Persona
After reading this interview, I made some updates. The first is an update to post on Persona – where I talk about whether stand-ups “just be themselves,” or whether they play a role, and in this interview, Becker casts Cole as doing both at the same time.
Sometimes, this gets confused. Christian Becker of Pastemagazine.com (7/5/2017) talking about Deon Cole’s Netflix episode of The Standups, says,
In his episode Cole walks on stage with a piece of paper in hand, as if he’s a beginner trying to work out material for a later act. But he’s anything but a beginner, and that persona he puts out there is all intentional.
But then, at the end of the same paragraph, he ends with,
While comedians will often times play a character or show off a larger than life personality on stage, Cole is taking off that mask and just being himself.
And then again, later in the article, he again refers to the comic as “self-aware,”
How self-aware does he get? He opens by literally explaining to the crowd that he’s there to try out some jokes, “and if they don’t work out then you’ll never see me again.” His closer is him just leaving the stage, purposefully skipping the “big finale” that other comics like to end on.
This strikes me as wishy-washy, it’s an intentional persona, but he’s “just being himself.” He’s self-aware, and that’s part of the act, but it’s also him being “real” and “toning down the theatrics.” But if it’s part of the act, then isn’t it “theatrical” by nature?
Intentionality
The second update was to the post on Intentionality – where I talk about whether or not the only goal of a comic is to make the audience laugh. Cole supports this view:
Update: In an interview with Pastemagazine.com’s Christian Becker (7/5/2017), Deon Cole says,
It shouldn’t be funny culturally funny, it should just be funny.
Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Additions?
