I just got the opportunity to watch Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show and I have to tell you…

I will be referencing this movie in the future. If you haven’t seen it…

In a nutshell, at the end of 2005, Vince Vaughn takes four unknown comedians from the Comedy Store in Los Angeles and goes on tour of one night shows—one each day for 30 days…

The film is mostly a documentary about the comedians involved (John Caparulo, Bret Ernst, Sebastian Maniscalco and Ahmed Ahmed) and how they adapt and adjust to getting a big break by getting to perform on a major comedy tour.

I will get to the point and say that I feel that this movie (now available on DVD) is a must have for those who are serious about stand-up comedy.

I will also say that you should study that movie, whether or not you like Vince Vaughn or any of the comedians who are featured, simply because it provides a real “behind the scenes” look at the world of big show stand-up comedy.

I took the time to see what the critics said about this movie. I certainly wouldn’t call it overly favorable. Obviously, the critics couldn’t see what I saw because…

I have headlined some of the rooms that are featured in the movie. I know what it’s like to work big rooms.

I also know that if you want to be critical of any comedian, the very FIRST thing you look at is their PAR Score (Positive Audience Response), which is representative of how much laughter, applause and cheering the comedian actually got during their performance.

There was line from the NY Times review of this movie that really ticked me off:

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While there are clips of performances by each of the comedians in the movie, most of the movie is about the comedians and entertainers involved in the show—presented documentary style.

Here’s what I know beyond a shadow of a doubt…

I absolutely applaud Vince Vaughn for putting together his Wild West Comedy Show and giving four unknown comedians the big break they needed to move forward. I only wish more comedy and entertainment stars would help expose and promote new talent this way.

I really appreciated how candid each of the comedians were about their comedy dreams and goals — and about themselves.

I know that after 30 shows, one every night that each comedian improved tremendously and grew as comedians. Your ability to improve and develop new comedy material that kills is directly related to the number of performances you can accrue.

I will be reviewing this movie over and over again, pulling out select pieces of information you may want to look at yourself because…

For me, this movie represents an awesome training and education tool that I can use to illustrate specific aspects of stand-up comedy.

As for the critics of stand-up comedy…

Before you start talking about whethre a comedian did or did not kill on the stand-up comedy stage…

You need to start with their PAR Score first. Then, base your criticism on that. Otherwise…

You have ZERO credibility when it comes to critiquing stand-up comedy and probably have no business doing it.

Like I said, I will be referring to this movie in the future. Favorably, I might add…

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.

One 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.

You have probably heard the age old adage that “Laughter is the best medicine”. 

Proof that laughter can produce amazing positive affects on the human body has been scientifically demonstrated by Dr. Lee Berk’s original research study called “Modulation of Neuroimmune Parameters During The Eustress of Humor Associated Mirthful Laughter”.

Yet, despite such revealing evidence produced at the lowest possible laughter levels, relatively little headway has been made in the realm of establishing laughter therapy as the powerful therapy that I believe it to be.

So, why isn’t more happening in the laughter therapy arena? That’s an easy question for me to answer.

I believe the primary reason that laughter therapy is not more prolific today — in spite of the research supporting its potential therapeutic value — is because no one has really yet figured out how to turn laughter therapy into a marketable commodity.

What would you say if I told you that I firmly believe that laughter therapy could be relatively easily established as a salable and marketable health therapy?

Using Dr. Berk’s groundbreaking research as a foundation, below is a brief description of the criteria I would use to initiate a new study that could establish an adult laughter therapy process as a viable and salable adjunctive therapy product:

Criteria #1: Amplified laughter generation using group dynamics. In Dr. Berk’s study, it appears that individuals participating in his study were exposed on an individual basis — not on a group basis — to a 60 minute video tape of the comedian Gallagher in order to obtain the amazing results identified in the study.

I know as a stand-up comedy professional that individual viewership of a stand-up comedy video will produce the absolute lowest quantity of mirthful laughter or belly laughs over any time period.

Assuming that more frequent and longer duration laughter during a given period will further amplify the profound positive physiological and biological results found in Dr Berk’s study…

I would initiate a new study utilizing group dynamics (ie: 30 participants in a closely seated environment) to amplify individual (and group) laughter generation from watching a preselected stand-up comedy video.

Criteria #2: Correlation of actual accumulated laughter duration with resulting physiological and biological responses. In Dr. Berk’s study, there was no direct correlation made between the actual accumulated duration of laughter generated on an individual basis and the recorded physiological/biological results.

By making the direct connection between the accumulative duration of laughter (for a given time period) to the resulting physiological and biological responses, researchers would be able to easily determine a largely predictable neuroimmune response range (among other measurable responses).

I would incorporate these criteria into a new study that is specifically designed to determine a predictable laughter “dose”.

The Need For A New Study

In a perfect world, the study I would propose would consist of 3-5 groups consisting of 30-50 people each, with near equal distribution of male and female participants.

Note: Near equal male to female ratio of participation by study members is needed to maximize laughter generation. Comedians know that all male groups tend to laugh far less than mixed or all female groups.

Each group would have initial testing done to establish their physiological and biological baselines prior to involvement in the study.

One group would function as a control group, doing nothing more than having their blood drawn every week for the duration of the study. Every other group outside the control group would be exposed to a preselected stand-up comedy video at varying frequencies in an optimum group environment. For example:

Group 1: One 45 minute stand-up comedy video viewing session per week.
Group 2: Two 45 minute stand-up comedy video viewing sessions per week.
Group 3: Three 45 minute stand-up comedy video viewing sessions per week.

And so forth, with groups participating in up to 5 controlled stand-up comedy viewing sessions per week for 8-12 weeks.

An audio recording of the actual group laughter response would be produced for each stand-up comedy viewing session. This recording would be evaluated using Comedy Evaluator Pro to measure the actual quantity of laughter in minutes experienced by each respective group during each video viewing session.

These measured laughter quantities would then be compared to the actual physiological and biological results experienced by each individual.

Note: My patent application for Comedy Evaluator Pro includes the process I have just described for medical applications.

Actual minutes of group laughter accumulated for each session can then be correlated with both high and low individual physiological and biological responses experienced by those participating in the study.

In other words…

At the end of the study, one should be able to demonstrate with objective metrics that if a person is engaged in high level laughter for X minutes per day, X days per week, then they can expect X range of physiological and biological impact from that laughter exposure.

Creating A Salable Laughter Therapy Product

You can’t sell a single pill or medicine that doesn’t have an established dosage that is correlated with specific medicinal response ranges. The same can be said of laughter therapy.

The study I have proposed in this article is significant because by establishing a high and low range of physiological and biological results from actual measured laughter exposure…

It would then be possible to prescribe salable laughter therapy sessions as a valid and accepted adjunctive medical therapy known to produce a range of favorable (and predictable) responses based on the quantity of laughter experienced.

Probably one of the most appealing features of my study proposal is that there is no FDA approval needed to prescribe laughter sessions that could potentially improve the effectiveness of established medications used for disease processes and have a significant impact on a patient’s health.

So there is no need to wait years wading through the FDA approval process in order to set-up and deliver a viable and marketable laughter therapy program for adults.

Your comments are welcomed.

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.