Real comedians know that the best part of crowdwork is not that it gets you millions of views on TikTok or that posting it means you don’t have to publicize material too early. No, the best part of crowdwork is arguing about crowdwork. Hulu threw a party in New York on December 3 in celebration of its upcoming slate of comedy specials. On the red carpet, we asked what comedy trends should be “out” next year, and multiple guests — including Ilana Glazer, Jim Gaffigan, Frankie Quiñones, and Roy Wood Jr. — said they’re done with working the crowds.
“I want to see less crowdwork videos on Instagram,” Gaffigan said. “I understand you don’t want to burn material, but I think that is not great for stand-up in general. I understand that it’s a conversation, but I believe it’s a very one-sided conversation.” Quiñones also wants everyone to wrap it up: “I’ve been in this game a long time. Trying to keep up with the constant clips of crowdwork? It’s a little played out now.” And Wood gave his answer with some tough love. “If you can do crowdwork, do it,” he said. “If you can’t, don’t. And you know who you are. Don’t do crowdwork just because these other motherfuckers are doing crowdwork. You’re not good at crowdwork! You write motherfucking jokes!”
In fact, Wood should probably just be the president of comedy. Give him a microphone and ask him what should be “in,” and he’ll have a full essay ready. “There are not enough shows that have three, four, five comics on the show,” he said. “We need more of that. Any type of show that gives young comics a chance to shine benefits the industry and benefits the craft.” He also offered some (non-crowdwork-based) comedians worth checking out. “I’m excited to see what Josh Johnson does when he puts an hour together — he’s been the king of longform thought online for the past year, but I think he’s amazing,” he said. “Tacarra Williams is another one I think is just on the verge, and somebody’s just gotta give her the microphone. Adele Givens! She needs to be on this carpet next year.” We concur, and we also agree with him about Ali Siddiq, who Wood is wild about. “He did a setup that he didn’t deliver a punch line on for 60 minutes!” Wood said, talking about Siddiq’s special The Domino Effect Part 2. “And between those two points was still knocking out jokes.” Well, Wood can thank Vulture for getting Siddiq’s special onto Hulu. Now that’s something better than hu-larious — it’s hu-spiring.