The 6 Best Stand-up Comedy Bits About Gaming
- December 12, 2008 00:00 AM PST
Surprise! People can be funny when it comes to the topic of video games. Check out these six clips that prove it.
For a pastime largely based on having fun, it's a bit of a mystery that gaming isn't a subject touched upon often in stand-up comedy. Many a hack comic have failed to toe the line of presenting great material on gaming without relying on overly familiar material or alienating the audience with obscure references. Fortunately, these six comedians have managed to touch upon the topic in a way that gamers and comedy fans alike can laugh.
6- Christian Finnegan- "Wii Assholes"
As a contributor to "Best Week Ever," Christian Finnegan has a very topical and pop-culture centric approach to his comedy. It serves him well in his diatribe (2:30 in) about the current console war approximating gang warfare, as well as the downside to throwing controllers.
5- Robert Kelly- "Being a Hardcore Gamer"
Kelly rants about what it feels like to be a 36-year-old man who plays video games against 8-year-olds in nothing but his underwear, socks, and a headset. He also unloads a hilarious bit on the pride one gets when achieving mastery over a game and how girlfriends will never understand that sentiment.
4- Jackie Kashian- "Killing God"
Out of all the comedians compiled on this list, it's obvious that Jackie Kashian is the biggest gamer of the bunch. She knows about gaming being a scapegoat on the evening news, and how great (and safe) a release shooters can be. But the best part of her bit comes when she talks about her trials and tribulations playing Final Fantasy Legend, and calling the NES hotline for help.
3- Kyle Cease- "Blowing Your NES Games"
In this standup bit, Kyle Cease reminisces about the 8-bit glory days of gaming where anyone with an NES could relate to giving their lungs a workout by habitually blowing into their dirty game cartridges (they all got grimy and dusty eventually) in order to get them to work. Cease also talks about how sweet it would be if we could use cheat codes to skip past the shittier stages in life.
2- Demetri Martin- "Super Busy Hospital"
The most subversive comic on the list, Demetri Martin takes a much different approach to the subject of videogame violence. Instead of a long diatribe on how stupid violence is, he goes in the opposite direction when he does a brief bit (at the four minute mark) on how he'd like to heal videogame characters. Wonder if Atuls got their idea for Trauma Center from this bit?
1- Nick Swardson- "Old Video Games"
Nick Swardson, best known as Terry the roller-skating male hooker from Reno 911, speculates about how realistic video games will be in the future. He then goes on to talk about how strange and pathetic it'll be to explain to his grandkids, a generation of gamers who'll likely be knee deep in the lifelike realism of Grand Theft Auto XV, how awesome games like Pac-Man and Frogger once were.
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Comments [9]
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Also Comedy Central wont let me steam there video because i'm from Canada.
They must own both PS3 and Wii!!!
This is bullSh!t,,,,,,f@cken internet takeover!!!
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Jackie Kashian- "Killing God" was the best one. I think you got this order wrong. 1 & 2 weren't even funny.
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Bob Kelly talks about video games all the time when he's on O&A. He calls those little nine-year-old kids who play Halo high-piched Henries.
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How much more fanboy could you get? Lets test it.
Halo sucks.
I live at 716 Long ct, Dundee Michican, 48181.
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Wii is the best just look at the sales if you don't believe me! 360 is at a close 2nd.
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Although it's not a stand-up comedy bit, The Angry Video Game Nerd is by far the funniest video game/comedy person ever. *Shameless Plug* Go look him up on YouTube, he's hilarious. :-)
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