There are only a handful of stand-up comedians whose approach to the genre has been transformative, among them, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, Rodney Dangerfield, and more recently Nate Bargatze and Leanne Morgan. Pryor revolutionized modern day storytelling. Carlin was a master wordsmith. Seinfeld took observation comedy to new heights. Dangerfield morphed his tag line into a career of one-liners. Bargatze and his signature pauses elevated the art of self-deprecation, and Leanne Morgan is proving that women everywhere can identify with a mom from the South. And just when we thought there was no more new comedy ground to break, Andy Huggins appears on the scene.
Huggins is the Rodney Dangerfield of geriatrics. Rodney built his entire act from one premise and so too has Andy. For Dangerfield it was, “I get no respect”. For Huggins it is, “It’s tough getting old.” I can relate to Andy’s comedy. He is 75 years old and I’m nearly 72. But his brand of humor also makes young people laugh out loud. Just take a look at his act on Youtube and you’ll see why his universal appeal is going viral.
Andy is funny because of his material and his delivery. His pauses before the joke line are as artful as Bargatze’s, and his one-liners are not one-dimensional. They aren’t just about his age, rather they are commentaries on current trends.
“As far as social media goes, you can follow me on the bulletin board at Kroger’s”.
“I’m not on Twitter, but I will stop people on the street and tell them shit they’re not interested in.”
Those kinds of jokes point to what happens when we age, but they also poke fun at the absurdity of our reliance on posting and sharing every thought that comes into our head.
Andy also makes fun of phrases and trends that inhabit our politically correct world.
“I have an inner child, but I don’t think it’s mine.”
“I’m woke…for about another five hours.”
“I took a quiz on Facebook called, ‘What’s your spirit animal?’ I got ‘Extinct’”.
“I’m 75 years old and life expectancy for a man is 76. Life expectancy for a woman is 81. I figure if I transition…”
Earlier this year Andy signed on to do his first comedy special which can be seen on Apple TV and Prime Video. Yet despite his meteoric rise to fame, Andy is not an overnight success. He has been performing stand-up for 40 years. Asked by NPR’s Scott Simon about developing an act around his advanced age, Huggins said, “It’s what I know better than anything at the moment. I write what I’m familiar with, and age is inescapable. Age is a fact of life”
It’s also a fact that audiences love Andy’s brand of humor. And, thanks to the internet and a plethora of streaming services, he’s reaching more and more people every day. “It’s so deeply satisfying”, he told Simon. “So deeply reassuring that I’ve got a useful purpose while I’m still alive.”
Truth is, none of us knows how much time we have left, yet we hope that we can make the most of it and somehow make a lasting contribution. Young Andy Huggins has done that in a big way.
“A couple of Saturdays ago, before I went onstage, I asked the club manager, ‘How much time do I have?’ He said, ‘Can’t be much.’”
