The writer mentions Kilduff is a 'trained comedian'. Is that really something you can go to school and study? To me it came off as implying that was superior to being an untrained comedian.
> He also trained with famed sketch comedy troupe the Groundlings (past alumni include Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig) and studied improv at Los Angeles City College.
The "Groundlings" homepage [2] describes them as a "non-profit organization that offers shows, classes, and corporate events in improvisation and sketch comedy*, while LACC offers some courses through the Rodney Dangerfield Institute [3].
So while there doesn't seem to be an "M.Sc. in comedy" you can learn it at some institutions, as long as you're willing to move to LA.
[1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/mr-lets-paint-is-the-most-in...
[3] https://www.lacc.edu/academic-programs/rodney-dangerfield-in...
This is the foundation that somewhat undercuts the message that failure is OK if not requisite.
That is, the latest YouTube episode of Let’s Paint TV, “Come to the promiseland”, is a chaotic performance piece that doesn’t “succeed” at painting (none is attempted), there are no actors other than Kilduff (except in digital post), the speech is improvisatory and halting, and the “music” is discordant. [0]
According to criteria of elite artistic production, “Come to the promiseland” is a “failure”. But judged as a spoken word performance piece that takes a wry look at the disappointments experienced by people who look to a “promiseland”, the performance is pure comedy gold, all the more successful due to its low-fi glitch-art aesthetics.
School can teach you a lot about how not to make big mistakes, that given, its up to you to figure out how to go up from there.
Ha ha.
I do believe that humor and being funny can be learned, and thus taught. Everything from language structure, pacing, expectations (eg the listener builds an expectation or belief of what the comedian talks about, but in the last few words, it is revealed that you were completely wrong). Hm. I find I have a hard time expressing myself, I lack the words and terminology and frameworks I think...