Arthur's stand-up show was a huge success. Before the opening ceremony performance had even ended, clips had already been reposted over a thousand times across major websites. Many renowned comedy critics praised his unique sense of rhythm, especially in the storytelling portions.
In fact, stand-up comedy was not entirely about telling funny jokes. Some people watching translated foreign stand-up routines might wonder why a particular bit was not funny, perhaps assuming it was due to cultural differences. But that was not actually the case.
Stand-up comedy came in many forms. Some leaned heavily into comedy and simply aimed to make people laugh. Some used humorous elements to allude to issues of race and social systems, while others were outright mockery.
The hardest part of stand-up was not writing short jokes, but weaving many humorous bits together under a shared theme so they did not feel too scattered.
Writing a complete, coherent long-form story was enough to make any stand-up comedian or scriptwriter tear their hair out. You could not expect stand-up audiences to have the same patience as audiences watching Shakespeare plays. Their expectations were different.
Someone watching a Shakespeare play might have spent an entire week relaxing and preparing for a spectacular performance. They would not miss a single detail of an actor's expression and would fully immerse themselves in the grand production. To them, it was a drain rather than a recharge.
But a stand-up audience might simply have gotten off work on the weekend, found no good TV show to watch, and casually bought a ticket to hear some jokes. Their brains were barely functioning. They expected the comedian to restore their energy. They were irritated and hungry.
That meant they could not follow any long-running story. Do not expect them to remember what the comedian had