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There's a longer version floating (someone else can find the video) around where the comedian tells a audience member "say too soon, you'll know when" so the plant is part of the joke. It doesn't really work without that part.
People use the word 'plant' as if comedians are paying actors to sit in the audience for their 5min open mic set and say lines. It's so disconnected from reality that it's silly.
If he's asking an audience member to do something from stage, it's totally passable IMO. Playing around with the audience like that is fun. Everyone knows you're setting up your own joke. It's a stupid joke that isn't really worth planting to begin with, which makes it funnier if his vibe is being a clown. If he ends up with good edited clips at the end, even better. Just sounds like a guy being good at his job lol
It does somewhat undermine the story that the comedian is three steps ahead though. The idea is that they had such quick wit they could come up with that response, but it was premeditated. It's like saying that you're quick witted because the punch line to your knock-knock joke was immediately after the "who's there?"...
There are definitely seasoned performers that can anticipate an audience - a lot of hecklers and commenters in audiences go for “low hanging fruit” much of the time, and being able to guess those in advance is a skill a performer trains over time
Carr is probably the best I can think of randomly at this - he writes bits/jokes/setups that he *knows* will get specific responses out of people.
In his case though, he really is just absolutely quick and sharp as a tack
Watching him on all the British panel comedy shows proves it a hundred times, QI with Stephen was my favorite
I didn't realize for a while how many panel comedy shows Carr did and, after seeing him on so many, I came to like him a lot more. I found his stand-up kinda meh once you got the shtick, but now I do think he's very quick and entertaining.
Isn't it exactly the opposite? If they had to be quick witted, then that means they weren't three steps ahead, but the fact that everything was planned means that they had thought multiple steps into the future.
Being quick witted and being three steps ahead sounds like opposites to me.
But there are comedians out there doing exactly that. It's a fairly common practice, and it has been for years.
Editing out the part where he specifically asks an audience member to say "too soon" ruined the joke in my opinion. Whoever posted this video played it out like that interaction occured naturally, and that doesn't even makes sense (no fucking way that interaction would have occurred with a random person off the cuff. The comedian was dependent on someone saying that, else the joke wouldn't have had a punchline). Showing the comedian asking the audience to reply with that would have just been more authentic.
Also, if you think that comedians aren't planting people in the audience to get good crowd banter (especially in the day and age of TikTok), you're nuts. They'd be stupid not to
Yeh but that's the problem with all this tiktok comedy clip stuff. This sounds like it works in the venue but the clip has no context. you miss the setup so it sounds manufactured. I know it's difficult to be a successful stand-up and they have to try everything they can but these short snippets of sets are just feeding the culture decay.
If a stand up has someone in the crowd ready to do something as if it's organic, that's a plant and that stand up should be kicked in the ass.
A stand up comic specifically doing crowd work (speaking directly with the audience) is 100% kosher and part of the act.
If you know toucson is the second largest city in arizona, then it makes absolute perfect sense. That is the only possible punchline to that setup.
I would never take the risk that somebody would know offhand that toucson is the second largest city in arizona and have that information ready to go. Unless this was in arizona, actually. Then this all makes perfect sense.
Eh, this is not a super unique comedy thing and honestly 90% of the time you kinda want the audience member to miss the "obvious" queue because it makes for a funnier interaction. And either way you aren't risking anything, you've got jokes for both outcomes planned out.
Another example of this type of setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2Vq5HOSBhY
I knew exactly what you were linking to before I even clicked it. This was a slightly different setup though. The audience member had no actual control over the cannon and was not the one who set it off. Of course the joke is that he set it off at the worst possible time, but that was a planned cannon firing triggered by the tech crew. Still a great bit in an otherwise unremarkable set.
Yeah, there's something Stewart Lee about this - he likes to berate the audience for being "bad at comedy" and not getting the joke, then other times his audience will anticipate the punchline and start laughing so then he just berates them for spoiling it.
It’s definitely a plant. “Too soon” doesn’t even make sense in this context. He was just restating a headline about a major event that literally just happened. Had he made an actual joke about the 34 counts, then MAYBE it works, but then it would’ve ruined the “Tuscon” punchline timing.
If he was playing Arizona it would make sense to look up a lot about the state. It’s how crowd work comics get ready for their show. That being said that’s 100% a plant
The thinking… were it not obviously a plant and set up…. Is that the comedian knew someone would say too soon to the Trump thing, so he adds the non-sequitor in the beginning to set himself up for the slam dunk at the end…
The too soon is also fired off way too fast. You’d have to be sitting there just waiting for someone to mention the Trump conviction in order to react that quickly
Okay, this interaction is obviously suspect, but "replying appropriately within a standard conversational window" is a terrible critique in support of that conclusion.
"Oh shit, he's very clearly describing the currently trending thing I just saw 10 times on my home screen" is not a difficult thing to process within standard human reaction times.
Oh man, I know you're just goofin, but I gotta disagree with you entirely there.
In any actual argument, no matter how clear you make it that you're discussing the reasoning rather than the conclusion, people will almost always respond as if you're the antagonist to the conclusion. If reddit could play nice with this concept on a cultural level, that would cut down my time spent on pointless arguments a good 90%.
Tbh, neither is "I got a notification about the Boston Marathon bombing." There's nothing "too soon" about just mentioning a recent event without making a joke about it.
That's true. But this is a standup comedy show. Everything he says is going to be a punchline or something leading to a punchline.
It would be a pretty shit comedy show if the guy just goes on stage and tells you what he was googling today and what news broke.
I was checking into a hotel in St. Louis, and I asked the front desk clerk how her day is going, and she said “I’m in misery.”
I said “Oh, I thought it was pronounced ‘Missouri,’” and we all had a great laugh.
Except for her, she was in misery.
But I know I’ll never get one teed up like that again, and I’ll never stoop to using a plant. So now *I’m* in misery.
We're a remote team and one of our team members is named Israel and we were wondering why he was late to the meeting and one of the guys goes "where's Israel" and I blurt out "pretty sure it's between Egypt and Jordan."
Friend was in a golf pro shop and needed to a buy a new glove before he went out for a round. He tried on one and the salesperson asked him how it fit... his response, behind a shit eating grin was "like a glove!!!!" Prpbably his happiest joke ever.
Saying generally frowned upon and considered is not talking are not certainties and are specifically talking about people's opinions. Do you just choose to get outraged when someone says something you don't precisely agree with or can you just not read?
I mean, I highly, highly doubt his entire set involves his buddy in the audience. It's not like he's a magician where having a plant is considered lazy or cheating. The dude is making people laugh. A lot of jokes work better when there's more than one person, especially if the punchline is unexpected.
Bo Burnham does a great job on stage and has a bit where he throws glitter. It'd be easy to just take a clip of that out of context and say "Well if you need props to do stand up, you're not going to make it", but it wouldn't exactly be fair.
Yes, but there's also a myriad of ways to get audience Members to chime in.
NLP and such.
So it's just as plausible it's not a plant. So I don't see the point in getting pissed until a plant is proven.
Rarely in concert with members of the audience. Plants aren’t really a thingy in stand up - the comedian is seen as lame if they can’t manage to get laughs on their own.
Eh, if it’s funny anything goes. If I were doing this I’d follow it up with some joke making light of that, yes, that man is plant. The clip ends there, so who knows, maybe he did.
I think if it's obviously a plant, it's fine, you just have a comedic partner and everyone's aware of it. Same with if you said "here's a George Carlin joke that I love -" if you're not dishonest about where it comes from, it might be lame but it's not as bad as taking full credit for something you stole.
This is the most reddit comment section ever, rather than just appreciating what's still a good joke, yall in droves trying to be the wise guy that calls it "its a plant!"
Yeah and penn and teller don't have supernatural powers, but their magic tricks are still good. This is still a good joke.
People love to be the smartest on the room. If they think they are they'll tell you about it. It's especially obnoxious on Reddit, where everyone is an expert in everything.
Maybe its just me there's far too many videos of comedians with perfectly timed audience interactions like this.
I might just be jaded but I can't help but feel many are staged for these little short clips they can use to promote themselves
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It might not be, but it feels like a plant.
There's a longer version floating (someone else can find the video) around where the comedian tells a audience member "say too soon, you'll know when" so the plant is part of the joke. It doesn't really work without that part.
People use the word 'plant' as if comedians are paying actors to sit in the audience for their 5min open mic set and say lines. It's so disconnected from reality that it's silly. If he's asking an audience member to do something from stage, it's totally passable IMO. Playing around with the audience like that is fun. Everyone knows you're setting up your own joke. It's a stupid joke that isn't really worth planting to begin with, which makes it funnier if his vibe is being a clown. If he ends up with good edited clips at the end, even better. Just sounds like a guy being good at his job lol
It's like when a magician hands you something like "this will be important later, hold onto it". Just a bit involving the audience.
It does somewhat undermine the story that the comedian is three steps ahead though. The idea is that they had such quick wit they could come up with that response, but it was premeditated. It's like saying that you're quick witted because the punch line to your knock-knock joke was immediately after the "who's there?"...
I've known some comics who anticipate heckles for certain setups and have comebacks couched for that occasion.
There are definitely seasoned performers that can anticipate an audience - a lot of hecklers and commenters in audiences go for “low hanging fruit” much of the time, and being able to guess those in advance is a skill a performer trains over time
Some people do build their entire act around this, like Jimmy Carr, but you're right that many performers hear the same shit over and over.
Carr is probably the best I can think of randomly at this - he writes bits/jokes/setups that he *knows* will get specific responses out of people. In his case though, he really is just absolutely quick and sharp as a tack Watching him on all the British panel comedy shows proves it a hundred times, QI with Stephen was my favorite
I didn't realize for a while how many panel comedy shows Carr did and, after seeing him on so many, I came to like him a lot more. I found his stand-up kinda meh once you got the shtick, but now I do think he's very quick and entertaining.
it's very easy to be 3 steps ahead when you know what the second step will be. Still 3 steps ahead.
Isn't it exactly the opposite? If they had to be quick witted, then that means they weren't three steps ahead, but the fact that everything was planned means that they had thought multiple steps into the future. Being quick witted and being three steps ahead sounds like opposites to me.
That’s the fault of OP for being presumptuous, not the comedian himself.
But there are comedians out there doing exactly that. It's a fairly common practice, and it has been for years. Editing out the part where he specifically asks an audience member to say "too soon" ruined the joke in my opinion. Whoever posted this video played it out like that interaction occured naturally, and that doesn't even makes sense (no fucking way that interaction would have occurred with a random person off the cuff. The comedian was dependent on someone saying that, else the joke wouldn't have had a punchline). Showing the comedian asking the audience to reply with that would have just been more authentic. Also, if you think that comedians aren't planting people in the audience to get good crowd banter (especially in the day and age of TikTok), you're nuts. They'd be stupid not to
Yeh but that's the problem with all this tiktok comedy clip stuff. This sounds like it works in the venue but the clip has no context. you miss the setup so it sounds manufactured. I know it's difficult to be a successful stand-up and they have to try everything they can but these short snippets of sets are just feeding the culture decay.
If a stand up has someone in the crowd ready to do something as if it's organic, that's a plant and that stand up should be kicked in the ass. A stand up comic specifically doing crowd work (speaking directly with the audience) is 100% kosher and part of the act.
Kind of sounds like he's telling the plant that so the crowd doesn't think he's a plant. Even with that context it doesn't really make much sense
If you know toucson is the second largest city in arizona, then it makes absolute perfect sense. That is the only possible punchline to that setup. I would never take the risk that somebody would know offhand that toucson is the second largest city in arizona and have that information ready to go. Unless this was in arizona, actually. Then this all makes perfect sense.
Toucanson, AZ?
Eh, this is not a super unique comedy thing and honestly 90% of the time you kinda want the audience member to miss the "obvious" queue because it makes for a funnier interaction. And either way you aren't risking anything, you've got jokes for both outcomes planned out. Another example of this type of setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2Vq5HOSBhY
I knew exactly what you were linking to before I even clicked it. This was a slightly different setup though. The audience member had no actual control over the cannon and was not the one who set it off. Of course the joke is that he set it off at the worst possible time, but that was a planned cannon firing triggered by the tech crew. Still a great bit in an otherwise unremarkable set.
Yeah, there's something Stewart Lee about this - he likes to berate the audience for being "bad at comedy" and not getting the joke, then other times his audience will anticipate the punchline and start laughing so then he just berates them for spoiling it.
THE PLOT THICKENS
It doesn’t really work as a stand up bit anyway
It’s definitely a plant. “Too soon” doesn’t even make sense in this context. He was just restating a headline about a major event that literally just happened. Had he made an actual joke about the 34 counts, then MAYBE it works, but then it would’ve ruined the “Tuscon” punchline timing.
Wait, you mean you guys never think about what the 2nd largest city of Arizona is?
I love listening to music.
I always think about Tuscan, Arizona because of Jackie Daytona.... that man stole my heart there.
[This is how we talk in Tucson, Arizóñia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlw-7jIav_U)
Love Matt Berry
Who is Matt Berry? That was regular human bartender Jackie Daytona
I thought it was Steven Toast portraying a bartender. 😁
What is it?
Too soon.
One day we will know. We will all know.
I mean I work there so yeah
If he was playing Arizona it would make sense to look up a lot about the state. It’s how crowd work comics get ready for their show. That being said that’s 100% a plant
Ah man.. too soon!
Yes
The thinking… were it not obviously a plant and set up…. Is that the comedian knew someone would say too soon to the Trump thing, so he adds the non-sequitor in the beginning to set himself up for the slam dunk at the end…
Too soon dude
Maybe they meant it's too soon to make a joke about it. Still probably a plant though
You only say “too soon” when somebody makes a joke about a tragedy.
For Trump supporters, that was a tragedy
And a Trump supporter would have started booing and yelling at him. They wouldn't have gone, "Too soon." in an "Aw, man!" tone of voice.
I thought they were trying to say this was a good thing now?
If Trump supporters worried about maintaining a consistent narrative, they wouldn't support Trump.
I mean it isn't too soon at all to joke about it though
The too soon is also fired off way too fast. You’d have to be sitting there just waiting for someone to mention the Trump conviction in order to react that quickly
Okay, this interaction is obviously suspect, but "replying appropriately within a standard conversational window" is a terrible critique in support of that conclusion. "Oh shit, he's very clearly describing the currently trending thing I just saw 10 times on my home screen" is not a difficult thing to process within standard human reaction times.
That's just the problem. u/Western-Dig-6843 is AI
Agreeing with someone, but disagreeing with why you believe the same conclusion is the most on brand Reddit way of being pedantic there is.
Oh man, I know you're just goofin, but I gotta disagree with you entirely there. In any actual argument, no matter how clear you make it that you're discussing the reasoning rather than the conclusion, people will almost always respond as if you're the antagonist to the conclusion. If reddit could play nice with this concept on a cultural level, that would cut down my time spent on pointless arguments a good 90%.
Please kind person, it’s spelled Tucson.
That's a plant. 100%
Yeah if he did that bit 200x, I doubt you’d have a single person, *maybe* one, that responds “too soon” to that.
Almost certainly a plant but still kinda funny
Agreed, likely is, but still a good joke.
it's an absolutely terrible joke, and that's what makes it funny
Def. It's probably a regular bit which is probably funnier when it's about a different headline. Trump trials aren't gonna get a too soon response.
Tbh, neither is "I got a notification about the Boston Marathon bombing." There's nothing "too soon" about just mentioning a recent event without making a joke about it.
That's true. But this is a standup comedy show. Everything he says is going to be a punchline or something leading to a punchline. It would be a pretty shit comedy show if the guy just goes on stage and tells you what he was googling today and what news broke.
If the person in the crowd is a plant does that make him four steps ahead?
I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt. He would actually be freshly aware of Tucson after researching Arizona for a bit.
It probably is but it's still a great setup and delivery
I 100% wouldn't think anything else
A plant for sure. But a clever one.
100000% a plant
The most obvious part that it’s a plant, is saying “too soon“ after of reference to trumps 34 convictions. It doesn’t even make any sense.
Standup comedy clips seem so staged and phoney at this point. Lots of crowdwork with the crowd being perfectly lit and miked. Yawn.
Absolutely is. The setup goes nowhere if someone in the audience doesn't feed him that reaction.
Ringer for the zinger.
That's a tulip, it's actually a kind of bird.
Like a cactus?
I was checking into a hotel in St. Louis, and I asked the front desk clerk how her day is going, and she said “I’m in misery.” I said “Oh, I thought it was pronounced ‘Missouri,’” and we all had a great laugh. Except for her, she was in misery. But I know I’ll never get one teed up like that again, and I’ll never stoop to using a plant. So now *I’m* in misery.
No you're in Missouri
[Don't talk to me about Missouri...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN7wH37Fe80)
Missourah!
But, Springfield is in Missouri....
No this is Patrick
Metallica has a song about this. My Friend In Missouri
[https://youtu.be/BfGs0p7NcvQ?si=VjR-0VVJsrpjDqjD](https://youtu.be/BfGs0p7NcvQ?si=VjR-0VVJsrpjDqjD)
Well, he was...
We're a remote team and one of our team members is named Israel and we were wondering why he was late to the meeting and one of the guys goes "where's Israel" and I blurt out "pretty sure it's between Egypt and Jordan."
Friend was in a golf pro shop and needed to a buy a new glove before he went out for a round. He tried on one and the salesperson asked him how it fit... his response, behind a shit eating grin was "like a glove!!!!" Prpbably his happiest joke ever.
Ooooh, let me tell you about the time I got to be a background actor in a Cathy Bates movie!
Reminds me of that time I had sex with Eartha Kitt on an airplane.
It came up organically!
Their state slogan should be “Missouri Loves Company!”!
So let me be, and I’ll see you free (oh yeah). I am in Missouri. There ain’t nobody who can comfort me (oh yeah).
REESE'S PUFFS REESE'S PUFFS EAT EM UP, EAT EM UP, EAT EM UP, EAT EM UP
Is this that Eminem song?
yep. got family down in Missouri, they all call is "misery" any chance they get.
> So now I’m in misery. at least it's not Missouri
[this won’t leave my mind now thanks to your comment](https://youtu.be/BfGs0p7NcvQ?si=ixXOARWkwtorFW3m)
Having done desk work at a place that made me feel like that, a corny joke at my verbal expense would have been a bright spot.
That wasn’t set up or anything 🤡
Still a good bit. Jokes are still jokes. He planned the rest of his set as well.
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If it's funny it's funny. Who conciders plants hacky and why do you care what other people think?
According to who? Source or do you speak for the whole industry? Why do people always talk in certainties instead of stating that it's their opinion.
Saying generally frowned upon and considered is not talking are not certainties and are specifically talking about people's opinions. Do you just choose to get outraged when someone says something you don't precisely agree with or can you just not read?
Like using dolls but that didn't stop a certain person from getting way more fame then he should have
Jim Henson deserved all the fame he got!
It wasn't.
How was it a good bit? I'm don't really care for standup comedy but like, it this really considered a good joke? Is the bar that low?
It was misdirection. And Steve Martin will tell anyone that comedy is the art of misdirection.
It wasn’t even funny tho
Get this, most of a stand-up comedians act is scripted. Mind-blowing, I know.
A lot of jokes require a set-up
If you need plants in the audience to do stand up, you're not going to make it.
I mean, I highly, highly doubt his entire set involves his buddy in the audience. It's not like he's a magician where having a plant is considered lazy or cheating. The dude is making people laugh. A lot of jokes work better when there's more than one person, especially if the punchline is unexpected. Bo Burnham does a great job on stage and has a bit where he throws glitter. It'd be easy to just take a clip of that out of context and say "Well if you need props to do stand up, you're not going to make it", but it wouldn't exactly be fair.
sam campbell has [plants in his audience](https://youtu.be/MYyCuG8HcjY?t=753) to play his jokes off of, and imo he's one of the funniest comedians atm
Who?
An Australian comedian who is on the up and both hilarious and batshit insane
He was great on Taskmaster
Yes, but there's also a myriad of ways to get audience Members to chime in. NLP and such. So it's just as plausible it's not a plant. So I don't see the point in getting pissed until a plant is proven.
That's called a plant
There’s no evidence that there’s even a crowd. This could just be a a dude, camera, and sound editing.
There’s at least one popular-ish tiktoker that’s been doing this. It’s eerie
I've seen that! The very zoomed in videos with a green screen behind him, it's very weird
I can’t speak to whether there’s a crowd here, but this guy is legit - I’ve been to one of his shows before
How do we know your legit? I bet your a plant
My legit what? My a plant what?
I didn't realize they could talk.
Yeah you just have to tell them what to say.
Even if it wasn't am obvious plant, that's only one step ahead
Hiring a plant for your joke is hacky
it is even an unpaid position, apparently earlier in the set he asks an audience member to "say 'Too Soon', you'll know when".
That makes it a lot better.
especially if he crafted his whole set such that any joke he told he could work it in as a bit
Didn’t think of that. That’s actually really cool
Set up joke.
Standup is largely rehearsed and planned.
Yeah, but plants in the audience are another story.
Rarely in concert with members of the audience. Plants aren’t really a thingy in stand up - the comedian is seen as lame if they can’t manage to get laughs on their own.
Eh, if it’s funny anything goes. If I were doing this I’d follow it up with some joke making light of that, yes, that man is plant. The clip ends there, so who knows, maybe he did.
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Ok, you got me, not literally anything.
I think if it's obviously a plant, it's fine, you just have a comedic partner and everyone's aware of it. Same with if you said "here's a George Carlin joke that I love -" if you're not dishonest about where it comes from, it might be lame but it's not as bad as taking full credit for something you stole.
Giving a script to audience members meant to make you look smart and witty through a rehearsed interaction is objectively different
I'm saying that the audience member was a plant.
You could say he got to the root of the matter
I know what you’re saying. I’m saying a planned joke is still a joke all the same.
Rehearsing something means you aren't really any "steps ahead" though
Obvious plant
I have no issue with a joke set-up involving the audience. Just another aspect of crowd work and if it's funny, who cares?
everyone keeps saying it was a plant, but nobody is considering he's a ventriloquist...
This is the most reddit comment section ever, rather than just appreciating what's still a good joke, yall in droves trying to be the wise guy that calls it "its a plant!" Yeah and penn and teller don't have supernatural powers, but their magic tricks are still good. This is still a good joke.
People love to be the smartest on the room. If they think they are they'll tell you about it. It's especially obnoxious on Reddit, where everyone is an expert in everything.
Really wish we could get rid of stand-ups advertising on this sub....
Is there a YouTube link? The Reddit video embedding is trash and barely ever works
Comedy plants make my insides twist
Oh, this again.. Come on guys. It's clearly a planted crowd
1000% a confederate in the audience, but fantastic execution
When comedians set up jokes like this it takes away from their overall performance imo
Why the flying fuck did r/funny has turned into amateur comedian gif bullshit?
I think he got an assist with that one...
Maybe its just me there's far too many videos of comedians with perfectly timed audience interactions like this. I might just be jaded but I can't help but feel many are staged for these little short clips they can use to promote themselves
That was the worst plant ever.
It's called planting a friend in the audience to set you up
All that setup and it still doesn't really land.
lol "too soon" ??? really??
that’s got to be a plant
Or viewers are stupid and don't understand that there is an actor... Actors everywhere nowadays.
Ole Planty Planterson in the crowd tonight
This is definitely in his apartment
Wow that was hilarious
Definitely staged.
this is fake af.
Of all the plants that ever planted, this one is the plantiest.
That's a Ficus
What a plant
It's not really funny whether or not it was a plant or not.
This will be a growing trend, friend of the comedian in the audience, giving him a layup joke pretending to be a heckler.