The epidemic of bad stand-up comedy

There are at least a million people doing stand-up, and maybe 10 are doing it well.

It would appear there are too many hours to fill on cable stations and too many 50-seat Comedy Outhouses and Funny Farms that need some act to help sell watered drinks.

So you get these people who are so unfunny that their material wouldn't cut it on the morning zoo radio show in Lawton, Oklahoma. People standing in front of a brick wall, telling jokes that aren't funny, spending five minutes on a concept that's going nowhere. When it dies, they throw some profanity in and the drunks roar.

Good stand-ups, it seems, are like good lefthanded pitchers. There aren't enough to go around, so everyone gets plenty of chances to fail. There are a lot of Steve Klines out there.

 

I blame Dane Cook.

 

See Comedy Death Ray for your cure.

 

So you're saying I've got a shot?

 

RIP George Carlin.

 

I blame the increasing amount of casinos popping up all over the place. Gotta have entertainment, ya know. Let's book Sinbad! Or maybe Skippy from Family Ties! Wait ... Screech is available!

Ugh.

 

The only thing I blame casinos for is being awesome.

 

I have no problem with casinos, just the bad comedy and Huey Lewis & the News groupies they attract to our unsuspecting communities.

 

Yessir, he is horrible, but yet millions of people think he is so funny. When I saw him on the Insomniac Tour he was nowhere near as funny as Giraldo.

 

So does my mom -- and her bank account.

And hopefully my Shea Stadium seats.

 

RIP Sam Kinison.

 

RIP Richard Pryor.