Without spoiling anything: the trouble with having a long career, for a certain type of comedian, is that you create an extensive archive; some of that material won’t align with your values, or those of the audience you’re trying to cultivate now. Still being relevant later in life means staying on guard against a retweet or stitch from the wrong account.
[subtitle]A Crowd Is Only As Good As Its Most Disruptive Member[subtitle]
A well-written act is just the starting point for a good comedy set: you also need to have command of the audience, to elicit the reaction you want them to give, when you want it; to make them feel like you know what you’re doing and that they’re in safe hands. As a comic on the come-up, Baby Reindeer’s Donny hasn’t quite mastered this part of the job yet, which is why it’s unfortunate that one of his early performances for the comedy competition gets interrupted by an extraordinarily gentle heckler: Martha. Because she seems so friendly, but also so strange, and because Donny’s established that his set is kind of meta, some audience members might even wonder if Martha is a plant and part of his routine, like a magic trick the magician seems to screw up before a miraculous turn. It doesn’t matter how much Donny prepares, rehearses and hones his act; one disturbed individual can destroy it all just by being persistent and loud.
Deborah’s audience problem, in the third season of Hacks, is at the opposite end of the spectrum. One year since the spectacular launch of the special Deborah and Ava spent most of Season Two developing, Deborah’s in a whole new echelon of celebrity, such that she can’t trust her audiences’ feedback. It’s a different kind of disruption for a crowd to be too warm, but if they’re not letting Deborah get through her setups because they’re laughing so hard, it means she’s lost the control she needs in order to do her work.
You’re Ripe for Exploitation
Early in The Contestant, Nasubi tells us he wanted to break into comedy as a performer, but didn’t have any connections. Random chance results in his being chosen for “A Life in Prizes,” and from what we see, the show’s producers rush him straight to the suite without giving him time to find out exactly what he’s agreeing to. He never signs a contract. (The multiple media in which the show’s producers end up extending Nasubi’s brand — all, apparently, without his knowledge or consent — are shocking.)
He’s told, by series creator Toshio Tsuchiya, that even though he’s required to film himself all day every day, most of it won’t ever air. Several interview subjects stress that Nasubi was never locked into his suite, and was free to leave at any time. But Nasubi is so determined not to let this platform go to waste that, in the absence of any contact with the outside world, he finds reserves of charisma and passion to perform for the audience of millions he doesn’t know is there. Unfortunately, this kind of freakish fame isn’t meant to boost him to the legitimate comedy career he hoped for.
The Edinburgh Fringe proves, for Baby Reindeer’s Donny, a hunting ground where he is the unwitting prey. Rising performers are expected to use their residencies to meet people in the industry who can help propel their careers, and Donny does, in Darrien (Tim Goodman-Hill). The head writer of a popular comedy on U.K. TV, Darrien advises Donny on how to make the best of his assigned venue and remains in contact after the festival. But the networking promises Darrien makes are all illusory; months go by and all Donny has to show for them are harsh notes on a script Darrien seems never to show anyone else; hangovers from progressively harder drugs; and, finally, a devastating physical violation. It’s easy for Darrien to manipulate Donny. Darrien has everything he wants, and Donny wants it badly enough that he can decide to trust Darrien more than his own instincts.
Of the comic protagonists in these three projects, Hacks lead Deborah is unlikely to face problems like Donny’s or Nasubi’s. Deborah is the monarch of her own queendom, in full control of her brand (and her brand deals), but there’s a ceiling to what she can achieve through sheer force of will; she’s still subject to corporate gatekeepers, and as she goes hard after a highly desirable, highly visible professional opportunity, her thirst to get it leaves her open to potential humiliation if she doesn’t. And though Deborah could probably transcend such humiliation by living well — the best revenge — whatever shit doesn’t hit her rolls downhill to Ava; having yet to reach her own living-well era, Ava has to make a lot of decisions on trust that, at any time, could prove to be misplaced.
In the years after Seinfeld, dozens of comics signed development deals for their own sitcoms. As of this writing, Baby Reindeer is the #1 TV show on Netflix, The Contestant is a multiple festival award nominee and Hacks is poised to add to its Emmy haul of six wins from 30+ nominations. If the next few years bring a boom of feel-bad stories about comedy’s grimmest horror stories, we’ll all know what started the trend.
Tara Ariano
