Comedy Speak - A Glossary of Terms
The bringer that went bullet totally killed but with super hack bits.
Stand up comedians have their own language, and I asked my stand up friends to help me compile a list of terms and words we use, so at the risk of sounding like the “that’s hip hop” lady, here’s a handy list of terms we use so you know what the heck we’re talking about.
Bit
Non-comedians refer to jokes, skits, sketches, your little show. Comics tend to call the individual stories or jokes we tell bits. A bit might be made up of several jokes that run together.
Bringer
A bringer is what bookers and comics call someone who they can put on a show and count on to bring a lot of people, usually because they’re new and their friends and family will still come out to shows. That doesn’t last beyond the first year. A bringer show is a show where most of the comics got booked because it was believed they’d bring the audience. The term is often used derogatorily, implying the comedian being called a bringer doesn’t have other qualities. “It was just a bringer show.”
Call Back
Referring back to a joke from earlier in your set, or even from another comic’s set.
Chuckle Fucker
Someone who sleep with comics. The alternate “Chuckle Hugger” was coined by comedian Robert Berry and tickles me to no end.
Comp
To let someone in free. “Can you comp my dad for this show?” “You got any comps for tomorrow’s show?”
Closer, Opener
The jokes that a comic starts their set with and ends their set with. “Damn, that’s a great joke.” “Thanks. I think I’ll be using that as my closer.” “I knew it was gonna be a fun show when my opener killed.” Of course people are also called openers and closers if they’re first or last on the line up so you could say “Damn, that opener’s closer killed, and then the closer’s opener totally bombed.”
Credits
Where a comedian has worked, especially experiences that can be used in their introduction or in promotional material for the show. TV Credits are extra valuable and sought after.
Crowd Work
This is when a comic talks to the audience and improvises with them and its surprisingly divisive. I’ve seen comics say it isn’t really stand up, but I think they’re just miffed that crowd work videos do so well online. A lot of headliners, even ones who do crowd work, would prefer the comics who go up before them not do crowd work.
Digging yourself out of a hole
Having to win the audience back because you, or maybe the comic or comics before you, bombed some bits or otherwise soured the crowd.
Drink Tickets
Free drinks at the club for performers, often in the form of raffle tickets you can give to the bartender. “I got paid in drink tickets. I don’t even drink. I’m working for flat ginger ale.”
Flop Sweat
What happens when you bomb, the instant beads of sweat on your head when a joke doesn’t work.
Green Room
Where the comics hang out during the show, comedy’s version of ‘Dressing room’. Almost never actually green.
Guest Set
A local comedian, maybe a regular at the club, or a friend of the headliners, will sometimes do a guest set of 5 to 10 minutes. Some clubs have a strict policy about comics not asking the headliner for guest sets. If you don’t have a gig, it’s great to hang around the clubs where you work or are hoping to get work. You can let them know you’re available for guest sets but be careful not to be pushy. Guest sets are not paid spots.
Hack
An insult meaning cheesy, obvious, unoriginal, easy, lazy comedy. It’s subjective of course. It can be a noun, “Dude is a total hack.” or an adjective, “Such a hack premise.” Hack doesn’t necessarily mean unsuccessful with the audience. “Yeah, she killed, but with totally hack jokes.”
Housekeeping
Saying all the things the club needs you to say, “Turn off your cell phones, keep table chatter to a minimum, tip your servers, join our mailing list, here’s some great shows we have coming up.”
Intro
What you want them to say about you as they introduce you. “What do you want for your intro?”
Light, The
The light can be someone’s cell phone in the back of the room, or a flashlight, or a dedicated special light installed at the club, or whatever method the shows producer arranged to let you know when you have a certain amount of time left. You might have agreed on a two minute light, or a five minute light. When you “Get the light” if you go over your allotted time on stage you are “Running the light.”
One liners
Quick jokes that don’t require much set up. Steven Wright and Demetri Martin are masters of the one liner, as was the late great Mitch Hedberg.
One Nighter
There are bars and restaurants all over the country that have one night a week when they do a booked comedy show. By stringing a handful of these together you can get a small tour. There are bookers who specialize in these but at least here on the west coast this seems to be drying up and it’s harder to get more than a couple one nighters in a row.
Opener/host/emcee, feature, headliner
At a professional gig, in a comedy club, the line up usually consists of an opener/emcee, feature, and headliner.
The opener or emcee tends to be a local. They are the first comic you see, and they come back between comics and at the end of the show to say goodnight. Their set is usually 10 to 15 minutes long.
The feature or middle comic might be a local, or they may be on the road with the headliner. They go up right before the headliner. They do between 20 and 30 minutes.
The headliner is usually a professional touring comic with some name recognition. They usually do at least 45 minutes. It’s rare for them to do much more than an hour.
Open Micer
Ofter used as an insult for someone who doesn’t get booked for showcases or at clubs and only does open mics.
Papering the Room
Giving away a lot of free tickets because ticket sales are low and you need a crowd.
Passed
Approved to work at a certain club or set of clubs. You work to get passed at your town’s clubs, and then you work to get passed as a feature.
Playing to The Back of The Room
Comedians tend to hang out in the back of the room and sometimes we’ll do a set that the audience isn’t going to enjoy as much as our peers, whether intentionally or not, making the comics behind the audience crack up and leaving the audience baffled.
Prop Comic
A comic who uses props, often said as an insult. Everything comics say can be said as insult, damn we’re mean. Gallagher, Carrot Top are examples.
Read the Room
To have a sense of your audience and what they might like or not like. “Dude just went super blue in front of conservative senior citizens at a church fundraiser. Learn to read the room, for chrissakes.”
Road Comic
A comic who is on the road a lot, sometimes used derogatorily for a comic who only does one nighters and bar shows on the road without getting passed at proper clubs.
Road Dog
Either someone who goes on the road a lot, or the relationship between two comics who go on the road together. “Yeah, I’m her road dog.”
Roast Battle
A roast battle is two comics trading insults. It’s a great lesson in consent. They both agreed to be there and gave each other permission to go no holds barred. Celebrity roasts are popular on TV, but local roast battles remains a popular format. The celebrity roast format is different from a battle, and usually each comic takes a turn roasting everyone on the dais and especially the evening’s featured roastee.
Riffing
Improvising on a subject, doing material that wasn’t written out ahead of time.
Set
The jokes you’re gonna tell that night combine to form your set. You could also ask a promoter, “Hey, can I get set tonight?” meaning you’d like to get on the show.
Showcase
A showcase is that place in between open mics and being on the roster with a national touring headliner. A showcase is a booked show, with anywhere from 4 to 12 comics, and sometimes more (unfortunately).
Street Jokes/Stock Jokes/Bar Jokes
Those classic jokes we all know, but nobody knows who wrote ‘em. I stay away from them, but I think it’s fine to tell one now and then so long as you don’t dishonestly pass them off as something you wrote.
Tag
I will say A LOT more about this one in future posts, but tags are additional punchlines at the end of a joke that don’t require their own set up. Can also be used as a verb as in “Did you see see how they tagged that joke? They’re really good at tagging.”
Taking the Bullet
Bombing, killing, slaying, dying, we are such drama queens. Taking the bullet, going bullet just means going up first. It can be the hardest spot because the audience isn’t warmed up.
Tight Crowd
A crowd that is hard to get laughing.
Tight Five
A five minute set that is well polished and ready for auditions and important shows. Comedians are generally working on generating as much material as they can, but are also very focused on their tight five, especially if they’re looking to get on TV.
Urban
Honestly, this tends to be a way of saying black without saying black. If someone says its an urban room they might mean its in the city, but they usually mean its mostly frequented by black people and black comics and there is a style of comedy that is associated with these rooms, and the audiences have a reputation for being particular about what they like and not prone to suffering silently.
Voice of God
A Voice of God mic is a mic that’s off stage, often used to introduce the comedians as the top of the show.
Walk On Music, Walk Up Music
The music that plays as you make your way to the microphone after you’re introduced.
Walked
When people leave during your set, presumably because you weren’t doing great. “Damn dude, you walked half the crowd. You really gotta drop them dead puppy jokes.”
Working Blue / Working Clean
Cursing, saying things you can’t say on network television, talking about sex, etc. is working blue. Working clean means you stay away from this material and you don’t curse. There are levels, Disney Clean, TV Clean, etc.
Killed, murdered, destroyed, crushed, ripped
Did well.
Bombed, shit the bed, bombed my dick off, ate dicks, ate a bowl of dicks, took dicks to the face, crashed and burned, ate shit, died
Did not do well.