"Hot Breakdown is an analysis of sets performed by Hot Breath! guests and used as a tool to help comics master the art of comedy."
- Allen-Michael Harber | Staff Writer
Mark Normand is a joke singling comedian who machine guns punchlines while talking about any subject. Recently, he just did another episode of This is Not Happening and told a story about how he and his teenage friends were knocking off mirrors on cars and they were chased by an angry Asian man. In this Breakdown we see what makes this routine from TNH, one of the best they’ve had.
At the beginning of the set, Mark Normand tells the crowd that he is the bad guy in the story. He addresses the fact that in comedy you’re supposed to be likable, but he knows that in this story he’s in the wrong. This self-awareness immediately draws you in and makes you wonder what he’s going to talk about. Despite being the bad guy, you are on Normand’s side for pretty much the entire routine and it’s because he endears and humbles himself. He knows he was an idiot kid, but the fact that he addresses this and tells you this story allows you to enter his mind and realize he’s not that bad. This is compounded by the fact that by the end of the story you realize that his degree of bad was nowhere near close to the Asian guy who ends up in jail by the end of the story.
Technique-wise there a few things at play. The first is his repetition in describing the Asian man. He uses the line “Asian, must have been (blank).” This repetition brings the routine around multiple times and reinforces that Mark is an idiot teenager. He is ignorant to the actual Asian country this man is in and keeps making guesses. He also uses specific Asian ethnicities like Mongolian or Korean, which are seen as stereotypically angry people, again fueling the teenage ignorance.
Next is how he tells the story. His tempo changes as he goes. In the beginning he’s slow and gives the audience a chance to get to know his perspective. Then as the chase begins, he talks in a hurried and panicked voice which helps take you on the journey.
Also, instead of just telling you what happens he acts out every step of the story. He shows you how he hit the mirror of the shoe, he mimes the angry man, including his ponytail and unlike other episodes of This Is Note Happening, he doesn’t just tell the story, he makes it a performance.
Mark Normand’s performance here is all about likability, even when you’re the bad guy of the story. How does he do that? He makes himself the bad guy, but he makes you realize he already knows this. Everything that happens to him in this story, he already knows he deserves. In the end he’s making fun of himself, and he’s allowing the audience to do so as well. Self-deprecation is a comedy basic, but by telling this story he brings the audience along and everyone enjoys the ride.