Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion comedic chops

I thought of this after seeing the big head topic post.

For any newbies, I posted that DD9 was trying her hand at acting. We started this past summer, signing with an agent end of August. The agent only does principal roles because I did not want the time consuming theater.

There isn't a lot of auditions but on a couple that required "comedic chops" DD stood out. She has a callback for a sitcom this week.

I think that being gifted really lends itself to being funny. DH was extraordinarily witty. Observant, strong use of language and right to the point.

Isn't being funny, witty, a natural outcome of HG?

I think one skill comedians have is they can think very quickly, particularly if they are reacting on the spot to someone elses non-scripted remarks, e.g. Jon Stewart interviewing someone, and instantly coming up a hilarious response to an interviewees remarks. (I suppose some preparation is possible for the topic, but it is pretty spontaneous.)

Also, zany creative outside the box thinking is a mark of some comedians.

So at least some comedians and some intelligent people have in common being fast-thinking and/or creative.

On the other hand, I don't think it takes much intelligence for a stand-up comedian to deliver a prepared monologue of dirty jokes to a bunch of drunks.

The gifted in my family are introverted. Tend not to talk unless they have something "profound" or important they want to say. Not really very witty. I think it depends on your strengths. Gifted children are not all alike.

That sounds exciting for your daughter. I hope it all goes well.

The most PG (STEM) person I know in real life isn't witty at all. When he is drunk, he tries to be funny but more often than not, his attempts just end up making him look like a sexist jerk, which is sad because he is a genuinely nice and caring person.

My SO - a former prodigy for what it is worth - thinks he is witty but he too is more offensive than he is funny.

They both think something is wrong with my sense of humor.

Wren, first off, congrats to your dd. The gifted adults in my family as well as dh's are super funny. They all employ keen observation, sarcasm, and word play. Many people find their humor offensive because it makes you face the naked truth. Kind of like Colbert's humor.

I think you have to be pretty smart to be really funny, but you can be definitely be really smart and NOT be funny. Verbal intelligence is a big part of humor, and not every smart person is verbally quick.

My ds13 is very introverted. But very smart and very smart alecky...just with me and a lot in his head. I was talking to one of his teachers and the other day he came out with a doosey of a smart ass zinger and the entire class stopped, turned towards him, stared with open mouthes and then cracked up. The class was not prepared for that to come from him.

Most def!

In your opinion, naturally, because really smart people generally prefer really smart humor. Any link between intelligence and humor dissolves once you remember that Martin Lawrence had an extremely successful comedy career.

Then again, I've attended Mensa gatherings, and what generally passed for humor there was lame puns... like the kind I didn't find very funny in the joke books I could check out from the school library in third grade. I groaned a lot.

Point taken, Dude.

Also, I totally know what you mean about the Mensa-style humor. One of my relatives is really smart--skipped a grade, went to an Ivy and excelled, has a PhD, etc--but her humor is of that ilk, and just...not funny.

Wren, good luck to your DD! Going on auditions can be a lot of time consuming work for the parents, but my DS13 loved the thrill of callbacks! He is extremely entertaining, hilarious really. So much so, that he often gets in trouble in class … Because of his humor, he has always exasperated teachers, but adult non-teachers and all ages of kids are instantly drawn to him. My older gifted son is the perfectionist, serious type who looks at his younger brother's humor as a complete nuisance and doesn't understand it at all. Go figure

That's exciting news, Wren! My kiddo has inherited the family warped sense of humor, which not everyone appreciates. He is too quiet in public to stand out much for his humor, but in small groups of friends and families, he is pretty hilarious.