Sunday Revue November 8: All For A Punchline

Curtain Up!

On Stage Today, All For A Punchline!

Ever been to an improv show? Well then, you'll know what you're getting into when you grab a seat for 'All For A Punchline'.
The story behind this off beat comic is fascinating, and the finished work has its moments of true hillarity. Imbued with the spirit of the Stage, 'All For A Punchline' is the work of Daniel Anderson.

The Rating

Cute, but don't count the house. You're leaving the audience cold.

The Raves

'All For A Punchline' does have the power to occasionally earn an offbeat giggle, but the real fascination of it is as a new and innovative way to mesh disparate art forms into something new.Th creator produces their work by going to improv shows and taking pictures. He then sorts through the photos, picks one or two that he likes and puts them into Adobe Illustrator to hand trace, adding any props and costumes that he sees fit, thus blending stagecraft and comic craft into a symbiotic art form that creates some odd and unexpected laughs.

The Razzes

Unfortunately, the novelty of this idea is neither capitalized on nor realized in this work. If the creator wants to catch eyes with their innovative concept, this is what they need to think about as they improve their craft:

• PURPOSE. This work would benefit hugely if the creator put a note on the main landing page detailing the purpose and process of creating the comic, e.g. SOMETHING discussing the stage improv tie-in to give a clue as to why readers should see this work as anything other than a series of very random jokes. The creator SHOULD NOT, I REPEAT NOT require the audience to read the adjunct pages to get a clue. Many readers will not bother.
• ATMOSPHERE. Please please please give the work some atmosphere! Make we readers feel like we're seeing stage performance. Perhaps cash in on the whole concept of stagecraft by making the website look like a stage, a theater, posting pictures of the acts that inspired each comic with credits given, ANYTHING other than blank white backgrounds and an uninformative site design. As of now, it looks like instructional manual art; not inspired, and not inspiring.
• A PUNCHLINE IS NOT ENOUGH! Despite the comic's title, readers need more than JUST the punchline! When you take out all context and setup for the joke, we as readers are left with only vague, disconnected images and awkward vignettes that leave a reader feeling that they must be missing some sort of in joke. These uninformed, uninformative oddball scenes are more off-putting than funny.
• FIX YOUR SERVER!!!!!!!!!!! Half the time the site loads with the speed of glaciers or fails all together. We're in the digital age. Nobody's patient enough for long intermissions anymore, and the concession stand isn't open.

The Revue

I'd like to see such an interesting meshing of art forms go big....but right now, it's playing to the haircuts. I'm afraid this act flops.