Dec

31

I recommend the Jerry Seinfeld documentary “The Comedian” for explaining the hard work of comedy. It is great because consumers of comedy (and movies) don’t realize the complex distillation, the months of reworking and practice, that goes into each minute of stand-up comedy.

And every other industry is about the same. Consumers benefit from this distillation combined with division of labor, and each product and service around us embodies hundreds or thousands of hours of design and development work (work that has value only if consumers approve).

Each good and service tends to require a much smaller slice of manufacturing labor. So once Seinfeld finishes thousands of hours and months of development on his stand-up routine, millions can enjoy the routine on cable or TV, and similarly once the thousands of hours of design and development work are finished and tested for a MacBook or iPod, millions of identical copies can be manufactured with very little human labor expended per unit.

Technology brings great progress for computers as well as comedy.


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3 Comments so far

  1. Gary Rogan on December 31, 2009 1:25 am

    There is a gradual trend in the developed countries where anything that can be mass-produced is getting cheaper relative to anything requiring an unpredictable human intervention. You can look at the cost of health care relative the cost of electronic goods as an extreme example of that. Sooner or later this differentiation will become unsustainable, and perhaps it already has. And sooner or later great fortunes will flow to those who will find ways to take the cost out of the unpredictable. The old idea of insurance was a way to spread those costs, and now there is no choice but to reduce them, either through rationing (forced or market based) or more interesting creative approaches. I have little doubt that in some distant future flexible reconfigurable systems will take human intervention out of unpredictable events, but today mass production and globalization, combined with global labor cost differentiation are straining the system to the breaking point.

  2. Steve on December 31, 2009 8:47 am

    Somdetimes this site amazes me. Just when I thought we have explored every avenue of analogies to markets and trading another analogy come forward and rears its head.

    Here is my offering

    1) material. A comedian is alone on stage for 45 minutes. That means that they must have lots and lots of material at hand to deliver. Much planning and preparation must go into the process until they are ready for prime time.

    2) Hard work. One does not become successful overnight. Years and years of traveling the local spots grinding it out night after night. Plenty of airport lounges along the way.

    3) dedication. Many days and nights alone traveling and staying in hotels.

    4) Temptations. Pitfalls along the way. Alcohol, drugs, sexual liasons all are out there.

    5) Pressure. Imagine traveling and having a spouse and children back home that you have not seen for a week.

    6) Competition. Fierce and numerous. Plenty are seeking the limelight of great success of a Seinfeld or Steve Martin. There is just so much room at the top. Even Seinfeld’s first year and Cheers’ first year were in great jeopardy of cancellation.

    7) Income. initially the money is slow and sparse. expenses are high so financial management and survival is critical.

    8) Discipline. Sticking with a craft through the difficult times. Even the greats fall off the screen. When was the last time you saw Gary Shandling. or Paul Reiser.

    9) Adaptation. Peoples mood are changing and to remain successful one must be current. Don Rickles has been successful for over 50 years. Plenty of retooling and remanufacturing along the way.

    10) Style. Each artist has their own particular style that worked for them. Redd Foxx, Moms Mabley, Rickles, Pryor, Bruce, Skelton, Dangerfield, Martin, Sinbad, Murphy, Dice Clay, Larry the Cable Guy All developed their own unique format to fit their personality.

    Timing. All the years and dedication, preparation and long suffering comes down to the big break when Johnny Carson, or Jay Leno “discovers you.” and your career explodes. Overnight success in comedy as in many other professions are years in the making.

    Cheers.

  3. Jeff Watson on December 31, 2009 9:53 am

    This post reminds me of the great story, I Pencil. Just as a lot of work goes into a comedy sketch, so it does for something simple as a pencil.

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