney. It’s creating a more diverse pool of talent in our industry.
CC: When people copy me, you know what I say? I say, ‘Thank you.’
GQ: can you make a living as a young comedian? cc: The only reason I have any money is because I do voice-overs for commercials. I don't make enough from comedy to live – not even close. I'm lucky I have money to support myself while I pursue comedy. »
The IT'S a Guy THING Crew
JKB: I had to turn down so many low-paying or non-paying opportunities when I first moved here. Even after my first Conan set. I've always had a day job. When I lived in New York, I was working 50 hours a week at a start-up and performing at open mics at night.
cc: Even if you're acting on a TV job, if you're not a series regular, you're not making anything.
jyw: That's the thing with the multi-hyphenate thing. That's not a choice. You have to be doing multiple things.
mj: There's such an expectation that when you start you're gonna do stuff for exposure, or just for the thrill of doing it or for the experience of learning.
GQ: how has the political situation impacted your comedy, directly or indirectly? jkb: It’s so easy to feel the righteousness of a half-joke about this administration and have people sort of go along with you. It worries me because I have told jokes where I’m making a good point, but I don’t necessarily know if I’m making a good joke.
mj: After working in a political late-night space, I’ve realised I don’t know how to talk about the things that I want to talk about funnily. there's nothing funny to me about my family being banned, so why would I talk about it in my comedy? There's this expectation for you to be an ambassador for whatever marginalised community they decide that you represent. And it's not fun.
GQ: Patti, how has that dynamic affected you, as a trans woman in comedy? Ph: I don't metabolise a lot of stuff about trans people, especially in this administration, to be funny. I’m easily over-encumbered when I think about the horrific things that are happening to trans and LGBT people. It's hard to be funny about that. I understand that having marginalised status means that I might be the only trans person that someone in Middle America sees online talking about these things. There is a responsibility there. I do talk about trans-ness in my comedy, but on my terms and in my way. I like crafting jokes that are more coded.
jt: You're not a pundit; you're not a guest on a news show. You're an artist with a point of view.
jkb: That's the problem with Twitter. Every journalist has to be funny, and every comedian has to be a journalist. Everyone, let’s stay in our own lanes.
GQ: some of you post a viral tweet every other week that could be the punch line of a joke in your set. is that ever something you're considering? jyw: I tweeted about how I think it's crazy that people can’t be in therapy, on drugs, or take any antidepressants, or talk about raw-dog reality. I wish I just saved that to do onstage. It went too viral, and then it was on, like, Facebook Wine Mom pages. These ideas that I had that were once original are now Internet clichés. And they don't belong to me. Like I'm ripping myself off, in a weird way. Zf: Re-tweeting yourself onstage. Ph: Well, my mom has a crossstitch of your “raw-dog reality” tweet on her casket.
jyw: It’s great she was able to finish it before she died.
harrison: She finished it and shut the casket.