Redefining Comedy On The Web

Think Radiohead is the first to suggest you name your own price to listen to music? There is a service named SongSlide that allows users to do this. Comedic musician Jonathan Coulton is prolly the biggest musician on SongSlide.

In addition to letting fans name their own price, they also use Eventful, which lets fans alert their favorite artists of venues in their towns that are open for the artist to perform in. That way, the artist can perform in your town.




So Coulton has forged a new path for comedians; in the future, you can theoretically pay 2 dollars for David Cross’s new album and have him perform at the Yellow Star Revue in Central Bumplefuck.

Speaking of Bumplefuck, the mindset of said town needs to change its perceptions of black comedy. Tired of token black guys leaving work to continue mining the differences between blacks and whites, The Black Comedy Project aims to forge a new African-American comedy movement on the web in which comedians can nurture their own voices. Without making up a fear of swimming or a love of fat women.

I am especially moved by this. As a North African-American, I would like to be considered a comedian first, an artist second and an Egyptian third. Even if I decide to talk about the Arab-American experience, I prefer to steer clear of the “terrorist/hairy back” paradigm that seems all but obligatory in Arab-American comedy shows. I do not wish to be in the Hack-sis of Evil.