Gather ’round, class. It’s time for another lesson in standup comedy. This particular lecture is for all the remedial classmates out there.
That’s because our lesson for today is on something you all should pretty much know about when attending comedy clubs. A lot of you are aware of this subject, because when some of you go to a club, you more often than not tell the person seating you, “Don’t put me up front.”
Today’s lesson is about comics who make fun of people who sit in the front rows or tables at a club. And to tell us more about this subject, we have a guest lecturer who has something of a reputation in the Chicago area for this very thing.
“Sometimes, especially for a comic who may be struggling or at a loss at a certain point in his show, the visual upfront is very, very keen,” says George Willborn, the house emcee at All Jokes Aside (1000 S. Wabash Ave.; 312-922-0577) who’s known for being “cruelly honest.”
Willborn, a Chicago-born standup for 7 1/2 years, says that people shouldn’t really take it personally when a comic makes someone the butt of a joke. “It’s just a fun way to loosen up the crowd and loosen up the comics,” he says.
Of course, there are times when some comics take their poking of a person a little too far. Willborn has learned how to read audience members, and he’s honed this particular craft into a razor-sharp talent.
“It’s a thin line that the good comics know not to cross,” says Willborn, who has appeared on HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam” and Comedy Central’s “Comic Justice.”
Willborn, who also has been on BET’s “Comicview” and MTV’s “The Real World,” says if a person doesn’t like what’s happening to him or her, an audience will sense that and turn against that comic.
On the other hand, if the person being ragged on is having fun with the ragging, the audience will also get into it and have fun with it as well.
Willborn has had new opportunities to make fun of people thanks to his current “day job” as a member of the morning drive-time team on WVAZ-FM (5-10 a.m. weekdays). He’s been a part of “V-103’s” V-Morning Crew for close to two months now.
“It was very challenging, and it still is very challenging,” says Willborn, 27. When working at a club, he’s “used to instant gratification to a joke or a bit … (there’s an) immediate response.”
But on the radio, he’ll throw a joke or remark out there, and he doesn’t know if it works or not. “You’ve got to put stuff out there that you really know is funny, and you can’t find out until later.”
V-103 came to Willborn to provide more comic relief with radio co-hosts John Monds and Bonnie DeShong. Willborn accepted because he thought it would be fun, and it’s also another opportunity “to tap into my craft, another area of what I do.”
Both Monds and DeShong feel the three of them are working out pretty well.
“He adds that comedic value that we wanted to the show,” says Monds. “A lot of times, I may come up with something, but because of my role in the show, it wouldn’t be too cool to say it … (but) he can. He’s the rebel, whereas I’m supposed to be the likable guy.”
But Willborn adds another, unexpected element to the morning show.
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“George brings in some very serious thoughts,” DeShong says. “He feels deeply about Chicago and the things that are happening to our youth in Chicago and our community in Chicago. And he helps keep us on focus in that way, too.”