WHAT CAN DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS LEARN FROM STANDUP COMEDIANS?
One quick storytelling technique to add to your repertoire
Stand-up comedians are absolutely stellar storytellers. They channel all the elements of solid storytelling, from focusing on a given theme in their set to carefully timing their delivery in every line to deliver audiences an immersive experience.
One of my favourite techniques stand-up comedians use is the callback. In this technique, the comedian references a joke they had told earlier in the set in a new way later on, quite often to close out their performance.
This technique works so well because it allows the audience to draw the connection in their mind themselves. Sometimes, they can foresee this callback coming. This little sense is pure joy to the audience, just like having an inside joke among your friends, and makes them feel like they truly “get it.”
One of the masters of the callback is Dave Chapelle, and you can see a breakdown of one of his callbacks here (foul language warning in this video!):
If you want to see this in action in a documentary film, watch All That Breathes. In that film, an early scene shows a Kite, the bird which brothers Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad fight to save each passing day in New Delhi, stealing the glasses of the head of one of the brother’s foreheads in a moment of shock and laughter.
At two points later in the film, the brothers mention the stolen glasses, which gives us, the audience, a little laugh and a bit of respite in the middle of an otherwise relatively serious film.
The filmmakers and editor could have very easily passed up the opportunity to include that scene and the callbacks in the edit, especially considering how the scene in which the glasses are stolen breaks the narrative style of the rest of the film. However, their inclusion makes the film just a bit more memorable.
While it’s not always possible to include callbacks in documentaries (especially verité docs where you’re following unfolding action), if you see the opportunity arise in the edit, consider using it. If you pull it off successfully, your audience will remember it.
How about this for a callback?
In the first paragraph, I mentioned how most standup comedians have a common theme running through their whole set. Do you want to learn more about common themes in documentary films? Download my guide, 10 common documentary themes at the link below!
(ok, I know this was objectively a pretty terrible callback, but you get the point!)