I recently asked a group of comedians which part of being a stand-up comedian they found most difficult. Now, because it was a group of comedians there were plenty of joke answers ("not referencing Coldplay in all my tags" "stealing material and not getting caught" "other comics") but let's look at what's at the top of the list. Number One with 52 votes: Finding yourself and your voice, Number Two with 41 votes: getting paid gigs, Number Three with 24 votes: Getting stage time, and Number Four with only 9 votes: Developing material. Now, I had a feeling that finding yourself would be number one bc I know that’s something a lot of comedians struggle with, but I was shocked to see so few votes for developing material. Isn’t material pretty important?
This makes me ask the question: If the hardest thing is knowing yourself and your voice, how far can you get without hard-earned comedy chops, How far can you get without years in an openc mic? If you just know yourself, your voice, know how to talk on stage, can you be a successful comic even if you've never done stand-up comedy before?
Let's talk about Jonathan Van Ness.
Jonathan Van Ness or JVN is a TV personality, most know for his role as the Grooming expert on the Netflix reboot of Queer Eye. He's a hair-dresser slash actor slash performer slash goddamn internet royalty. He's infectious, charming, and perhaps the man with the most energy that I've ever seen. He's even got his own very distinctive way of speaking. ("Can you believe?" "Who gave you permission?") You also might know him from his amazing GOT recap show, Gay of Thrones, his interview podcast "Getting Curious", or his inspirational Insta page where he posts videos of his progress as an ice skater and gymnast. I know. It's a lot. Stay with me.
Whether or not you like him, JVN is hugely successful and has a hugely recognizable *brand* and style. When anyone can do an impression of you, that’s when you know. The hair, the look, the clothes, the heels, the gendering of random nouns, JVN is fully JVN.
And he’s been doing stand-up. It sorta makes sense, right? Can you name a bigger ham? If you do it right, ain’t no field better for hams. He laughs about having spent years doing stand up behind the chair while doing hair
In 2013, his idol (and hair client) Margaret Cho urged him to try stand-up after experimenting his charm and exuberance. [full timeline in EW article: Meeting Margaret Cho, her telling him to do it, 2 or 3 shows in LA/NYC before Queer Eye came out, Starting to really do it, posting about it, Getting more opportunities because the success of QE, The a full tour, Radio City, and hosting a Gala at JFL, oh and did I mention he has a Memoir coming out in September] Now he’s in the middle of his Road to Beijing Tour.
Part of the reason this is so interesting, it's EXTREMELY rare to see a famous person TRY stand-up comedy. It's so risky, it's so easy to fail, in fact, failure is all but guaranteed at least a few times as a stand-up, and when you’re famous you’re not failing privately. I can only think of a half dozen or so examples. Will Smith, Fran Drescer, Stormy Daniels apparently (lol) and that weird time Madonna tried to do stand-up. Blake Griffin. John Mayer. What a weird group of people, that is...
And Tom Hanks! That was for a role in a movie, but there’s footage from him at clubs in the 80s. A comedian friend of mine told me that within a few months he was killing and all the comics hated him for it lol
All I’m saying, is it takes crazy courage. And if JVN has one thing, it's crazy courage. Maybe this is the moment to mention that he was the first ever male cheerleader at his high school in Quincy Illinois. And comparing this to learning skating, gymnastics (I know he was a cheerleader in high school) Doing all he feared? Created a brand out of trying new things. Who is his life coach?
But not only did he start doing stand-up while in the public eye, but he let a film crew follow him around. Damn, that bravery.
The youtube mini four-part series follows him on ten tours, and I want to focus on two particular moments. One where it is really working well and one where he’s having some difficulty.
Cheering for America, Gymnastics
Fun premise, solid observational format, changes in voice/tone throughout
The special does this weird thing where it always pumps up the music at the end, like a weird laugh-track psychology thing, to make it seems like there’s a bigger punchline, and yes, probably if he weren’t so green there would have been a big punchline it was leading towards
I really like the observation at the heart of this joke -- it’s almost like a game -- in what situation is Jonathan Van Ness a patriot? And the answer: Gymnastics.
Remember, we’re watching someone START. I bet you in a few month’s time that’ll be a solid, rounded out bit.
Midwestern Drop In
The other moment I wanted to focus on is a part of episode two where he does a drop-in in Kansas City Missouri. Frankly, I just assumed he’d be sticking to coastal towns where he’d have crowds full of Queer Eye fans who already adore him. I love that he did really road shows AND I love even more that he was willing to put this up.
The BRAVERY. Goddamn, JVN.
Also, look at his clothes, look at his mannerisms, listen to his voice, he didn’t change an inch for this crowd. I respect the hell out of that. But if anyone doesn’t need me telling them to be themselves, it’s him.
So, according to my poll, being a good stand-up can be broken into a few key skills:
1) Understanding your perspective
2) Being comfortable on stage
3) Perfecting how to write a joke
4) Successfully performing your joke
5) Learning how to listen to the crowd
And remember, those comedians rated the idea of knowing yourself way higher than developing material.
If you ask me, Jonathan is more than halfway there. There’s a lot of comedians I adore who will never ever know themselves the way that Jonathan Van Ness knows himself. And maybe it’s because they didn’t have to spend decades fighting to be that person. JVN graduated a year early from high school, and it wasn’t just because he was smart, y’all. It’s because that was not a safe place for him to be.
So, he clearly wants to sustain (clips of the hoping it’s not 2 minutes thing) If he wants to sustain, he just needs to learn some fundamentals. And unfortunately, that doesn’t really happen here (clip of a loud fun running around Brooklyn thing) it happens here (clip of awkward Kansas City). That’s usually where you learn how to listen to the audience, how to convey bigger ideas, that’s the stuff that would have to come for it to sustain. I believe that if he can lean into that conversationality that he’s so good at, and embed some tight premises and punchlines in there, I think he could really do it. He does know what he wants to represent, and it sounds like something he might have learned on Queer Eye.
My main question left is, who gave JVN permission to be the beautiful human being he is?
No one but JVN.