How long do you give a comedian you're not familiar with?

[Norm K]

I might be impatient, but they get somewhere in the range of two-to-five minutes to convince me they're funny and worth watching.

I've tried to watch a number of "specials" on a few different services and most don't make it to the five minute mark.

Today, as I sit here recovering from total hip replacement surgery, an Australian woman (the appellation woman is still acceptable, right?) named Anne Edmonds inspired this thread. The screen is paused at the 2:57 mark and I'm done with her. With over an hour left, I just saved a bunch of time, which will almost be consumed with trying to find something else to watch.

Guess it might be time to grab another book.

_

[masraum]

Yeah, probably 5 mins. I can usually tell.

I've had some where I thought "this comedian is funny," but I wasn't laughing. In those instances, I assume it's that my mood isn't right. In other cases, I either don't think they are funny, or I don't find their material funny (or both).

[herr_oberst]

I usually give a "new" comic doing standup 10, 15 minutes. But there's a caveat here. I don't watch comics doing standup without knowing at least a little something about them before I turn on their special. For instance, after Parks and Rec was over, I gave Nick Offerman's Netflix special a try. Result? Didn't like it. I heard Mike Birbiglia on This American Life, and when his special came on, I watched it and was pleasantly surprised. Laughed pretty hard. Funny without being especially dirty. Patton Oswalt, John Mulaney, Marc Maron....I know who they are, and watched their standup specials with different levels of amusement. There's a lot of others that I can think of.

The one exception I can remember to this rule is Iliza Shlesinger. I thought she looked cute in the thumbnail, so I watched, and laughed my ass off. That was her first special. Her later ones were sort of same, same so I don't watch her much anymore. And that leads me to another observation.

The bell curve. The arc of the laughter. Sam Kinison was hilarious in my mind at first. But man, that flavor of comedy had a very short lifespan, and I find that happens quite a bit.

(And don't tell anyone, but I thought Louie C.K was pretty damn funny throughout his career)

I guess I have the attention span of a mayfly.

[Por_sha911]

When 50% of their first paragraph is profanity or obscene/crude subject matter I'm out.
(its not that my tender ears haven't heard it all before but there is a difference between being funny and just using shock to elicit nervous laughter).

[sc_rufctr]

A new comedian gets about 90 second with me.

[Arizona_928]

At the tempe improv .... I'll heckle.

[sc_rufctr]

[JavaBrewer]

Bill Burr

[Icemaster]

I have my girlfriend to thank for most of the ones I watch now, I can tell pretty quick whether it's my speed or not. Nate Bargatze & Iliza are both very good. Iliza's got an arc to her work and stays fairly current, the speed of her delivery combined with a little creativity and I find myself watching her fairly regularly. Bargatze is straight up funny with an everyman witty semi-deadpan delivery.

30 seconds of Anjelah Johnson had me wanting to punch her in the face.

[stealthn]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Bill Burr

This, binge watch his specials, very funny relatable guy.

[ckelly78z]

I'm much more likely to give a comedian more chance on a Saturday night than a Friday night. I seem to be somewhat uptight, and irritated from a long week of work B.S. on Friday, while Saturday, I have done things that I WANT to do all day with my family at home, and am in a much better mood.

[Tervuren]

I would say there are factors that are cumulative, and how many are present per unit of time would influence how many units of times they get.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

(And don't tell anyone, but I thought Louie C.K was pretty damn funny throughout his career)

Profoundly funny.

He did ask them..............

I remember turning off Eddie Murphy Raw after a couple of minutes because of profanity.

Most first time seen comedians I'll give plenty of slack to, just like random sci fi movies.

[GH85Carrera]

I will give most about 6 minutes, and it is is a total not funny part, I will fast forward to the 1/2 way point. A two minute stretch of non-funny and it is gone.

Comedy must be a brutal business. The line from hysterical to non-funny is pretty thin.

[Seahawk]

I listen to the comedy channels on SiriusXM when I am on the road.

They do a mix of long form and one to three minute snippets. There have been a few I have found instantly appealing: Anthony Jeselnik for instance.

Others I beam to the next channel after a minute, especially if they start lecturing.

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Comedy must be a brutal business. The line from hysterical to non-funny is pretty thin.

What's worse is the WOKE wackos are offended by everything. I have read that many comedians refuse to step foot on university campuses.

I know it isn't popular because of what we found out about the guy but, IMO Bill Cosby was one of the best ever. He had a way of making you laugh without the need of obscenity or crude topics. I condemn what he was convicted of but applaud his talent.

[Norm K]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

I know it isn't popular because of what we found out about the guy but, IMO Bill Cosby was one of the best ever. He had a way of making you laugh without the need of obscenity or crude topics. .

Spent many hours listening to "Why is There Air", "Wonderfulness", and "Right" as a kid.

Chicken heart and the Noah bit were probably my favorites. To this day - including describing the bone-cutting part of my recent hip replacement surgery - I'll say "voopah, voopah, voopah" to mimic the sound of a hand saw.

_

[flatbutt]

If I'm in my cups they're likely to get more time, but I've been spoiled by the likes of Pryor and Carlin. Sinbad is one who absolutely made my sides hurt. So after a few minutes I can tell if they're going to reach me or not.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Sinbad is one who absolutely made my sides hurt...

I was driving back from Yorktown, Virgnia yesterday and he had a five minute set on Sirius.

He has an incredible ear for the time he was growing up...

[javadog]

I tend to not listen to entire comedy routines. Ron White might be an exception to that rule.

I prefer shorter clips from their performances, maybe 3 to 5 minutes in length. Been watching a few from Ralphie May recently, I’d never heard of the guy but some of his clips are pretty outrageous. Shlesinger‘s another one I’ve watched lately, I like a lot of her stuff.