i-am-comic-jeff-foxworthyOne of the things I was asked to do when being filmed for the stand-up comedy documentary I Am Comic which premieres at the Slamdance Film Festival this month was to evaluate a Jeff Foxworthy performance before he became a household name.

I don’t even know if that scene made it into the film. But here’s what happened during my part of the filming…

When I arrived at the Uber Content studio in Hollywood, Jordan Brady (director) and Ritch Shydner (host) had already preselected 6 or 7 comedians for me to evaluate using my Comedy Evaluator Pro software. A Jeff Foxworthy performance before he became a comedy star was one of those earmarked for evaluation.

The Jeff Foxworthy performance I evaluated (for 3-4 minutes) was in a comedy club venue and I am going to roughly guess that there were no more than 300 audience members in that venue for that performance.

I started the evaluation at the very beginning of Jeff’s comedy club set, which tends to be the weakest part of a headlining comedian’s comedy routine overall.

After 3-4 minutes I stopped the evaluation and determined Jeff Foxworthy’s PAR Score to be 35 — an average of 35% of each minute evaluated (21 seconds) was filled with laughter, cheering or applause.

Here’s what I know from that brief, yet revealing evaluation:

1. Jeff Foxworthy was just “coming into stride” with his routine when I was asked to stop the evaluation. I suspect that had I evaluated more of his comedy routine, he would have had a PAR Score approaching 40, which is very significant for a comedian in a venue of 300 audience members or less.

2. ANY comedian who can achieve and maintain a PAR Score of 35 or above consistently is noteworthy anywhere, regardless of fame or popularity.

Then Ritch Shydner asked me this question:

Does a comedian’s “star power” have an impact on their PAR Score?

The answer is yes, but it mostly has to do with the audience size a comedy star can draw and perform for rather than the “awe factor” of watching a comedy star perform. Big comedy stars don’t usually perform in 200-300 seat venues. And the larger the audience, the longer (and stronger) laughs can be which directly impacts a comedian’s PAR Score.

Keep this in mind — no matter how big a comedy star a performer may be, if they are NOT funny, they aren’t going to get a great PAR Score just because they are a comedy star no matter how big (or small) an audience may be.

But just like me, you will have to wait and see which one of my scenes actually made it into the film. And my anticipation to see the film is building I must say!

The stand-up comedy documentary is called I Am Comic and managed to rate a special screening at the Slamdance Film Festival in Jan 2010.

Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny for Money

About the Author/Founder of The Stand-up Comedy Professional

Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and author of the content made available in the Comedy Pro Membership Program available on this site.

Over the past decade, Steve has established himself as a leading, globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development, delivery and entertainment business strategies for comedy entertainers as well as speaking professionals.

For more information about Steve, please check out the About The Author section on this site.