Comedians: Groucho Marx, Carol Burnett, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Nelson, and Robert Townsend

Comedians: Groucho Marx, Carol Burnett, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Nelson, and Robert Townsend

Captains of Comedy
Comedians typically have the same intentions; to entertain a crowd by making them laugh. The style by which a comedian entertains his or her audience can be classified as either situational comedy, often called sitcom, or stand up comedy. Situational comedy is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing an environment and usually has a humorous dialogue. In today’s age, most sitcoms are televised. On the other hand, stand up comedy is a genre of comedy in which a comedian performs before a live audience. The American comedians Groucho Marx, Carol Burnett, Rodney Dangerfield, Robert Townsend, and Bob Nelson can be classified into these two categories.
Groucho Marx, born Julius Henry Marx, was a famous comedian in the 1900’s. His style of entertainment was mostly situational comedy, however, he has done a few live performances. Marx is well known for his trademark; a mustache, thick eyebrows, glasses and a cigar. After viewing a few of his performances, I noticed that he tends to tell personal stories and then adds a bit of humor. Perhaps this is Marx’s shtick. Likewise, Carol Burnett’s style of entertainment was also situational comedy. She is well known for her program The Carol Burnett Show, which first aired in 1967. Her shtick was an unusual facial expression, which boosted her humorous character.
Furthermore, Rodney Dangerfield was a stand up comedian. He is best known for his routine “I get no respect.” Dangerfield has also starred in a few hit comedy films such as Caddyshack in 1980 and Back to School in 1986. His routine generally consists of one-liners and humourous stories that involve himself. Moreover, Bob Nelson began his comedian career by opening shows for Rodney Dangerfield for quite some time. When performing, Nelson’s shtick includes using props and impersonating characters.
Finally, very similar to Rodney Dangerfield is Robert Townsend. Townsend...

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