A prop that visibly transforms mid-performance can carry a comedy act

Evidence

During the first commercial break, we made quick changes into our costumes. Under my taffeta formal, I wore an actual Maiden Form quilted corset and stuffed the bra cups with tissues, increasing my double Ds to triple Ds. When it was my turn, I took the stage like a pro and began to sing and drip, and drip and sing. “It’s wilting the quilting in my Maiden Form and mascara flows all down my nose because of the storm.” As I sang, I plucked the tissues out from my bra, one by one, to wipe the running mascara off my cheeks. “I don’t even have my corsage, oh gee! It fell down a sewer with my sister’s ID.” As my cup size diminished I had Rip Taylor, the judges, and the audience in stitches. — Dolores DeLuce, Blow Jobs, 22

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: small visible transformations as the engine of comic performance — a craft essay on how physical props breaking mid-act create laughter.
• XREF: connects to: Conceptual art made performers follow absurd instructions in public — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York…, 190; A live act that visibly falls apart can be the winning act — Dolores DeLuce, Blow Jobs: A Guide to Making It in Show…, 22

Related

• A live act that visibly falls apart can be the winning act (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• A live act that visibly falls apart can be the winning act #exemplifies (0.82) — Dolores DeLuce, Blow Jobs, 22
• Conceptual art made performers follow absurd instructions in public #expands (0.72) — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 190