Twitch? Isn’t That The Gaming Place?
Probably up until lockdown began, predominantly yes, it was a site for people to live stream themselves while playing games (and largely still is), with the most high profile comedian on there being Limmy. However, with the usual avenues for comedians to interact and get their material out to the public drying up completely, there’s been an upswing of people using it for more than just gaming-based chat. Richard Herring has started doing his Leicester Square Theatre Podcast on there (as well as other interviews, playing himself at snooker and stone clearing - the latter two only probably making sense if you’re a fan of Richard Herring), Aussie comedian John Robertson has being doing his live action show based on 1980s text-based computer games The Dark Room and, to my (admittedly biased) mind the best of the bunch, Stuart Goldsmith has been running The Infinite Sofa, a chat and stand-up show which features a randomly selected Zoom-based audience randomly pulled from people who donate to the show during that week.
Not A Cult
So I started donating and have now been lucky enough to be randomly selected take part in the show several times. It’s a fun community to start to become part of - the show goes out on a Monday evening and, on a Monday morning, Stu hosts a “writer’s room” on Twitch in which you can help him draft the script for the show coming up that evening. As a massive comedy nerd type and (admittedly intermittent) listener to his podcast The Comedian’s Comedian in which he interviews comedians on their craft / process, this is to right up my street. (Especially as there’s the possibility that something you suggest might make the cut.) It makes the show feel properly collaborative especially when combined with the possibility of being in the show alongside the fact that comments in the live chat stream also end up being included / referenced.
Another bonus is the community themselves - if you’re lucky enough to get on the show, you’re part of a Zoom call that forms the show (yes, you can see me in some past episodes on both Twitch and YouTube) and that call is then opened up to the viewers at the end of the broadcast. At which point, you will find yourself inducted into the wonderful world of weird in-jokes and self-made merchandise that is the SoFam (Sofa Family - it took me a lot longer than it should have to work that out after the first NextUp show…). In the current times when going out and socialising is not really an option, it’s good to find a welcoming community of like-minded comedy nerds who are happy to sit around talking nonsense for many hours (way past my bedtime usually…). Plus I got to play No More Jockeys with Alex Horne when he was on the show. Which was nice.
Other Comedy Is Available
This isn’t the only online comedy, of course. Many others are taking to online channels to spread a bit of comedic fun and, if you have the capability to, I’d urge you to support some of these avenues. Who knows, you may get to personally interact with someone whose work you enjoy? (I’ll pop a few links at the end to some of the options.)
So online comedy. I don’t think it will replace “real life” comedy when things start to settle into something more stable but it’s proving to be another viable outlet in an increasingly online world.
Links
The Infinite Sofa & Chops - https://www.twitch.tv/stugoldsmith
Gigless - https://www.catherinebohart.com/gigless
Comedy At The Covid Arms - https://www.comedyatthecovid.co.uk/
NextUp Comedy - https://nextupcomedy.com/
The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society - https://noblefailure.org/
Shedinburgh Fringe Festival - http://shedinburgh.com/
No More Jockeys - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS8aP7SiA_eTfvT_Gruxzsw
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