Local, visiting comedians make for an exciting comedy scene
Chattanooga’s local comedy scene is on fire right now. Mainstream comedians have been consistently coming to town, the improv scene activity is at an all-time high, and the local stand-up acts are all in full stride. It’s nothing short of a bustling environment for jokes and laughter all around the Scenic City.
While local music has always been the powerhouse entity that has grabbed the most public attention, it seems as if Chattanooga has found yet another form of entertainment to make it stand out, and has absolutely started to gain recognition on a national level.
Multiple businesses, organizations, and outlets that center around comedy have been taking off lately and spiraling towards success. While many places simply host comedy nights featuring named-brand comedians, others open their doors to give local talent the opportunity to lunge toward the stage and present themselves through the multiple, ever-growing facets of performance comedy.
It is fantastic that we live in a place where aspiring comedians can take a shot at performing stand-up comedy, as terrifying as it may or may not seem to the endeavoring comedians.
Taking a shot at stand-up comedy takes a tremendous amount of courage. Supposedly, it is like all things: some people have what it takes, and others do not. Standing on an open stage all alone in hopes of making people laugh seems like it can be scary, unless of course you are the person on stage who has managed to somehow grasp the full attention of the room, and who has them hysterically laughing for half an hour or more.
It is unclear what exactly the difference is. Why can one person borderline make people pee their pants from laughter, and another with similar characteristics get booed off the stage and maybe even literally get things thrown at them (that is actually a thing, by the way)? Are there even any grey areas? There certainly do not seem to be. Generally speaking, it is mostly one or the other; there is no safe in between. So it definitely is a spooky place to stand, and a place that takes a thick-skinned person to even attempt.
Seemingly the difference maker is stage presence, mixed with the ability to read a room and know what material to pitch on the fly to a crowd of mostly complete strangers. Also, the absence of any kind of fear whatsoever is of the utmost importance; those hecklers can smell fear from a mile away, and they can get pretty relentless with their hisses and boos. It can be intimidating just to think about it. Kudos to the brave souls who venture out and make an attempt.
It is impressive to see success stories from people who grabbed an open mic and ended up with a career in making people laugh. It certainly is possible. It just takes that first step like anything else, only this particular first step might involve people seriously throwing things at them or booing them off stage.
After talking to multiple comedians both locally and beyond, it seems like one lure of performing in Chattanooga as a local aspiring comedian is the lack of disgruntled competitors around town who could not catch a break. In larger cities, the broken and discouraged entertainers who do not make the approval cut for the spotlight just sit in the audience as a team and make the comedians putting themselves out there miserable by excessive group heckling.
It allegedly is a big problem across the map, but it does not seem to be an excessive issue locally. Cities like Atlanta and Chicago typically have more people trying to break through, so naturally have more failed performers to team up on the newcomers to help drive them away.
Heckling and stage performers go hand and hand and can trace back to the beginning of the movement. It is actually pretty bizarre to think about. Humans are really funny creatures. It is almost like humanity has a built-in drive that inspires us to mess with people who try to entertain us.
It does not make any sense to me; I prefer to encourage and support as opposed to attempting to discourage those who want to make me laugh. Certainly I would never throw food or fruit at an entertainer.
Somewhere along the lines heckling has integrated with standup comedy and has incorporated itself in the comedy scene in general. It has become a part of it, if it has not always been. Many of the funniest moments in stand-up history involve heckling interaction between the performer and the haters.
YouTube is chock full of some heckling interaction. It is worth it to watch some of it in order to help to understand the frequency, hilarity, and occasional intensity of the heckling. The funniest part of it is that the heckling and intermittent throwing of random items at less-than-optimal performers is not only tolerated by the rest of the crowd, but it is often encouraged and appreciated, even sometimes by the performer’s families and loved ones.
Mankind is great in many ways; this does not seem to be one of those ways.
Oftentimes the hecklers can be funnier than the actual comedians. Still, they are just people who do not have the courage to stand up in front of a crowd and attempt to entertain, so they just show up to a place with the sole intention of embarrassing people publicly. It is a pretty well-known fact that alcohol consumption also coincides with the comedy scene, so hecklers are mostly belligerent, hammered-drunk individuals who have thrown caution to the wind and will behave however they want.
While getting heckled would be bad enough, performers at historic vaudeville shows who did not match the crowd’s standards, or who would take up too much stage time, would be dragged off the stage by a large hook-shaped cane, sometimes pretty brutally. One minute the performer would be doing their thing, and the next minute the dreaded hook would come from nowhere and surprisingly snatch them off the stage.
It really did not matter if they were standing on top of a fence; when the hook came out, it was game over for the entertainer. The word vaudeville can be traced to its French origins and uses parts of words for translation to mean “voice of the city,” meaning that the town has spoken, now drag the poor sap off the stage.
Getting the hook is now a thing of the past. Today’s politically correct version of the hook is a blatant, blinking light that indicates to the performer that their time to immediately exit stage left has arrived. Be it the hook, the blinking light, or the heckler as the culprit for removing an entertainer from a stage, it is all better than entertaining for specific royalty through time and doing a bad job. Comedians could be killed or publicly shamed as punishment for their failed attempt to entertain their lords.
Regardless, it is all meshed with public performers and is simply a part of it. Those attempting to get involved should just know that it is going to happen, even once a high level of success has been achieved. It is always going to happen in the comedy realm.
Those out there who feel like they have what it takes to reach the next level as a comedian are certainly starting in the right place. The beauty of Chattanooga’s comedy scene is that it is constantly flowing. On any given night, over the outstretches of the whole city awaits a wide variety of opportunities to grab a mic and roll the dice in front of a live audience.
It is a good measuring stick for a person to know if they have the ability to connect with an audience and make them laugh, or if the “talk of the city” is going to have them looking for an imaginary hook.
The Comedy Catch is Chattanooga’s most long-standing comedy facility. They opened for business in 1985 and have never looked back. They have done their part to open their doors for people to explore their comedic sides, and have also brought in standup comedy legends including Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Foxworthy, Ron White, D.L. Hughley, Carlos Mencia, Rob Schneider, Tommy Chong, Tommy Davidson, Carrot Top, Tracy Morgan, Pauly Shore, Bobcat Goldthwait, and the amazing fruit-smashing Gallagher, where the audience needs plastic sheets to help prevent smashed fruit bits from getting all over their clothes.
In more recent times, The Tivoli Theater has also done a fantastic job of bringing in national sensations to our local stage. A few major players of the comedy game who have let loose on the Tivoli stage over the last couple of years are Aziz Ansari, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Gabriel Iglesias, Eddie Izzard, Brian Regan, and Katt Williams.
These comedy stars are not putting Chattanooga on their national tours for no reason; they are coming because the Scenic City is currently experiencing a boom in the comedy culture. It is not just one or two places that are hosting comedy events. Every place imaginable all over town is jumping in on the comedy craze.
Another catalyst for the expansion of the local comedy scene is Improv Chattanooga. The local group of comedians presents their comedy show every Friday and Saturday night at their new Rossville Avenue location.
They do comedy on the fly, and no two shows are ever the same. The group does a variety of entertaining themes and plays games, much like the hit network television show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? The group has various shows like Improv vs. Stand Up, and Visit Rock Village, where they perform an ongoing improv soap opera set in Chattanooga’s local tourist trap, “Rock Village.” They have gained public notoriety, and are making some waves in the comedy world. Go check it out sometime.
Chattanoogans who know about the booming local comedy scene have been basking in its glory for quite a while; however, for far too many people the scene remains untapped. It has been hiding in plain sight while steadily knocking the funny bones of those who know where to find it.
At some point in time while watching stand up on television or at live shows, the majority of people have at least thought to themselves that they could get up there and knock em all down and have the whole room cracking up. Some people push all their doubts into the back of their minds and carpe diem. Everybody else either wants to only heckle or just does not want to deal with the public speaking, heckling, or presumed public failure aspects of standing up in front of a crowd while telling jokes.
Chattanooga’s local comedy scene is a good place for an aspiring comedian to start. Searching “Chattanooga open mic comedy” online will reveal multiple locations that offer the local public a starting place to get past the proverbial wet feet and to give live, real-time stand-up comedy a shot.
It will either be a crash and burn setting, or it will be a pivotal point and potentially the start of a new career for the attempter. Do you have what it takes? People say that I belong on a stage doing standup; I do love to watch it, but I for one fall in the “do not want to deal with it all” category.
Try something different; tap into the hysteria and get out there to support the local comedy scene.
Adam Beckett is a professional writer that has a tremendous passion for life, love, dancing, and adventures. Love is his intention for everything that he does, especially writing. He uses writing as a platform to spread positivity.