“What do you recommend?”

“Well, what sort of stuff do you like?”

“Something funny!”

Every comedian, festival volunteer and – especially – info booth and WOT Squad worker knows this routine off by heart. (Janet A. McLeod is a champion at the game.) We’re supposed to be experts: surely we know what’s good and what’s not? Of course, it’s never that simple.

Comedy, like all art, is incredibly subjective. I’m not about to get all po-mo on you here, but it’s clear that plenty of people actually find, say, Big Bang Theory or Kath and Kim funny.  I don’t. So if one of those people asks me what to see, to do the job properly, I will have to recommend something I don’t like at all.

Determining what that thing will be is often very, very hard. Most people can’t articulate their likes; they don’t have the vocabulary. It’s rare that someone can confidently say “I enjoy clever, well-crafted comedy which takes gentle jabs at conservatism” or “I prefer in-your-face ironic gagfests full of  dark insight and a little self-loathing”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, everyone is much better at telling you what they don’t like. My Mum, after some prompting, eventually told me she doesn’t like comedy with politics in. That one thing means I wouldn’t recommend at least four of my favourite comedians, because I love comedy with politics in. Well…the good kind.

For the record, my taste is pretty broad. I’m a bit of a comedy sponge; I like sketch, I like musical comedy, I like clowning, I like theatre. When it comes to stand-up, there’s a special place in my funny bone for comedy which is about something. I generally don’t go in for a random set of gags with vague segues. Well…not unless they’re very good gags.

But there I go again. No one thing can decide if comedy is for you or not. If it’s political, is it savage, or witty? If it’s well-crafted, is it subtle, or blunt? If you like X, will you really like Y, or will one of the things that sets them apart outweigh all the things they have in common? And we haven’t even mentioned the form the comedy will take: some people just aren’t “into” sketch, musical comedy, cabaret or even traditional stand-up.

Now, even assuming I can determine if something is “good”, as a comedian myself, what do I do with that opinion? I try to see a lot, and if I like something, send people along, but I can’t publicly say so. Even when doing it one-on-one as I do  I have to be careful to declare my interests. For one thing, I have many, many friends who are comedians, and I like nearly all their work; I want them all to succeed. My beloved is a performer, too, and while I think she’s excellent, it’s impossible for me not to be biased. And of course there are things I’m involved in, which I will probably avoid mentioning much here.

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