Atlanta Stand-Ups Gather To Tell 50 First Jokes

January 8th, 2019

Comedian Brittany Dent tells a joke as a part of 50 First Jokes.

Myke Johns / WABE

Fifty comics all gathered under one roof last weekend. They each are given two minutes to tell the first joke they’ve written of 2019.

So under threat of Silly String, each comic approaches the mic for a rapid fire mixtape, if you will, of Atlanta comedy.

Material covers everything from pop culture to absurdist humor, wry observation to crowd work. In two rounds of twenty five comedians each, the stage of the Highland Ballroom is filled with a diverse—and very funny—crowd of new and established joke tellers alike.

“This is supposed to be the first time that they’re saying it out loud. They are not supposed to tell it or work on it at mics, and if they break that rule, we spray them with Silly String,” explains host and co-producer Olive Lynch.

The show, which started in New York, has been around for a decade and has since spread to cities around the country. It is produced in Atlanta by 1 Up Comedy.

“There are so many different comics who do it,” Lynch tells the audience as the show begins, “People who are just starting out their first year but are super talented, people who have specials and development deals come do this show and are willing to sit onstage for an hour to tell one joke for — and I can’t emphasize this enough — no money.”

The lineup for 50 First Jokes at the Highland Ballroom. (Myke Johns/WABE)

One of those emerging acts is a newcomer to Atlanta, Spencer Taylor. She moved here from a much smaller comedy scene.

“I was almost overwhelmed because there were so many strong comics and so many opportunities to get on-stage and so many unique shows like this one,” she said.

“I completely immersed myself in it and they’re always so welcoming and they’re so funny. That’s my favorite part: you can have such a variety of jokes and points of view and ages and we all meld together so well.”

Almost every very comic is quick to point out the diversity and camaraderie of the scene.

Here, in a small venue with the drinks flowing and the music playing, and just after the New Year, the night has the buzz of a homecoming party.

50 comedians gathered shortly after the new year to each tell one joke on stage. (Myke Johns/WABE)

Lynch said rather than having a problem finding 50 comics to participate, she actually had about twice that many people trying to get on the bill. So what is the appeal was of doing a show where you only get to tell one joke?

“To hear 49 other jokes,” Ian Aber shrugs. Aber is a stand-up and host of the podcast, “Straight People.”

“The reason comedians are comedians is you want that immediate reaction of: you wrote the joke, you tell the joke, you get a laugh… pow!” he says. “You don’t have to sell a pilot, you don’t have to have an agent.”

He said the joke he told at the show as written in the car on the way.

For Aber, 50 First Jokes is about more than just getting the laugh.

“We’re starting [the year] on a positive note,” he said. “We’re participating in something that is happening all over the country, so there’s sort of like a rash of energy in the scene, nationally. There’s a camaraderie. And I believe it is important … like, I’m gonna make new stuff this year, I’m going to be better, I’m going to achieve more.”

In that way, 50 First Jokes functions much the same way that a New Year Resolution does. And for the audience, you couldn’t ask for a better primer on what the Atlanta stand-up comedy scene is going to look like in the coming year.