Joke-e-oke Makes You a Comedian

Uber-Review writes "If you ever aspired to be the next Jerry Seinfeld instead of the next American Idol. Maybe the product featured by Wired is just right for you. Joke-e-oke, basically a karaoke with stand-up comedy material. Joke-e-oke is a laptop rigged to a video projector allows you to choose from a list of stand-up comedy icons to perform. A built in laugh track is added, timed perfectly to accent punch lines. Obstacles are programmed in so participants onstage get a taste of what real comedians go through by firing off heckle lines for the bar crowd to yell in unison at the Joke-e-oke participant."

Comments

Humor by Number?

[ackthpt]

In the prison cafeteria, a new inmate's first lunch is interrupted by someone behind him shouting out, "431!" There's a chorus of laughter before another voice a way off shouts, "218" Again, much laughter. The new guy asks an old con sitting beside him what's with the numbers and laughter. The old guy replies, "Most of the guys have been in here so long that they know all the jokes by number. Go ahead, try one." The new guy says, "But I don't know what jokes go with what numbers!" The old con replies, "doesn't matter, just toss any number out." So the new guy shouts, "687!" Silence. The old guy says, "try a different one", so the new guy shouts "439!" Again, silence. The new guy shouts out a third number, "714!" Which is again met by silence. The old guy says, "eh, I guess some guys just can't tell a joke."

BTW, Karoke still draws a lot of drunk or soon to be at a local pub.

Re:Humor by Number?

[MPHellwig]

"1014" a dead silence followed by a extraordinary huge laughter.
"Heh, that my friend is a new one"

Re:Humor by Number?

[ackthpt]

And old joke (but not as old as the numbered joke one.)

It was based upon Abbott and Costello's 'Who's on First' sketch and is a bit past it's prime, with Hu Jintao being leader of pretty much everything in PR of China, now.

You are kidding right?

[0xdeaddead]

Although this reminds of STTNG where Data tries to be a comedian.. it was ... different.

Re:You are kidding right?

[dfn5]

A Borg, A Ferenghi, and a Romulan walk into a bar...

Re:You are kidding right?

[theMerovingian]

Two of them are talking about the amount of control they have over their wives, while the Ferenghi remains quiet. After a while one of the first two turns to the third and says, "Well, what about you, what sort of control do you have over your wife?"

The Ferenghi says "I'll tell you. Just the other night my wife came to me on her hands and knees." The first two blokes were amazed. "What happened then?" they asked.

"She said, 'GET OUT FROM UNDER THE BED AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!'."

Dangerous headline..

[Propagandhi]

Joke-e-oke makes me a comedian like karaoke me a pop star. Suggesting that either of those statements are true can lead to some mind numbingly bad (but surprisingly confident) performances... especially when combined with alcohol.

Look, Ma, I'm fay-moose!

[grub]

"We live in a reality-television age where normal people see themselves as the star. Joke-e-oke shows that everyone can be a star,"

Sure, for 5 minutes. Then the reality of empty, meaningless lives hits the people when they remember they aren't famous or "stars". Aspire to be yourself, not a TV character. (see the related JE I wrote on March 15 linked in my sig)

Re:Look, Ma, I'm fay-moose!

[mmkkbb]

You know, there's a wide middle ground of emotion between being an actual star and the utter depression you describe.

Re:Look, Ma, I'm fay-moose!

[The-Bus]

That's a bit extreme. I think for most people this helps as a social icebreaker to get them to do something that they haven't done before, sort of like a trainer to help you tell jokes (as opposed to being funny*).

It's a way to kill some time or be entertained. I don't think most people will derive meaning and self-worth from being able to recycle some old Billy Crystal routine.

* Anyone who is regularly funny, for the most part, will not need a machine to want to do a joke in front of a small crowd. I like my quips in small company and have my own sense of humor. I don't know if doing someone's schtick in front of a bar is my idea of fun.

in my industry

[theMerovingian]

We aren't allowed to use scripted teleprompters in my line of work... so I secretly arranged to have an earpiece and a wireless audio receiver hidden in my jacket.

I sure fooled everyone in the audience... heehee!

~GWB

Joke-e-oke

[Neil Blender]

"Where the joke's on you."

its all in the delivery

[CmdrObvious]

as any comedian will tell you, it is all in the delivery. the material is important, but delivery is MUCH more important...

the automated heckling sounds fun, kinda like if every 20 posts on /., there was one that said "in soviet russia...." oh wait, nevermind.

Re:its all in the delivery

[ackthpt]

as any comedian will tell you, it is all in the delivery. the material is important, but delivery is MUCH more important...

I've been listening to a lot of old radio comedy shows, Jack Benny, Phil Harris, Bob Hope, Fred Allen, etc. and these were all done before a live audience, while broadcast live over radio.

They bomb, they screw up, it still leaves the audiences howling with laughter. There's something about building up to a joke or expectation on the part of the audience. These people even laughed at their own jokes and so did the audience. At least on one occasion there's like laughter as the punchline is fumbled, the audience laughs and the comedian tries again and keeps screwing up and the audience keeps laughing, even harder until the comedian fires off something like "good thing we're professionals" and finally finish the joke off. Fun to listen to, even after 60 years in some cases.

the good thing about joke-e-oke

[new death barbie]

... is if you screw up, at least nobody laughs at you

thank you, thank you, I'm here all week...

Re:Looks interesting to say the least

[mfh]

Yes!! I don't even need to be funny to look like a jackass! Built-in laugh tracks? I guess it might be entertaining to play alone.

Forget entertaining. This device will enable Slashdotters to achive higher goals on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Currently many of us are stuck at the Safety rung, but this gizmo will allow us to achive Self Actualization!

WTF

[Timesprout]

Great so now entertainment consists of a 'performer' being told what to say by a machine and that same machine telling the audience how to respond.

Re:WTF

[merlin_jim]

Great so now entertainment consists of a 'performer' being told what to say by a machine and that same machine telling the audience how to respond.

Have you watched MTV lately?

I spoke with Vanilla Ice last year about what's different about his career post prison. Basically he said that the changes were minor, he just writes and performs his own material now that he got rid of his MTV-tied-in Agent...

I've heard that most big artists have a similar career; their job is to hold the mic and look pretty. Singing ability, while a plus, is not required. Most stage musicians use an electronic device called the auto-tuner these days. Look it up; I could be an american idol with on of those babies on my mic jack.

Oh and IAAUAT (I Am An Underground Audio Technician)

Hacking the Joke-e-oke

[red_dragon]

You know the machine has been tampered with when the poor sod on the stage whips out 31 different versions of "Why did the chicken cross the road?" and the laugh track has been replaced with Nelson Muntz's "Ha ha!".

Re:Hacking the Joke-e-oke

[FidelCatsro]

You know you have masterd comedy when you can get a laugh out of a Chicken crossing the road joke .Either that or you left the NO2 running

The Free version

[DanThe1Man]

From the article:
he beta test version simply involved taping episodes of Comedy Central stand-up specials with the closed-captioning titles on. The sound would be turned down, the TV screen turned away from the audience and toward the Joke-e-oke participant, who would read the closed-captioned titles into a microphone.

So, just do that instead of wasteing your money on this stupid software. You are doing the same thing.

Re:The Free version

[Flakeloaf]

The performer takes the stage, closed captioned program in sight and begins:

SO I WEBT DOWN TO THE BAR AND I SAW M_____________Y F RIEND GEORGE. I SAID TO HIM JOE ORANGE WHAT ARE Y@U

and the rest was unintelligible amid the hail of rotten fruit.

So...

[omahajim]

Joke-e-oke no more makes me a comedian, than having an MCSE will make me a system admin.

/Grammar Nazi

[TheLetterPsy]

The grammar in that summary is a Joke-e-oke.

It's been done

[Jeremy Erwin]

Listen to the second segment from this This American Life show for a good illustration of what can go wrong.

Empty, meaningless, etc.

[sczimme]

Then the reality of empty, meaningless lives hits the people when they remember they aren't famous or "stars". Aspire to be yourself, not a TV character.

Well put. *goes off to RTFJE* Also well put.

The root cause of all this me-me-me silliness seems to be a blistering lack of self-confidence in the general populace, creating a need to conform. One might think that the extraordinary (and IMO ridiculous) efforts society puts into ensuring no one's widdle feewings are hurt might help people believe they are in fact worthwhile humans (however misguided that viewpoint might be in some cases). I guess we have inadvertently created a nation of shallow, vapid, me-mongers who need to be reassured every second that they really are unique and beautiful snowflakes. Oopsie.

My apologies - I must be wearing the cynical hat today...

I'd Choose Steven Wright

[Phat_Tony]

The more monotonous and boring the delivery is, the funnier the material seems.

Re:Grammar Police

[Feynman]

That is not a sentence.

Yes is.

Three words - - Timing is everything

[jwf24]

I head a piece on NPR's (This American Life, I think), about karaoke bars who have comedy routines in addition to the regular songs. The comedy routines were never very popular, since 1) the materal was usually crapppy and 2) It's very difficult to read a joke for the first time without knowing the punchline and time it in such a way that is comes out funny... J

More than meets the eye

[JojoLinkyBob]

Buddy Hacket, to Johnny Carson: "Ask me what the secret to comedy is."
Johnny Carson: "What's the..."
Buddy Hacket (screams): "TIMING!!"

Slashdot expansion pack?

[standsolid]

Who will be the first to write a regexp magic script to scrape all of the +5 funny comments on slashdot and feed them into this program.

It'll go over big at your next D&D gathering. But everyone would have already read/heard the jokes.

Machine runs on Windows?

[Gudlyf]

"So the parrot says to the barkeep a fatal exception 0E has occurred..."

Soon to Come -- Choke-e-oke

[Evil W1zard]

Where you can re-enact scenes from a list of famous movie and real life stranglers. A built in choke/gurgle track is added, timed perfectly to accent your strangling experience...

Re:I remember.....

[geekoid]

isn't it Dr. Forester?
The same name as the Dr. from "War of the Worlds" moovie?

should been...

[Heem]

should have been KARA-JOK-EY

SNL's one funny, classy moment in last ten years:

[wsanders]

First show after Sept 11th:

Lorne Michaels to Rudy Giuliani: "So can we start being funny again?"

Giuliani: "Why start now?"

Re:Is This Idiotic Or What?

[Koiu Lpoi]

Sure, just use Text-2-Speech on Wiki After Dark