Psy Paper

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Stand-up comedians are a vocational group with unique characteristics: unlike virtually other entertainers with high creative abilities, they both invent and manage their own work, and audience feedback (laughter or derision) is instantaneous. In this study, the Big quin character traits (NEOFFI-R) of 31 professional trick out comedians were compared to those of nine unpaid comedians, 10 humor writers and 400 college students. All four groups showed identical neuroticism levels. Professional stand-up comedians were similar to amateur stand-up comedians in most respects. However, compared to college students, professional and amateur stand-up comedians on average showed signi?cantly high openness, and lower conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness. Compared to stand-up comedians, buffoonery writers showed higher openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness. These results challenge the stereotype of comedians as neurotic extraverts, and suggest a discrepancy between their stage persona and their true personality traits. Ã" 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.





Article history: standard 20 November 2008 Received in revised form 21 January 2009 Accepted 28 January 2009 Available online 5 March 2009 Keywords: Humor Stand-up comedy Performing arts Personality

1. Introduction Comic performers such as jesters, clowns, and story-tellers have always been popular throughout history and crosswise cultures (Apte, 1985; Nilsen & Nilsen, 2000). In the modern US, live comic performers usually do stand-up comedy, which developed from the American traditions of burlesque and vaudeville, and featured humorous humor, clowning, impressions, and ridicule (Nilsen & Nilsen, 2000; Wickberg, 1998). Stand-up comedy increased in overcome and sophistication throughout the 20th century to become a popular form of entertainment in the past ?fty years. It forthwith represents the most competitive, public, high-risk, high-gain form of...If you want to get a unspoilt essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



If you want to get a full essay, wisit our page: write my essay .