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A comedian, or comic, is a performer who entertains an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting the fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy. A comedian who stands and addresses an audience directly is called a stand-up comic.

Since the mid-1980s, a new wave of comedy, called alternative comedy, has been gaining popularity with its offbeat style. This normally involves more experiential, or observational reporting, i.e. Andy Kaufman.

Formats of a comedian's show are flexible and often depend on the type of comedy. Some comedians like Brian Figarol and Jack Tzianabos speak about their own day to day lives, while others like Frank Skinner sing humorous songs.

As far as content is concerned, comedians such as Tommy Tiernan draw on their background to poke fun at themselves, while others such as Bill Maher and George Carlin have strong political and cultural undertones.

Many comics achieve a cult following while touring famous comedy hubs such as the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, the Edinburgh Fringe, and Melbourne Comedy Festival in Australia. Often a comic's career is made when they win a notable comedy prize, such as the now defunct Perrier Award. Comics typically survive by continuous touring and foray into other areas of entertainment, such as film and television, when they have become famous.

A subgroup of comedians may be considered public intellectuals due to their stimulation of public debate regarding contentious issues. Whilst most comedians' central aim is to provide laughs for the audience, many comedians, such as George Carlin, Dane Cook, Bill Maher, Chris Rock and Bill Cosby also take strong political or social stances on topics in the public sphere, such as religion, current affairs, public administration and race-relations. They stimulate debate, often performing the dual role of educator and entertainer, and are in this respect a noteworthy social influence.

Due to the nature of the vehicle of comedy, being light-hearted and jovial, it is often subject to less official Censorhip compared to other forms of media. Whilst superficially the issue of censorship does not appear to be significant, controversial views on public sphere topics, such as abortion, race relations and women’s rights would otherwise be restricted to the fringe of public debate, such as extreme ideological movements. However, comedians are by no means free from censorship as is repeatedly demonstrated by the refusal of some radio and television organizations from airing controversial comedy routines.

Popular stand-up comedians can successfully disseminate their sometimes controversial ideas on a large scale because of the jovial aspect of comedy. This is a double-edged sword: on the one hand they can reach a large quantity of people, but on the other hand, their views are not always taken as seriously (seen as a mere joke), so the quality of the message is reduced. A further downside to using comedy as a means of dissemination is its reliance on the popularity of the comedian: the success of the dissemination is tied to the success of their humour. Whilst many means of dissemination are limited to a select audience, comedy is more broadly applicable. Unlike many academic public intellectuals whose audience is usually limited to the reading population (if their means of dissemination takes the book form) comedians usually target their material at the wider public. Similarly, the role of comedian is more easily accessible by the general population. The advantage over more conventional public intellectuals, who gain credence for their ideas by academic qualification, the comedian requires no formal academic training, only the ability to make people laugh. The public intellectual as comedian requires no ‘sanction’ by the academic community to successfully disseminate his or her ideas.

The stand-up comedian can both debate current public sphere topics and casually introduce new ones. This is of particular advantage compared to other forms of dissemination, since conventional public intellectuals rely more heavily on a pre-existing interest (by the audience) for their topic of debate. A reader is less likely to purchase a book on a topic which he or she feels has no relevance for him or herself, whereas a comedian can incorporate many different topics in the routine. The ability to debate several areas of debate is itself an advantage, since more conventional public intellectuals are more limited to their area of expertise and are less able to branch out. Whilst no pre-existing interest in a topic is required, no pre-existing knowledge of a topic is needed, since any background understanding of the debate can be briefly summarized by the comedian.

Comedians can successfully disseminate an idea en masse to the public by virtue of their vehicle of dissemination: humour. For instance, Noam Chomsky, a conventional public intellectual is widely regarded as the most outspoken academic on the topic of the use of language as means of controlling thought, and whilst not unpopular by any means, is surpassed is his ability to disseminate this idea by the controversial stand-up comedian George Carlin who regularly refers to the use of language as a means of controlling listeners. George Carlin commands the attention of a larger audience and so can persuade more people about the merit of this argument. In terms of idea formation and understanding, Chomsky is more qualified, but in terms of acting as public intellectual, whose aims include the stimulation of and raising awareness of the idea, George Carlin is more successful.

• Comedy genres
• List of comedians
• Humour
• Comedy
• Humourist
• List of musical comedians
• Category:Comedians

• A collection of interviews with stand-up comedians