List of stand-up circuits

{{Main article|Lyceum movement}}

The lecture circuit hosted the US's precursory stand-up comedians, with humorists like Artemus Ward and Mark Twain.{{cite book

|last=Henderson

|first=Archibald

|date=14 July 2004

|orig-year=1911

|title=Mark Twain

|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6873/6873-h/6873-h.htm

|publisher=Duckworth & Company

|access-date=18 August 2020

|quote=Mr. Clemens [Twain] once remarked to me ... 'When I first began to lecture, and in my earlier writings, my sole idea was to make comic capital out of everything I saw and heard. My object was not to tell the truth, but to make people laugh. I treated my readers as unfairly as I treated everybody else—eager to betray them at the end with some monstrous absurdity or some extravagant anti-climax.'

|archive-date=15 February 2020

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215023417/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6873/6873-h/6873-h.htm

|url-status=live

}}{{cite journal

| last= Mintz

| first= Lawrence E.

| date= Spring 1985

| title= Special Issue: American Humor

| url= https://www.asu.edu/courses/fms490bh/total-readings/L-1%20Standup%20Comedy%20as%20Social%20and%20Cultural%20Mediation.pdf

| journal= American Quarterly

| publisher= The Johns Hopkins University Press

| volume= 37

| issue= 1

| page= 72

| doi= 10.2307/2712763

| jstor= 2712763

| access-date= 2 August 2020

| quote= The lecture circuit in the nineteenth century supported dozens of successful humorists, the most famous of whom were Mark Twain and Artemus Ward

| archive-date= 26 November 2020

| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201126133713/http://www.asu.edu/courses/fms490bh/total-readings/L-1%20Standup%20Comedy%20as%20Social%20and%20Cultural%20Mediation.pdf

| url-status= live

}}{{cite journal

| last = Lee

| first = Judith Yaross

| year = 2006

| title = Mark Twain as a Stand-up Comedian

| journal = The Mark Twain Annual

| publisher = Penn State University Press

| volume = 4

| issue = 4

| page = 5

| jstor = 41582220

| quote = [Mark Twain] toured his first lecture, usually known as 'Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands,' for 100 performances beginning in 1866}} Twain prepared, rehearsed, revised and adapted his material for his popular humorous presentations.{{Cite book|title=Chasing the Last Laugh - Mark Twain's raucous and redemptive round-the-world-comedy-tour|last=Zacks|first=Richard|publisher=Doubleday|year=2016|isbn=9780385536448|location=New York, London}}{{cite journal

| last = Lee

| first = Judith Yaross

| year = 2006

| title = Mark Twain as a Stand-up Comedian

| journal = The Mark Twain Annual

| publisher = Penn State University Press

| volume = 4

| issue = 4

| page = 7

| jstor = 41582220

| quote = Artemus Ward, a spoof of P.T. Barnum, did displace Charles Farrar Browne [AKA Ward] as the persona evolved from print into the more generic deadpan burlesque preacher of the lecture platform ... Twain's deadpan self-deprecations ... [were] borrowed from Ward}}

{{Main|Theatre Owners Booking Association}}

TOBA was started in 1912 by comedian Sherman H. Dudley in response to segregation and discrimination from social clubs, circuits, and unions.{{cite book

|last=Wertheim

|first=Arthur Frank

|author1-link=Arthur Frank Wertheim

|date=2006

|chapter=‘’’Part 5 Vaudevillians Versus the Combine’’’[:] 12. A Host of Grievances

|title=Vaudeville Wars: How the Keith-Albee and Orpheum Circuits Controlled the Big-Time and Its Performers

|series=Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History

|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan

|pages=179–180

|isbn=0-2306-1136-2

|quote=Discrimination by the 'White Rats' union and white-only social clubs ... caused African Americans to form their own organizations ... formed the [social organization, the] Frogs in 1908 ... [and] the Colored Vaudeville Benevolent Association (CVBA) established in 1909 ... With limited access to white-owned vaudeville circuits, blacks were forced to operate their own chains. The first all-black circuit was formed in 1912-13 by Sherman H. Dudley, a former minstrel player and a well-known comedian, who operated more than twenty-eight theaters. In 1920, Dudley helped form the Theater Owners' Booking Association (TOBA), a circuit which grew to more than eighty theaters. The TOBA programs featured all-black touring shows, especially tabloid musical comedies highlighted by popular singing and comedy acts. The shows helped popularize blues and jazz ... The frequent daily performances, long routes, and low pay on the TOBA tour caused black entertainers to label it the Chitlin Circuit that was 'Tough on Black Actors' or 'Asses.'}}{{cite book

|last=Double

|first=Oliver

|date=2014

|orig-year=2005

|title=Getting the Joke: the inner workings of stand-up comedy

|edition=2nd

|location=New York

|publisher=Bloomsbury Methuen Drama

|page=24

|isbn=978-1-4081-7460-9

|quote=Small-time vaudeville included the venues run by the Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA), which booked black acts and attracted black audiences.}}

{{Main|Orpheum Circuit}}

In the era of vaudeville, the United Booking Office (UBO) controlled all the high-end theaters; Keith's controlled everything east of Chicago and Orpheum controlled Chicago and everything to the west of it.{{cite journal

| last1= Oliar

| first1= Dotan

| last2= Sprigman

| first2= Christopher

| date= 2008

| title= There's No Free Laugh (Anymore): The Emergence of Intellectual Property Norms and the Transformation of Stand-Up Comedy

| url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/25470605

| journal= Virginia Law Review

| volume= 94

| issue= 8

| page= 1846

| jstor= 25470605

| access-date= 16 September 2020

| quote= [M]ost vaudeville theatres were part of vaudeville circuits, or chains. Vaudeville's high-end (or 'big-time') theatres were organized into two dominant circuits, separated geographically so that they did not compete. The big-time vaudeville circuits cooperated in booking performers centrally through an arrangement known as the United Booking Office ('UBO'). The 'small-time' vaudeville business, although somewhat more competitive, was still dominated by the same Keith and Orpheum circuits that controlled the big-time business ... If a performer wanted to do an act in any place important, they would have to go through the UBO ... Keith's controls all houses east of Chicago; while Orpheum functions in Chicago and all points west. Both book from the same floor of the Palace Theatre Buildings in New York ... a bloc of from 300 to 350 'Small Time' vaudeville theatres in which Keith’s and Orpheum are either owners, or control the policies of the theatres through their bookings.

| archive-date= 26 October 2022

| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221026180909/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25470605

| url-status= live

}}

{{Main article|Chitlin' Circuit}}

The Chitlin' Circuit was a "collection of all-black venues, clubs, [and] theaters".{{cite podcast

| url=https://www.thehistoryofstandup.com/episodes/s2-ep-03-the-apollo-and-the-chitlin-circuit

| title=S2 EP. 03: THE APOLLO AND THE CHITLIN' CIRCUIT

| website=The History of Standup

| publisher=The Podglomerate.Learn

| host=Wayne Federman

| date=18 June 2019

| time=3:12-4:00

| access-date=17 August 2019

| quote=The Chitlin' Circuit was a collection of all-black venues, clubs, [and] theaters—that was in the United States during the era of, basically racial segregation, and this is not just in the South my friend. This is in the North as well, where a lot of African-American families came north during what's called the Great Migration and a number of clubs opened up specifically in these neighborhoods—which were redlined—and subsequently launched some of the greatest music and comedy acts we've ever known. And so the Apollo Theater was in the chitlin circuit. Not only in it, the crown jewel.

| archive-date=17 August 2019

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817161934/https://www.thehistoryofstandup.com/episodes/s2-ep-03-the-apollo-and-the-chitlin-circuit

| url-status=live

}}{{cite news

|last = Nesteroff

|first = Kliph

|date = 22 December 2015

|title = Make 'Em Laugh: 'The Comedians' Tells The Story Of Stand-Up

|url = https://www.npr.org/2015/12/22/460613321/make-em-laugh-the-comedians-tells-the-story-of-stand-up

|work = NPR

|access-date = 20 August 2019

|quote = The Chitlin' Circuit was African-American comedians performing for African-American audiences because comedy was segregated back then ... But it was not acceptable in those days for a black comedian to address a white crowd, because as a comedian on stage, you are superior to your audience. You are giving them your point of view — and in those days it wasn't allowed, so the Chitlin' Circuit alleviated that thing.

|archive-date = 20 August 2019

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190820113651/https://www.npr.org/2015/12/22/460613321/make-em-laugh-the-comedians-tells-the-story-of-stand-up

|url-status = live

}} Reopened during the Harlem Renaissance in 1934, the Apollo Theater was the performers' most sought after venue.{{cite news

|last = McNary

|first = Dave

|date = 13 February 2019

|title = Apollo Theater Documentary Selected as Tribeca Festival Opener

|url = https://variety.com/2019/film/news/apollo-theater-documentary-tribeca-festival-opener-1203138125/

|work = Variety

|access-date = 20 August 2019

|quote = The Apollo began operating in 1934 during the Harlem Renaissance and became the most prized venue on the 'Chitlin' Circuit' during the time of racial segregation in the United States.

|archive-date = 29 September 2019

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190929105841/https://variety.com/2019/film/news/apollo-theater-documentary-tribeca-festival-opener-1203138125/

|url-status = live

}}{{cite book

|last=Davis

|first=Andrew

|date=2014

|orig-year=2011

|title=Baggy Pants Comedy: Burlesque and the Oral Tradition

|series=Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History

|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan

|pages=38

|isbn=978-1-137-37872-9

|quote=The famed Apollo Theater on 125th Street was built as a burlesque house in 1913 and was operated as one until 1934, when new owners made it famous as a variety house for the African American community.}} Notable performers for this circuit include Richard Pryor, Moms Mabley, Dick Gregory, Redd Foxx, and the duo Tim and Tom.{{cite news

|last = Barnes

|first = Mo

|date = 9 January 2019

|title = A conversation with Luenell: When does Black comedy become hurtful?

|url = https://rollingout.com/2019/01/09/a-conversation-with-luenell-when-does-black-comedy-become-hurtful/

|work = rollingout

|access-date = 20 August 2019

|quote = Comedians such as Redd Foxx, Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor and Moms Mabley were popular first in clubs on the 'Chitlin' Circuit' in urban hubs.

|archive-date = 20 August 2019

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190820113701/https://rollingout.com/2019/01/09/a-conversation-with-luenell-when-does-black-comedy-become-hurtful/

|url-status = live

}}

{{Main|Borscht Belt}}

Also called the Jewish Alps, they hired performers that included stand-up comedians.{{cite news

|author =

|date = 28 September 2017

|title = What Hugh Hefner did for comedy

|url = https://www.chortle.co.uk/features/2017/09/28/38011/what_hugh_hefner_did_for_comedy

|work = Chortle

|access-date = 17 August 2019

|quote = [Hugh Hefner's] clubs providing a bridge between the old-school resorts of the Catskill mountains and the comedy club explosion of the 1980s.

|archive-date = 17 August 2019

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190817150317/https://www.chortle.co.uk/features/2017/09/28/38011/what_hugh_hefner_did_for_comedy

|url-status = live

}} The Catskill Mountains are depicted in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The booking agency, Charles Rapp Enterprises controlled most of the Catskill resorts—owning the two largest: the Concord and Grossinger's.{{cite book

|last=Nesteroff

|first=Kliph

|year=2015

|chapter=Nightclubs

|title=The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy

|location=New York, NY

|publisher=Grove Press

|pages=73, 74, 75

|isbn=978-0-8021-2568-2

|quote=There were Mob-run roadhouses along the highway leading to the Catskills, but the Mountain resorts themselves were family operations. The demise of vaudeville allowed the area to gain traction as unemployed vaudevillians chased a paycheck ... with affordable prices and like-minded people, it earned the famous nickname 'the Borscht Belt.' ... Catskill crowds could be difficult ... The Catskills were dominated by one major booking agency ... A booker for MCA in the 1930s, [Charlie] Rapp amassed a large network of showbiz connections and went independent in 1942 ... Charles Rapp Enterprises monopolized the Mountains, booking talent for the largest and most important Catskill resorts—the Concord and Grossinger's ... The Catskills endured for several decades.}}

Before the advent of full-fledged American comedy clubs, Hugh Hefner created a chain of Playboy Clubs and employed people like Dick Gregory,{{cite book

|last=Double

|first=Oliver

|date=2014

|orig-year=2005

|title=Getting the Joke: the inner workings of stand-up comedy

|edition=2nd

|location=New York

|publisher=Bloomsbury Methuen Drama

|page=29

|isbn=978-1-4081-7460-9

|quote=[Dick] Gregory started off on the Chitlin Circuit, and got his big break with a booking at the Playboy Club in Chicago on 13 January 1960.}}{{cite news

| last = Parker

| first = Ryan

| date = 27 September 2017

| title = Hugh Hefner Gave Dick Gregory His Big Break

| url = https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hugh-hefner-gave-dick-gregory-his-big-break-1043953

| work = The Hollywood Reporter

| access-date = 17 August 2019

| archive-date = 17 August 2019

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190817150302/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hugh-hefner-gave-dick-gregory-his-big-break-1043953

| url-status = live

}} Mort Sahl, Steve Martin, and Lenny Bruce.{{cite podcast

| url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s2-ep-02-the-playboy-circuit/id1052359696?i=1000441141679

| title=S2 Ep. 02: The Playboy Circuit

| website=Apple Podcasts

| publisher=The Podglomerate.Learn

| host=Wayne Federman

| date=11 June 2019

| time=0:00-2:07

| access-date=17 August 2019

| quote=Hugh Hefner ... decides in 1960 ... to open a club in Chicago called the Playboy Club and then opens a number of these clubs all around the country, creates this circuit where comedians ... this is before comedy clubs.

| archive-date=14 June 2019

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614232340/https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s2-ep-02-the-playboy-circuit/id1052359696?i=1000441141679

| url-status=live

}}{{cite podcast

| url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s2-ep-02-the-playboy-circuit/id1052359696?i=1000441141679

| title=S2 Ep. 02: The Playboy Circuit

| website=Apple Podcasts

| publisher=The Podglomerate.Learn

| host=Wayne Federman

| others=Tom Dreesen

| date=11 June 2019

| time=23:00-23:30

| access-date=17 August 2019

| quote=When I started out in show business, there were no comedy clubs. Every nightclub in America had a comic ... They [Playboy] had two showrooms, The Penthouse and The Playroom ... When they're ready to start the show ... The girl singer would go on and do 3 or 4 songs and then, she would finish, and we'd come on and we'd be doing like 45 minutes and she would do 15 like minutes

| archive-date=14 June 2019

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614232340/https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s2-ep-02-the-playboy-circuit/id1052359696?i=1000441141679

| url-status=live

}}{{cite podcast

| url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s2-ep-02-the-playboy-circuit/id1052359696?i=1000441141679

| title=S2 Ep. 02: The Playboy Circuit

| website=Apple Podcasts

| publisher=The Podglomerate.Learn

| host=Wayne Federman

| others=Dick Capri

| date=11 June 2019

| time=24:30-25:20

| access-date=17 August 2019

| quote=They [Playboy] gave you nothing ... they did not pay transportation and they did not pay for the hotel room; you could eat there where the employees ate ... and the top money at that time was a 1,000 dollars a week, and I did not get that; Jackie Gayle, he was the top comedian of the playboy clubs in those days you know, and I got $500 a week.

| archive-date=14 June 2019

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614232340/https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s2-ep-02-the-playboy-circuit/id1052359696?i=1000441141679

| url-status=live

}}{{cite book

|last=Martin

|first=Steve

|year=2007

|title=Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

|location=New York

|publisher=Scribner

|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bornstandingupco00mart/page/156 156]

|isbn=978-1-4165-5364-9

|quote=In March 1975 my agent, Mart Klein, secured a job in San Francisco, two weeks headlining the Playboy Club for fifteen hundred dollars per week

|url=https://archive.org/details/bornstandingupco00mart

|url-access=registration

}} Hugh Hefner ok'd Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight, which was not recorded in a Playboy club.

The Tivoli circuit was Australian vaudeville from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s.{{Cite web |date=January 2015 |title=National Library of Australia |url=https://www.nla.gov.au/sites/default/files/blogs/_refresh_01-2015_prompt_-_tivoli_vaudeville_circuit_-_jan_2015_0.pdf |access-date=2022-09-17 |archive-date=2022-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920171247/https://www.nla.gov.au/sites/default/files/blogs/_refresh_01-2015_prompt_-_tivoli_vaudeville_circuit_-_jan_2015_0.pdf |url-status=live }}

{{distinguish|Deaf Jam|Def Comedy Jam|Deaf Jam Recordings|Def Poetry Jam}}

In its original form, HBO's "Def Comedy Jam" was an alternative to the club circuit, providing opportunities to black stand-ups and has since grown into something larger.{{cite news

| last = Cohen

| first = Sandy

| date = 11 September 2017

| title = Chappelle, Lawrence, Hughley celebrate 'Def Comedy Jam 25'

| url = https://apnews.com/cb070432ef5d45c78dd3b7a5148ad8bb/Chappelle,-Lawrence,-Hughley-celebrate-'Def-Comedy-Jam-25'

| work = Associated Press

| access-date = 4 August 2020

| quote =The only way for standup comedians to find an audience beyond the club circuit back then was to score a spot on TV, and 'Def Comedy Jam' provided that opportunity for black comics, including Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle, D.L. Hughley, Sheryl Underwood and Cedric the Entertainer ... Lawrence hosted the original 'Def Comedy Jam' series as the same time he was starring in his own network sitcom in 1992.}}{{cite news

|last = WILLIAMS

|first = FRANK B.

|date = 13 March 1997

|title = Totally 'Def'

|url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-13-ca-40744-story.html

|work = Los Angeles Times

|access-date = 4 August 2020

|quote = Nearly six years after exploding onto the scene and launching the careers of dozens of black comics, HBO's raunchy and wildly successful 'Def Comedy Jam' continues to be a force ... [;]Martin Lawrence ... Bill Bellamy ... John Henton ... [and] Joe Torry are some of the more well-known veterans of the 'Def Comedy Jam' circuit.

|archive-date = 5 February 2020

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200205170813/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-13-ca-40744-story.html

|url-status = live

}} The stylistic origins of the Def Jam comedy genre directly borrow from the hip-hop scene and the rap "arena".{{cite journal

|last = Fulton

|first = DoVeanna S.

|year = 2004

|title = Comic Views and Metaphysical Dilemmas: Shattering Cultural Images through Self-Definition and Representation by Black Comediennes

|url = https://www.public.asu.edu/~kleong/african%20american%20women%20humor.pdf

|journal = Journal of American Folklore

|volume = 117

|issue = 463

|pages = 87–88

|doi = 10.1353/jaf.2004.0010

|s2cid = 36279369

|access-date = 4 August 2020

|quote = 'Def Comedy Jam' is an extraction of the hip-hop scene: its setting, music, performers, and audience are all part of the contemporary rap arena. The stage is set very close to the audience so that comics are neither at a distance from nor at an exaggerated level above them. This setting engenders a sense of community and familiarity. Indeed, instead of the usual monologue that comedians normally present in stand-up comic situations, this setting allows for the comics to carry on a dialogue with the audience. Comedians often ask questions of the audience, and the answers are heard by nearly everyone. This dialogue is a form of the African American oral tradition of call and response, which is quite different from the hecklers mainstream comedians may encounter. Although hecklers are generally an undesirable, but often expected, aspect of stand-up comic routines, the call and response of 'Def Comedy Jam' is an essential element of African American dialogic performances. Similarly, the audience's response to the performance illustrates the connection between them and the performer. The 'Def Comedy Jam' audience is made up largely of young African Americans; the laughter is animated and boisterous. Many male audience members jump out of their seats, stand up, shout, and 'high five' one another—or even the comic— when they find an anecdote, joke, or situation particularly amusing.

|archive-date = 15 March 2023

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230315125200/https://www.public.asu.edu/~kleong/african%20american%20women%20humor.pdf

|url-status = live

}}{{cite journal

| last = Brodie

| first = Ian

| date = 2008

| title = Stand-up Comedy as a Genre of Intimacy

| url = https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/019950ar

| journal = Ethnologies

| publisher = Cape Breton University

| volume = 30

| issue = 2

| page = 159

| doi = 10.7202/019950ar

| access-date = 15 September 2020

| quote =DoVeanna Fulton alludes to this collaboration between comedian and audience with respect to the performances on Def Comedy Jam, a series produced by Russell Simmons of Def Jam Records and originally broadcast on HBO. [Fulton states that] 'The stage is set very close to the audience so that comics are neither at a distance from nor at an exaggerated level above them. This setting engenders a sense of community and familiarity ... This setting allows for the comics to carry on a dialogue with the audience. Comedians often ask questions of the audience, and the answers are heard by nearly everyone. This dialogue is a form of African American oral tradition of call and response, which is quite different from the hecklers mainstream comedians may encounter.' 2004: 87-88| doi-access=

}}

The open mic scene is referred to as the open mic circuit in the United Kingdom.{{cite web

|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/life-as-an-amateur-comic-on-the-open-mic-circuit-246/

|title=What Life Is Like As an Amateur Comic On the Open-Mic Circuit

|last=Larner

|first=Sam

|date=25 November 2015

|website=VICE UK

|publisher=VICE MEDIA LLC

|access-date=28 February 2019

|archive-date=1 March 2019

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301074710/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qbx97b/life-as-an-amateur-comic-on-the-open-mic-circuit-246

|url-status=live

}}{{cite web

|url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/correspondents/2012/09/06/16101/100_ways_to_save_the_open-mic_circuit

|title=100 ways to save the open-mic circuit

|date=6 September 2012

|website=Chortle

|access-date=28 February 2019

|archive-date=1 March 2019

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301140018/https://www.chortle.co.uk/correspondents/2012/09/06/16101/100_ways_to_save_the_open-mic_circuit

|url-status=live

}}{{cite news

|last = Khorsandi

|first = Shappi

|date = 10 July 2020

|title = Stand-up comedy is not considered an art, so the circuit is being left to die

|url = https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comedy-arts-funding-theatres-rishi-sunak-stand-up-a9612051.html

|work = The Independent

|location = United Kingdom

|access-date = 8 August 2020

|quote = [S]ome of this country's finest comedians are the ones you might never have heard of. Only a minuscule percentage of our vast comic talent is what you see and hear on TV and radio. The rest are on the circuit ... Even before the pandemic, theatres under this government were woefully underfunded, often being run almost entirely by volunteers. Panto and touring comedy shows have become the bread and butter of many of these theatres; they bring in the punters, fund the theatre shows. You can't be a touring comedian without learning the craft in the clubs. Every megastar comedian tests their material in clubs.

|archive-date = 10 July 2020

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200710173239/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comedy-arts-funding-theatres-rishi-sunak-stand-up-a9612051.html

|url-status = live

}}

There are two associations that lead the college circuit: the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities (APCA) (which has 200 member colleges) and the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) (which has 1,100 member colleges).{{cite book|last=Schwenson|first=Dave|year=2005|title=Comedy FAQs and Answers: How the Stand-up Biz Really Works|location=New York, NY|publisher=ALLWORTH PRESS|page=171|isbn=1-58115-411-9}} Comedians in the US and Canada audition for NACA to hundreds of college and university bookers,{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/thats-not-funny/399335/|title=That's Not Funny! Today's college students can't seem to take a joke.|last=Flanagan|first=Caitlin|date=September 2015|website=The Atlantic|access-date=26 January 2019|archive-date=19 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119193030/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/thats-not-funny/399335/|url-status=live}} first with a 90-second video submission, and then a ten-minute, in-person audition to perform hour-long sets.{{cite web|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/30/despite-struggles-comics-find-lucrative-business-college-campuses|title=College Comedy: Provocative Yet ... PC?|last=Bauer-Wolf|first=Jeremy|date=30 August 2018|website=Inside Higher Ed|access-date=10 February 2019|archive-date=22 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222103941/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/30/despite-struggles-comics-find-lucrative-business-college-campuses|url-status=live}} Sets must not trigger students by "punching down", contain any denigrating material,{{cite AV media|people=Chris Fleming (comedian), Michael Moynihan (Vice News), Jason Meier (Emerson College booker), Kat Michael (Simmons College booker), Katy Hamm (Lesly University booker), Judy Gold (comedian)|date=24 May 2018|title=College Campuses Can Be Minefields For Comedians (HBO)|medium=Streaming|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBu3g4kiwck|access-date=8 February 2019|format=YouTube|time=3:32-3:39|location=Boston|publisher=VICE News Tonight: HBO|quote=[A comedian] can talk about [their] experience, but [they] can't make fun of someone else's identity.|archive-date=18 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318022746/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBu3g4kiwck|url-status=live}} or contain dark or blue humor; it must be "intelligent humor" and contain subjects that college-aged adults express contempt for.{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/havent-you-learned-how-to-take-a-joke-2531912988.html|title=Haven't You Learned How to Take a Joke? The Comedy-on-Campus Debates|last=Ellis|first=Iain|date=8 February 2018|website=popMATTERS: Culture|access-date=10 February 2019|quote=Thus, college comedians can mock those groups "liberal" students deride—Evangelical Christians, Scientologists, working-class rural males—yet they dare not even flirt with jokes about race, gender, and sexuality.|archive-date=3 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003204438/https://www.popmatters.com/havent-you-learned-how-to-take-a-joke-2531912988.html|url-status=live}} Higher education, that was once seen as the bastion of free speech is now criticized by some comedians for being too PC (politically correct). Some stand-ups no longer perform at colleges and universities due to an incompatibility with new audiences.{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2014/11/chris-rock-frank-rich-in-conversation.html|title=In Conversation Chris Rock: What's killing comedy. What's saving America.|last=Rich|first=Frank|date=1 December 2014|website=Vulture: Devouring Culture.|access-date=10 February 2019|quote=I stopped playing colleges ... because they're way too conservative ... in their social views and their willingness not to offend anybody.|archive-date=14 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161014214101/http://www.vulture.com/2014/11/chris-rock-frank-rich-in-conversation.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2015/06/08/jerry-seinfeld-says-comedians-avoid-college-gigs-students-are-so-pc/37403583/|title=Jerry Seinfeld says comedians avoid college gigs, students are 'so PC'|last=Schramm|first=Michael|date=8 June 2015|website=USA Today|access-date=10 February 2019|archive-date=12 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212012722/https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2015/06/08/jerry-seinfeld-says-comedians-avoid-college-gigs-students-are-so-pc/37403583/|url-status=live}}{{cite AV media|people=Chris Fleming (comedian), Michael Moynihan (Vice News), Jason Meier (Emerson College booker), Kat Michael (Simmons College booker), Katy Hamm (Lesly University booker), Judy Gold (comedian)|date=24 May 2018|title=College Campuses Can Be Minefields For Comedians (HBO)|medium=Streaming|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBu3g4kiwck|access-date=8 February 2019|format=YouTube|time=4:15-4:26|location=Boston|publisher=VICE News Tonight: HBO|quote=Judy Gold is one of many famous comics, including Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock who say they avoid playing college campuses, because they believe younger audiences can't take a joke.|archive-date=18 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318022746/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBu3g4kiwck|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/havent-you-learned-how-to-take-a-joke-2531912988.html|title=Haven't You Learned How to Take a Joke? The Comedy-on-Campus Debates|last=Ellis|first=Iain|date=8 February 2018|website=popMATTERS: Culture|access-date=10 February 2019|quote=It is notable that the majority of the most vociferous critics of today's student audiences—Seinfeld, Maher, Gottfried, Louis CK, Dennis Miller, Larry the Cable Guy—are middle-aged (or older), white, presumably heterosexual males ... Ricky Gervais ... too|archive-date=3 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003204438/https://www.popmatters.com/havent-you-learned-how-to-take-a-joke-2531912988.html|url-status=live}}{{cite book |last=Quirk |first=Sophie |date=2015 |title=Why Stand-up Matters: How Comedians Manipulate and Influence |location=New York |publisher=Bloomsbury Methuen Drama |page=173 |isbn=978-1-4725-7893-8 |quote=[S]udden and dramatic conversions from an intensely held opinion to its opposite are not the norm at comedy nights. Comedians typically avoid playing to incompatible audiences precisely because audiences do not display this kind of adaptability.}}

The Cruise Lines International Association contains 60 cruise liners. Comedians work an average of two days per week; this circuit is said to not aid in moving up in the field.{{cite web

|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/30/despite-struggles-comics-find-lucrative-business-college-campuses

|title=College Comedy: Provocative Yet ... PC?

|last=Bauer-Wolf

|first=Jeremy

|date=30 August 2018

|website=Inside Higher Ed

|access-date=10 February 2019

|archive-date=22 February 2024

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222103941/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/30/despite-struggles-comics-find-lucrative-business-college-campuses

|url-status=live

}} Cruiseliners have both clean comedy and blue comedy at different times during the day, but opinionated political material is frowned upon.{{cite web

|url=https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/best-of-cruising/2014/09/10/the-best-cruise-lines-for-comedy-shows/15413043/

|title=The best cruise lines for comedy

|last=Golden

|first=Fran

|date=11 September 2014

|website=Great Falls Tribune

|access-date=11 February 2019}} Hecklers are tolerated more in a cruise setting.{{cite web

|url=https://travel.nine.com.au/2018/05/15/15/50/era-of-the-comedy-cruise

|title=Five reasons to set sail on a comedy cruise

|last=Scott

|first=Katherine

|date=June 2018

|website=honey: travel

|publisher=Nine Digital Pty Ltd

|access-date=11 February 2019

|archive-date=12 February 2019

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212070630/https://travel.nine.com.au/2018/05/15/15/50/era-of-the-comedy-cruise

|url-status=live

}}

In the UK, corporate gigs are called corporates.{{cite journal

|last1 = Quirk

|first1 = Sophie

|date = November 2011

|title = Containing the Audience: The 'Room' in Stand-Up Comedy

|url = https://www.participations.org/Volume%208/Issue%202/2e%20Quirk.pdf

|department = University of Kent, UK

|journal = Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies

|volume = 8

|issue = 2

|pages = 234

|access-date = 27 December 2020

|quote = The most profitable gigs are the ones generally cited as the artistic nadir; the stag and hen dos and the notorious 'corporates'. While a good gig ensures that everything works together to support the comedy, the gig provided as a sideshow at a big party confronts the comedian with an audience who have other priorities.

|archive-date = 2 November 2022

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221102201429/https://www.participations.org/Volume%208/Issue%202/2e%20Quirk.pdf

|url-status = dead

}} Corporate circuit comedy must be clean comedy that neither swears nor references sexual acts;{{cite web

|url=https://www.standupcomedyclinic.com/34/

|title=Corporate Comedy

|last=Corely

|first=Jerry

|website=Jerry Corley's Comedy Clinic

|publisher=Stand Up Comedy Clinic

|access-date=11 February 2019

|archive-date=22 February 2024

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222103938/https://www.standupcomedyclinic.com/34/

|url-status=live

}} church (or "squeaky clean") comedy is preferred; two celebrities that perform this type of comedy are Jim Gaffigan and Brian Regan.{{cite web

|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2016/0709/Why-clean-comedy-is-becoming-big-business

|title=Why clean comedy is becoming big business

|last1=Goodale

|first1=Gloria

|last2=Wood

|first2=Daniel B.

|date=9 July 2016

|website=The Christian Science Monitor

|publisher=The Christian Science Monitor

|access-date=11 February 2019

|archive-date=22 February 2024

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222103937/https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2016/0709/Why-clean-comedy-is-becoming-big-business

|url-status=live

}} In a lecture given at the University of Oxford, Stewart Lee stated that his character is unable to do corporate gigs, because he takes on the role of being superior to his audience.{{cite AV media

| people =Stewart Lee

| date =3 July 2013

| title =On Not Writing

| medium =YouTube

| language =en

| url =https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrXVaytvJtQ

| access-date =13 February 2019

| format =Lecture

| time =46:40-47:40

| location =St Edmund Hall

| publisher =University of Oxford

| quote =I can't ever do the lucrative, corporate gigs that ... because in that ... people can get paid a lot of money for doing half an hour at a bankers' convention, but you have to be the sort of person that appears to please people ... [and not treat them as] deficient

| archive-date =2 April 2019

| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20190402103442/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrXVaytvJtQ

| url-status =live

}}{{cite journal

|last1 = Greene

|first1 = Grace F.

|date = 2012

|title = Rhetoric in Comedy: How Comedians Use Persuasion and How Society Uses Comedians

|url = https://kb.gcsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=thecorinthian

|journal = The Corinthian: The Journal of Student Research at Georgia College

|volume = 13

|issue = 11

|pages = 136

|access-date = 26 January 2021

|quote = [T]he superiority theory supports the idea that certain things are found to be humorous when an audience feels victorious (Meyer, 2000). It could be argued that all forms of humor, even the most subtle, are simply developments of this theory and that 'the pleasure we take in humor derives from our feeling of superiority over those we laugh at' (Monro, 1997).

|archive-date = 26 January 2021

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210126115743/https://kb.gcsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=thecorinthian

|url-status = live

}}

Starting in 1941 and continuing to the present, the United Service Organizations is a nonprofit corporation that employs performers like stand-up comedians for the entertainment of the United States troops and its allies.{{cite web

|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/hope-for-america/entertaining-the-troops.html

|title=Hope for America: Performers, Politics and Pop Culture: Entertaining the Troops

|author=

|department=Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment

|website=Library of Congress

|location=Ground Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building

|type=exhibit

|access-date=4 August 2020

|quote=Beginning in May 1941 and continuing for nearly fifty years, Hope brought his variety show to military camps and war zones to entertain troops with song, dance, comedy, attractive women, and people in the news.

|archive-date=10 September 2020

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200910092650/https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/hope-for-america/entertaining-the-troops.html

|url-status=live

}} During WWII, there were four sub-circuits: the Victory Circuit and Blue Circuit entertained stateside military personnel, the Hospital Circuit performers visited the wounded and the Foxhole Circuit performers went overseas.{{cite web

|url=https://www.uso.org/stories/2368-uso-camp-shows-d-day-and-entertaining-troops-on-the-european-front-lines-in-wwii

|title=USO Camp Shows, D-Day and Entertaining Troops on the European Front Lines in WWII

|last=Gohn

|first=Sandi

|date=5 June 2019

|website=USO.org

|publisher=USO, Inc.

|access-date=4 August 2020

|quote=[I]n October 1941, the USO worked with entertainment executives to create a new branch of the organization called USO Camp Shows, Inc. That month, it sent its first overseas tour, featuring comedians Laurel and Hardy, Chico Marx, and Broadway tap dancer and film star Mitzi Mayfair to the Caribbean to entertain troops ... This sub-branch of the organization was organized into four circuits – the Victory Circuit, the Blue Circuit, the Hospital Circuit and the Foxhole Circuit. The Victory and Blue Circuit troupes entertained stateside military personnel, while the Hospital Circuit troupes were tasked with visiting the wounded and the Foxhole Circuit troupes headed overseas ... As stated in the 1944 guide given to all USO Foxhole Circuit performers, 'You're in the Army now.' ... By V-E Day, the USO was putting on 700 shows per day all around the world and, by the end of the war, had sent over 7,300 entertainers overseas to perform for the troops. Together, they put on an estimated 420,000 performances for over 130 million service member attendees ... Although big-name stars like Edward G. Robinson, Ann Sheridan, Bing Crosby, Mickey Rooney, traveled to Europe post D-Day, the large majority of USO performers were lesser-known acts.

|archive-date=13 July 2020

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713194611/https://www.uso.org/stories/2368-uso-camp-shows-d-day-and-entertaining-troops-on-the-european-front-lines-in-wwii

|url-status=live

}}

The Christian Comedy Association started in the 90s, in an attempt to use comedy as a "spiritual vehicle."{{cite web

|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/gods-comics-inside-the-world-of-christian-standup-comedy-456/

|title=God's Comics: Inside the World of Christian Stand-Up

|last=Leon

|first=Harmon

|date=1 July 2015

|website=VICE

|publisher=VICE MEDIA LLC

|access-date=18 February 2019

|archive-date=19 February 2019

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219020044/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zng4je/gods-comics-inside-the-world-of-christian-standup-comedy-456

|url-status=live

}} Comedian Doug Stanhope has criticized Christian comedy. Heckling is almost nonexistent in the church circuit. Christian comedy is clean comedy that claims to help one's soul.{{cite web

|url=https://www.readingeagle.com/life/article/christian-ventriloquist-ryan-bomgardner-believes-god-wants-us-to-laugh

|url-access=limited

|title=Christian ventriloquist Ryan Bomgardner believes God wants us to laugh

|last=Posten

|first=Bruce

|date=15 August 2014

|website=Reading Eagle

|access-date=18 February 2019

|quote=I define Christian comedy as clean comedy that can be good for the soul. I believe God wants us to laugh

|archive-date=19 February 2019

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219015834/https://www.readingeagle.com/life/article/christian-ventriloquist-ryan-bomgardner-believes-god-wants-us-to-laugh

|url-status=live

}}

{{Main|Late night television}}

{{See also|Late-night talk show}}

{{distinguish|panel show}}

This form of variety entertainment gives emerging and notable headliners guest spots to deliver their "tight five".{{cite book

|last=Quirk

|first=Sophie

|date=2015

|title=Why Stand-up Matters: How Comedians Manipulate and Influence

|location=New York

|publisher=Bloomsbury Methuen Drama

|page=157

|isbn=978-1-4725-7893-8

|quote=Television is seen as an essentially conservative medium, which limits the range of comic material presented, and marginalizes the more revolutionary work that takes place on the live circuit.}}

Category:Stand-up comedy