Why Roast Comedy Blows

I listen to a lot of comedy podcasts. I've noticed time and time again that whenever a comic mentions another comic's name on a recorded format he/she almost invariably adds, "and ____ is A VERY FUNNY COMIC." "______ is TOTALLY HILARIOUS." If you're wondering, "are comics' interactions with each other the same in person?" the answer is, of course, hell no. Almost all of the compliments are pure politics. Every time I hear this "VERY FUNNY" shit I wince slightly. A trained chimp can be "very funny." It means absolutely nothing. I've seen plenty of comics to whom I would refer as "very funny/hilarious" who I would also say are bad at stand up. If I say that I think that you're a "good/great comic" you will know that I respect you-- and even those phrases are overused on those shit podcasts.

Early during my career I felt empty even after I had done very well because I wasn't really expressing the things that I really felt. I was plugging words into different verbal slots and getting a reaction. And that phenomenon is at the heart of "roast comedy." But even my early comedy was more advanced than roast comedy because I wasn't lying. Roast comedy is for reaction purposes only. It's nothing that is from the heart or that people will remember (if they ever even gave a shit in the first place-- and let's face, they don't care about MANY of the third tread comics that are featured on "Roast Battle" shows). The comics who are involved with it generally like each other, and even if they dislike each other they don't dislike each other to the extent that they express on the stage. It's not stand up. It's a+b=c. It's its own genre. And that genre is garbage.

A few weeks ago I performed at an open mic that had mostly non-comics, which is very rare for L.A. My first two punchlines during the first minute did very well. Then I paused and said, "Now I'm going to lose all of you," then I proceeded to do racial material about an Asian girl who crashed into my car and lied about it, which has caused me to pay for all of my damages. The material was as mild and inoffensive as "this bitch RUINED ASIAN PORN FOR ME." But I was performing it in L.A., so I did lose them. And I didn't give a fuck. I went out as me, on my terms.

And in that moment I wasn't "roasting" anyone. I was speaking my truth. I was performing stand up.