Advertising is like comedy: The worst laugh is from the back of the room
After a visit to a comedy club, DDB New Zealand chief creative officer Damon Stapleton realised quite how similar the comic’s job was to his own – especially when it comes to who laughs.
“An egg is funny, an orange is not.” – Fred Allen
One of the most painful things you can ever see is a comic bombing. It is like watching somebody else being kicked in the balls but somehow you feel the pain. This was happening to me about a week ago.
It was late at the comedy club. There is a beautiful, opaque, intoxicating sadness about a comedy club. Comics loudly telling stories about past glories. Human beings trying to withstand it all by making other human beings laugh. A boulevard of broken dreams that occasionally glitters so brightly, you are willing to keep walking as the rain falls.
As published on campaign brief last month
The other lessons advertising needs to learn from comedy is to punch up, not down.
When risky advertising goes wrong its usually because its punching down “Look at this stereotypical moron at the pub….”
If your going to take someone down, make sure they are stronger than you or you’ll get no sympathy.