CMST 2060 34
11/26/2013
In October, I attended a comedy event at the LSU Union Theatre. T.J. Miller and his companions hosted a stand-up comedy event for the students of LSU and anyone was welcome to attend free of charge. Miller and his friends’ purpose were to entertain the audience; however, there were many elements such as structure, content, and delivery attributing to the efficacy, direction, and purpose of their performances.
T.J. Miller did not adhere to a strict structural script within his performance. His performance was impromptu and minimally scripted. Therefore, a strict structure did not exist. Instead, his performance had a topical organization—jumping from idea to idea, carefully accommodating the audience’s reactions. Due to the abrupt topical switches, he had little transitional sentences, but I do not believe this negatively impacted the performance. His initial contact with the audience was dry, but eventually connected with the audience. Miller began with an introduction of himself and his background, which served as a bridge to relate with the audience and establish his credibility or ethos. In addition, he interacted with audience members by asking them questions and using their answers as jokes to further establish his ethos.
There was no specific objective in his comedy other than the overarching goal to entertain. His speeches and monologues were varied and covered many topics from school to sex and drugs. Therefore, an explicit thesis did not exist. However, there were many elements attributing to the purpose of his performance. First, he implemented a rhetorical genre to guide his performance’s content and style. He began with a speech of introduction to establish rapport and familiarity with the audience. Miller then moved to the speech of enrichment for the primary content of his performance—comedy. Miller seemed to be familiar with the elements of an effective speech, because the flow of the performance seemed natural and unforced. For example, when he said a joke that was not humorous to the audience, he recognized this and redirected his observations elsewhere. In conceptual terms, he recognized the rhetorical background and made jokes that included familiar elements, whether it is school, drugs, or sex. However when his joke fell flat, he could recognize the audience’s exigence or feelings of concern or urgency and redirected their attention to another subject. Miller also seemed to be familiar with rhetorical constraints and used them to his advantage. For example, he had little knowledge of the Louisiana area, but used what he knew to relate with the audience and establish common ground to become comfortable with the audience and vice versa. By doing this, he was able to overcome internal constraints which can be defined as beliefs, attitudes, and values that must be changed if persuasion is to occur. Miller also used external constraints as props for his performance and used the external constraints as topics of humor. His performance was very entertaining and did a great job recognizing rhetorical constraints.
Miller’s style of delivery was very entertaining and positively enhanced his performance. His vocal qualities, mannerisms, and languages qualities were distinct yet varied. During his monologues, he would intentionally add awkward pauses after ridiculous statements which added an extra depth of humor. He was also easy to understand and follow because he articulated well and paced his rate of speech. Miller’s physical mannerisms also added another depth of humor to his performance. When he interacted with the audience, he would engage in intense eye contact to get a point across or use wild physical gestures to attract attention when the audience was beginning to get bored.
In conclusion, T.J. Miller and his friends did a great job hosting the Comedy Night event at LSU’s Union Theatre. His use and adaptation of rhetoric for his performance was entertaining and interesting to observe. From Miller’s impromptu monologues to personal jokes with the audience to his erratic flailing, all of the elements from his performance enhanced his credibility as a comedian and entertainer. His use of rhetorical elements such as exigence and constraints also enhanced his performance and helped to connect with the audience as well as create new material for jokes. His style of delivery was also humorous and beneficially added to his comedy. As a whole, T.J. Miller and his friends effectively used rhetorical tools to give their performances purpose and direction.