Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Morril liked the flourish, so he sent the cut to a friend to get a second opinion.

I dont like that.
It reminds me of Instagram, he remembers his friend saying.
Thats why Idolike it, he countered.
All of them post multiple crowd-work clips per week that look exactly the same.
Morril follows up by asking what the person is drinking, and they reply, I thirst for justice.
The clip has racked up over 2 million views on TikTok.
This is just like an interview.
I dont care if its funny, she jokes.
The clip has been viewed 608,500 more times than Daviss second-most-watched Instagram Reel.
It has over 5.7 million views on Twitter.
The jury is not out on the effectiveness of this strategy.
In April, he postedan Instagram videobreaking down his approach to editing a stand-up clip from start to finish.
Meanwhile, L.A.-based comedianJoey Averysays he invests between 15 and 20 hours into making clips each week.
I didnt get into stand-up to be a full-time video editor, but here we are, he says.
Be sure to catch me on my No Crowdwork Whatsoever tour this fall.Sit in the front, introverts.
I will leave you the fuck alone.
Comedy clubs are not the last bastion of free speechThey are instagram-traps for comedians getting crowd work clips.
In 3 years, a 12-year-old will tell me they want to do comedy.
Ill say, tell me a joke.
And theyll respond, ok, what do you do for work?
and Who has a job?
Do you like it?
Is it a good job?
he asks, unable to heighten the interaction for laughs.
All right, thats my time, he says abruptly, ending his set.
Dude, you look like an undercover cop, he says, getting a huge laugh from the audience.
Howd you know I was an undercover cop?
he says, punching Weinberg and pushing him up against the wall.
Whos your fucking source?!
Hes of two minds about the current trend.
It was this extremely in-your-face, performative crowd interaction, he says.
There was no backbone of an act to it.
And rather than help comedians succeed in clubs, in some cases, these clips are actually hurting them.
Today, stand-up videos and podcasts hosted by comedians are inescapable parts of the media landscape.
Im probably a hypocrite, she concludes.
None of these criticisms are lost on the comics whove adopted this model, either.
But he acknowledges the reality that comedians in 2022 are content creators who most feed the insatiable beast.
Ive often said the demand for content is killing comedy.
But Id rather not sink.