"Comedy: A form of drama that deals with the humorous or ridiculous aspect of human behavior."
World Book of Encyclopedias.

By Eric Van Horn

Outside, people gather in small groups lining up from the chilly street to the lobby decorated with publicity photos. Inside, the room is illuminated with the pink glow of a neon sign, conversations among the closely arranged tables filled the room with a chatter of highs and lows. Drinks like "The Green Tail Dragon of the Maroon Morning" and "Junebug Annihilator" are being ordered and the smell of popcorn and buffalo wings scent the air. When the crowd is finally seated a young man jumps on the stage dressed in "rung and speaking for Generation X. For the next 15 minutes this group, diverse in age, occupations, and social status, laugh hysterically while he talks about how much he likes cereal. Why? Because he is a Stand-Up and even though many of the crowd gave up Captain Crunch years ago the theatre craft of this young artist made them reeve, remember and he manipulated the audience to laugh at themselves without shame.

As an actor interprets and presents the words of Neil Simon, stand-ups do the same with a script of Life's anecdotes and situations that entertain and display comedy in its purest form.

Emery Emery, an outspoken comic from Kansas City, has been touring the road for 15 years. His routine focused on marriage, divorce, advertising, drugs and even the local roads in KC. The crowd related to the seemingly random judgement to place a fountain in the middle of Ward Parkway. He is a firm believer in the no boundaries rule. "We have to be free. We have to be able to do what we want. Censorship is too rampant in our country" For the most part Emery can bask in the freedom of his art within the comedy clubs on the circuit, but he did have a problem last year in Seattle with a joke that attacked bigotry head on. To demonstrate the ulginess of racism, he used a virulently racist word. The audience shivered, the club owner asked Emery to change his act, Emery refused, and was fired. "It was insane," he said "the whole point of the bit was to show the unintelligent background that racism is based on. The real irony was that I use my art to fight against racism, homophobia and censorship."

When Emery says the word "show" he can qualify that because many of the stand-up routines today are designed like One Act plays. They have all the elements of a story, beginning, middle and usually end with a hardy laugh and a message.

Emery sees stand up as his only profession. "I don't want to do T.V. or movies I am very happy doing this. A microphone, the audience, and me."

He has a style that is reminiscent of the ground breaking delivery of Lenny Bruce who spoke in a staccato, aggressive fashion to the young generation of the 60's.

Bruce's work brought new respect for the craft of Stand-up. Because he was so controversial, yet funny, thousands of people would flock to see this cult hero tell jokes about life, politics and contemporary mores. His stinging, uninhibited comedy, now considered mild, forged new roads for the stand-ups who followed. Like Avant-Garde theatre the social acceptance of this stand-up forefather was not always understood or tolerated. This is best exemplified by his arrest in 1964 for giving an obscene performance. Bruce, throughout this troubled time, continually stood by his First Amendment rights, and the courts, by virtue of the charge, qualified him as an artist giving a performance.

Brad Nelson, another comic that headlines clubs across the country, holds a degree in theatre from Southwest Missouri State University. Like his fellow alumni John Goodman, Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper he still is looking for his big break as an actor. "I've done some Off-Broadway work and a few things on the West Coast. My aspirations are to be in theatre, it is what I was educated in, but I do enjoy stand-up until it happens."

Nelson also from Kansas City, approaches his comedy with a charming style slowly building to a punch line which will hit an audience between the eyes. Like many other comics he also enjoys writing. "I write new stuff for my routine and for future theatre projects all the time ."

When the show ended the crowd funneled back out on to the streets of Kansas City, still laughing and imitating the art of stand-up by telling their favorite jokes and repeating the comedian's lines. They were happy and filled with excitement from the night's entertainment. Like all theatres the stage lights were turned off, the pink glow faded and the chairs rearranged for the next night's performance.