Does Standing Up Make One Funny?

Telling Jokes vs. Being Funny
Getting on stage, holding a microphone, and telling jokes is all it takes for most people to consider themselves comedians. I have met many hard-working performers who have "polished" their act only to realize that they were polishing burnt rubber. It's important to have funny material, but it's more important for your funny material to matter. It's one thing to make a person laugh, but to make them think is the real challenge.
More than Entertaining Drunks
Comedy can and should be about more than striking the lowest note on the ladder of taste and waiting for the mere shockwave to destroy the audiences ability to think, and instead go for the "gut reaction". If it was more than a bit difficult to make a crowd of strangers laugh at the mere mention of orgasms, or sex, or the church, there would be far fewer operating comedy venues.
Shouting, Swearing and Others Ways to Get Laughed At
People considering careers in comedy should start by reading about what interests them, and getting a real deep perspective on their topic of choice, whether it's masturbation, broken families, or religion. When a performer has nothing to say, and is just reciting things off the top of his shallow head it's not going to get the same kind of reaction (at least not as long-lasting) as when he thinks about the issue, and really let's himself experiment. Why should comedians get to hurry through their work, while playwrites, poets, architects, and even visual artists have to put time (if even just thinking time) into their work? Comedians are not separate from the performing arts, or the arts in general. It's a myth that Stand-up comedy is "something beyond, something else" it's really just rhetoric designed to stimulate our sense of irony. Stand-up is a one-sided faux-discussion about events, issues, and people important to the comedian, and hopefully important to the audience as well. In our desire to entertain people we should strive not to educate them, but to make them think. For when people think and laugh at the same time they change, and when comedy influences change it ceases to be something "else" and begins facing up to the reality, comedy like everything else designed for an audience must be honest with itself, and look at more than just the laugh meter for feedback.
Endnote
I cannot say that I know what comedy is, after all if that was true I'd be getting paid to do it. However, I am certain that as an audience member I am almost always more satisfied when the artist (comic) makes me think, and not just react.

Surprised by an Open Mic

An Interesting SMS
I wasn't planning on doing anything that night. While sitting in the kitchen doing nothing in particular I received a text message, "Open Mic tonight. Want to go?" The message was from Stephen, a friend of mine from the United Kingdom. I responded with a request for details. I killed time surfing the web, and thinking of ways to stay calm. This would be my first solo performance since comming to Poland in May of 2009. I hadn't been doing anything like Open Mic nights for over 18 months, so I was quite rusty.

It's My Time
The host of the evening a bearded man holding a wireless microphone and standing in front of a large LCD screen introduces me, "Rich Greenfield." I fumble up to the stage and grab the mic. I was excited about the peformance not only because it was my first in a long time, but also because I could try and see how I would do performing in Polish. I decided earlier in the evening that I would use a bi-lingual blended method for getting my ideas across to the audience. The people at the show where these hipster-artist types, and probably all lived in lofts. When I spotted their funny hats, and sharp colored outfits, I knew that English would have to be used to wooh them, and Polish to put them into their place. After 10 minutes of rambling and improvisation I was finished.

Post mortem
All in all, I think it was a performance that would of been better had I been really warmed-up. When I would do shows at Thai Joes in Milwaukee I would have a good amount of time (and quiet) to get into "my zone." However, at this cafe I didn't have a place to hide. It was raining outside and I had been fighting a cold for a few days and didn't want it to get worse. I had no place to hide inside as the place was packed. So I just kind of burned myself out talking to people and getting distracted. My main issue was my lack of focus, and a distinct cohesiveness or plot in my performance. In the future I must force myself to warm-up before going on stage, and most importantly to refrain from idle chit-chat prior to performing, as it tends to melt everything in my mind together into a glob of nonsense, rather than a well-formulated tale.