One of the most avoided topics in the comedy industry is… money. At the beginning of their careers, comedians will travel the country doing stand-up for free, and a lot of their material has to be 'every-person' themed. In Sara Pascoe’s set, she talks about how having money has changed her life. Before, she was just another drunk woman, but now she doesn't have to piss in the street. She can afford the privacy of her own taxi.
At the Working Women day, organised by Underwire Festival, the issue of money was discussed by Sara Pascoe and Bobby Baker during the panel with Funny Women Founder Lynne Parker, and comic analyst Rachel Mars. Unfortunately, with so many topics to be covered, the panel were barely able to brush the surface of what a change in fortune means for a comedian, but the little which was said inspires further investigation.
The question which inspired the money conversation was “Do comedians tell jokes which they find funny, or which they know the audience will find funny?” – Sara Pascoe responded first. Her view is that doing comedy for money is exactly like any other job; you are there for a purpose, and that is to make people laugh. If you don't fulfil those terms, then you're unlikely to be booked for that gig (or by those people) again. In that case, you do a set which has gone down well with a similar audience, whether you've grown out of it or not. When doing sets for free, you have a lot more freedom in terms of trying out new jokes and routines, because you don't owe anyone anything.
Rachel Mars is a performance artist whose show 'The Way You Tell Them', is a critique and analysis of stand-up comedy and performance, asking, essentially- why is this funny? What is funny? She regularly does stand-up, but only so that she can report back as a part of her show. She pointed out that if her stand-up was her source of income, she would not be able to perform in a wolf suit just for the hell of it, but would have to consider what the audience actually wanted from her.
When people go to see a reasonably well-known comedian – such as Sara Pascoe – they have a certain expectation of her set. So what happens when these comedians do start to earn more money, and the life from which they garner their material begins to change? Should they stick with the characters they're known for throughout their careers? When paid gigs directly relate to the kind of jokes you can tell, do you think there is space in paid comedy for people to change their entire set based around the differences in their performance fee? Have you noticed any comedians whose jokes have been affected by their change in fortunes? Are you one of those comedians?
We think this is a great area for discussion, and we'd love to hear your thoughts. Just leave us a comment, or chat with us on Twitter @FunnyWomen.
