Commentary
What stand-up in Yerevan says about Armenia — and us
There is a specific kind of loneliness in being the only person in a crowded room who doesn’t get the joke. For years, my relationship with Armenian humor was defined by a three-second lag. Hearing a joke, I would frantically try to bridge the gap between the words I knew and the heavy cultural shorthand I didn’t: the local references, the neighborhood slang and those specific societal frustrations that an outsider can't simply study. To be a diasporan in Yerevan is often to live in that del
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Your stand-up experience mirrors mine from two years ago at another venue. The locals (and one visiting European who was allegedly an actual comedian) all relied on the same lazy tropes and bawdy humor that wouldn’t be out of place in a middle school, but only in a middle school. It reflects for me a degree of stunted growth when it comes to being more sophisticated in the kind of humor and comedic risks they’d take. The only guy who was funny, and he was really funny, was a visiting Iranian who was trying it out on a whim. He used his experience of being a fish out of water in Armenia to make light of his experience and it was truly well done. I hope with practice the local comedians can grow out their own stale attempts at humor.
You don’t know what VSYO means in Armenian?? What’s the matter with you? :)