A lot of things can go into a gimmick stage persona: an outlandish costume, a crazy voice, ventriloquist dummies, an insulting hand puppet, and more. They might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the audience overwhelmingly loves them, and that’s ultimately what matters.
The important thing to keep in mind, for a comedian looking to develop a gimmick, is that they must completely and totally commit to it. Anything short of total commitment tells the audience that the comic doesn’t really buy what they’re doing—and if that’s the case, why should the audience? Remove all the winking irony from the routine and commit 100% to the gimmick.
The uncontested master of the gimmick act is the brilliant Sacha Baron Cohen, creator of Ali G, Borat, and Bruno. At this point, Cohen isn’t just a comedian; his commitment is so total that he’s more accurately categorized as a performance artist. And the results are hilarious. Stephen Colbert is another comedian whose total commitment to a character is pitch-perfect and makes for great comedy. [see update]
My favorite local gimmick act is a mechanized “robot” made out of a wood, cardboard, a trash can, and various other household items. His name is Robo, and you may have seen Robo at Giggles, or at The Stranger Gong Show. He rolls and spins around on the stage, LEDs blinking, telling robot jokes and incredibly misogynist street jokes.1 I’ve seen Robo half a dozen times, and he never fails to kill.
Via The Stranger’s Slog, here’s another stand-up gimmick act that took some balls. It’s mildly amusing to watch over the Internet, but I’m pretty certain that if I had been in the room I would have been pissing myself:
This dude definitely committed (and should possibly BE committed)
Related entries:
- Stephen Colbert has huge brass balls
- Crowd Work: Playing with the Audience
- Open Mic: First Timer Primer
- Stand-up Comedy Glossary
- Street jokes are non-original jokes such as those you’re likely to hear from your friends or “on the street.” Telling street jokes on stage is usually a no-no, but a gimmick act can absolutely make it work. [↩]
I don’t view Colbert or Cohen as a gimmick. That’s a character but they’re very original. I’m trying to figure out a way to define the difference but I’m drawing a blank. I guess the feeling is that a Gimmick is something anyone could do and pull off the same. I could build a robot and I could invent a hand puppet and tell street jokes. I couldn’t do Stephen Colbert.
Triumph the insult dog has kinda turned gimmicky which is why I think we don’t see anything from him lately but he started as an original creative character. It takes some serious skills to insult people that quickly.
andrew rivers
July 9th, 2009
Andrew, god damn it. I think you’re right.
I guess I didn’t really think this through as well as I should have before posting, but there’s definitely a difference between a character (Borat and Colbert) and a gimmick (Robo and Dr. Doom). Maybe I’ll think about it some more—and we should chat about it tonight!—and post again tomorrow in attempt to get it right.
CJ
July 9th, 2009
To be fair to both sides. We should also not forget to include Mr Bill O Reilly under Characters.
People forget because the show is veiled as ‘news’ but lets be honest with ourselves. He’s the antithises of colbert. Designed to piss us off and appeal to the opposite audience. And he does a damn good job of it too. I just wish they would put him on Comedy Central too.
It’s funny to look around at the world like that. Bob Rivers is a character. If you listen to the radio show. That’s not my dad. The character is based in his reality but its an exageration. Confused the hell out of me as a kid. Who else would be a character out there. hmm… This is a good blog topic.
Andrew J Rivers
July 9th, 2009