Word: offbeat
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...contrast to a decade ago, when offbeat comics like Martin, Albert Brooks and Andy Kaufman were redefining the stand-up genre, the current crop is relatively traditional. Except for a few intriguing eccentrics, such as Bob Goldthwait and Emo Philips, most of today's comics present themselves as regular folks, directing barbs at familiar subjects, from TV commercials to dating. Their lineage can be traced directly to two influential comics of the 1960s and '70s, George Carlin and Robert Klein. Both rooted their material in the commonplace concerns and shared memories of the baby-boom generation (especially TV) and perfected...
...Steven Wright, 31, is one of the few young comics to depart from the Carlin-Klein-Leno style of observational humor. His offbeat, cerebral routines are a string of absurdist one-liners, delivered in a deadpan monotone. Examples: "I was once arrested for walking in someone else's sleep." "When I die, I'm going to leave my body to science fiction." "I was walking through a forest and a tree fell right in front of me, and I didn't hear it." Like many comedians with a shtick, Wright (who grew up near Leno in Massachusetts and also...
...financial. Although there are occasional commercial ventures, the off-Broadway scene, like the regionals, tends to be dominated by nonprofit companies sustained through donations. The bond is also aesthetic. The nonprofit troupes usually measure success artistically rather than at the box office and eagerly nurture esoteric work -- chamber musicals, offbeat new plays, quirky revivals...
...addition to offbeat areas like the K-Space, students use more conventional spaces for productions. Many houses, such as Dunster, Cabot and Mather, host at least one production per semester in their dining halls...
From Bob Goldthwait to Garry Shandling, offbeat, innovative comics are thriving on cable. -- The last roll call for Hill Street Blues...