How Comedians Are Surviving During COVID
The effects of the pandemic have left a lot of businesses in different industries and their people in uncertain circumstances. The entertainment industry is one of the heavily affected fields that forced many creative minds to adapt in order to survive the pandemic. Comedians, in particular, rely on live performances in clubs or theatres to make a living. But with social distancing, gatherings have been limited and so goes ticket sales and revenue, so many of our creative comics have maximized other methods to get their pay.
Here is a quick look at how comedians are holding out with COVID-19:
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Virtual Events
Comedians have taken over virtual events just as they have taken over the stage in live performances. The main challenge, however, in these gigs is that you can’t really tell if your audience is with you as Adam Christing from Clean Comedians points out, some people have mastered the “no really, I’m totally listening” look all the while their screen just froze or they have the perfect angle to browse through their Instagram on their phones without looking away from the camera. Fortunately, watching a humorous keynote entertainer is lightyears better than having to listen to Linda’s weekly report for the nth time so people are generally excited to watch them perform. The biggest thing we can take from this is that, since there are now a lot of creatives working in the digital realm than before, so we can expect it to develop and get better.
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Podcasts
Since most comedians talk for a living, many have decided to start their own podcast as a platform to discuss whatever it is that tickles their fancy. Usually, they invite their fellow comedians and the show just takes off from there. If they have great chemistry with their guest, they can feed off each other, and as a listener, you just can’t have enough. Many of these podcasts are free while others are up on a subscription streaming platform. These shows allow them to have free rein over their program and interact with their listeners over the phone and social media.
The lockdown from COVID has afforded them more time on their hands to refine their production or work on their material for their show. You can notice some comedians have improved their show and have given more thought to their topics and how they can plug-in jokes into their conversations.
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Maximizing Social Media Platforms
If you’re tired of looking at people’s throwback pictures when they were able to travel the world and use the crowds as a backdrop for their Instagram shots, comedians have started to do their shows on various social media platforms. Even before the pandemic, upcoming comics have gone to social media to share bits of jokes that lightens up your day (now they’re like sanity pills). Just like in podcasts they have wider creative bandwidth and just like virtual events, they’ll be able to get feedback and manage their show from there. Comedians have started a new niche in this aspect as they have grown from sharing a few clips a day to having virtual shows on a regular basis.
Just like any other business, comedians learn how to accommodate the situation and thrive using their observational skills, wit, creativity, and of course, humor. These people have the ability to make light or poke fun at our dire situations, which helps us see things in a different light.
