AI Tries Stand-Up Comedy
By Nicole Ojo
If you could see a comedy show written by AI, would you?
That’s the question that came to mind a few days ago. Every year, the SCA partners up with The comedy school to get students to learn stand-up and perform at a comedy club. This year, 6 people were chosen by Marc Lewis to partake in the CS (comedy school) after winning a brief. Graciously, the CS allows 6 additional SCA students to do the course, making it 12 students total.
As it’s the CS’s 25th anniversary, they wanted to raise some money for charity and out of the different causes they are supporting, we chose a mental health charity. Please click the link below to learn more and donate!
Getting back to the matter at hand, the idea of stand-up comedy scares the living hell out of me, so I decided to sign up. You’re probably wondering why and to be frank, I’ve been feeling a bit stagnant. Doing things that make me uncomfortable, allows me to grow and be more creative. At the end of the day, that’s why I’m at the SCA.
With the help of the amazing, comedic genius, Mr Cee, I’ve been learning how to be a good stand-up comedian. It seems like it could be something you can learn from a how-to-be funny book for dummies, but it is quite hard if you’ve never been purposely funny. I am more of a laugh-at, than laugh-with, type of girl.
Just like in advertisement, you need to communicate with your audience clearly and strategically. Whether completely logical or not, you need to be saying something with value, not just throwing up words. This then made me wonder if comedy needs a human touch to create genuine laughter.
I went onto Chat GPT and asked it a few questions to hopefully lead me to answer the question, can AI be as funny? I started with some easy questions to see what Chat GPT knows about stand-up and what it thinks good stand-up looks like. Here are some screenshots of our conversation.
After gathering as much info as I could, I asked the question:
“Based on what we have gathered, could you write a 2-minute comedy show targeted towards an audience of gen z and millennial brits that uses emotion and something topical?”
Here is what Chat GPT responded with…
As you can see, it’s bloody awful. Eye-watering, eardrum-shattering, contemplating life, utter trash. If you enjoyed reading that, you need to rethink your life choices…
Just Kidding.
Honestly, I’m shocked at what it came up with. There were a few times in the script where I thought it was going to lead to something good, but it just fell flat. Perhaps it was because it was written and not performed, but how can you explain the gasping for air, looking like a crazy person in public, with tears in my eyes, red-faced (if I were white) books I’ve read?
Stand-up Comedy isn’t for the faint (and artificial) of heart. It takes guts, emotions, culture, life experience and so much more!
If you want to see some REAL, knock-your-sock-off (hopefully) comedy, book tickets to see our show on the 26th of February at The Backyard Comedy school and please donate by clicking the link below to help those who need it!
