Hi, I'm Iliza Shlesinger, a comedian,

and today we're going to be doing an experiment

in Zoom.

There we are!

So we're gonna have a bunch of people

who are waiting in a Zoom waiting room.

I don't know who these people are.

I haven't seen them.

They don't know that I'm here.

But these people are gonna come in with their acts,

their material, whatever they've cobbled together,

and they're gonna perform it for me and you,

here in Zoom.

They have 20 seconds, and I'll tell you why they're funny

or why they're not funny, and hopefully,

you guys are gonna learn some things about comedy

along the way.

All right, let's do this.

[energetic drumbeat]

- All right, Gianmarco, you can go into the main room.

First person's coming in Iliza.

- All right.

[chime]

- Well, hello, oh!

- It's starting!

- Hi!

I'm Italian, and we do a lot of hugging,

we kiss each other goodbye, we used to at least.

And my roommate who is not Italian,

when he first saw my dad and I kiss, he was just like,

"Ew, do you kiss your dad in public?"

And I was like, "Yeah, you know what would be weird?

"If I only kissed him in private."

[Iliza laughs]

- Good!

[chime]

- He had a good premise.

- I'm Italian, we do a lot of hugging,

we kiss each other goodbye.

- He had a good set up.

- Do you kiss your dad in public?

- And he had good timing,

so I was waiting for that punchline.

- And I was like, yeah, you know what would be weird?

If I only kissed him in private.

- Plus the second he said he's Italian, I was like

this could either be really hacky,

or it's one I hadn't heard before.

All right, next one.

[chime]

All right, hit that clock!

- Hey, I just want people to be better at racism.

That's pretty much all I want.

If you're gonna be racist to me,

don't just call me a terrorist, that's very lazy.

I'd be a terrible terrorist.

I can't keep a secret.

That's a really [beep]ing important part of terrorism.

You got a couple drinks in me,

I'll tell you anything you wanna know.

If I was a terrorist,

I would've screwed everything up September 8th.

I would've ruined the whole thing.

- It was too much set up.

- If you're gonna be racist to me,

don't just call me a terrorist, that's very lazy.

I'd be a terrible terrorist.

- If you say to me from the beginning, like,

"If you're gonna be racist, don't be lazy about it"

Then I'm dying to hear, I'm like,

how are white people lazy about it?

But, he didn't stay in the pocket.

He set up all of these things.

And then the payoff was like a pff.

- If I was a terrorist,

I would've screwed everything up September 8th.

- Like barely at the end.

Look, this isn't easy.

Having a timer in your face, ticking down,

is not normal and it adds pressure and it adds stress.

But that is a huge part of being a stand-up comic,

and that's why we've put it here.

[chime] Hello there.

- Hi!

- Hi.

You have 20 seconds to impress me.

- So originally I submitted a video

talking about how I've been low key thriving

throughout the quarantine,

but then yesterday my internet went out for 20 minutes

and I literally thought the world was ending,

but then when it didn't,

I immediately tried to buy crochet needles online,

but then I couldn't,

because my bank account was in the negative,

so instead I just gave myself bangs and I started crying.

[Iliza laughs]

- That's funny, that's funny!

A big part of comedy is seeing something

that's bright and shiny and awesome,

and then watching it unravel.

Whether it's Chris Farley as Matt Foley starting off okay

and then smashing into a coffee table,

or somebody starting off great like in Trading Places,

and then descending into being a total homeless mess.

For her, she started with--

- I've been low key thriving throughout the quarantine.

- Which was a lie,

and then we watched one bad thing beget the next.

- But then yesterday, my internet went out for 20 minutes.

- And then we wanted to see, how's our character,

how's our hero gonna get herself out of it?

- So instead I just gave myself bangs and I started crying.

- What isn't funny is her redeeming herself, and being like,

"And in the end, I made a million dollars"

What is funny is seeing how she makes it even worse

by being like "And then I cut my own bangs,"

which is crazy, but relatable,

because every girl has done it.

[chime]

- Someone just told me to go back to where I come from,

which is very weird, because I'm just white and gay,

which means that this guy thinks there's a country

where gay people come from, which means,

he knows about Canada.

- That's funny.

It's been done before, the go back to where you come from,

and then they say "Why, that's an insane thing

to say to a person."

So we're taking racism and turning it on its ear.

- Which is very weird, because I'm just white and gay.

- The Canada is gay joke has been around forever,

so for me, what worked was the delivery.

- Which means he knows about Canada.

- A big part of comedy is saying things

that have been said before, but in a new way.

So while it wasn't the most revelatory joke,

he had a fun delivery.

And funny is funny.

[energetic drumbeat]

- Hey everybody it's your man Steve Harvey.

- Steve Harvey!

- Now even though we are quarantined right now,

you gotta look fly.

And that's why I had my wife put an extra button

on my suit here, so I look extra fly for the--

Aw damn.

Y'all can see I ain't wearing no damn pants.

Goddamn it,

where the hell's the button to turn this shit off?

- The key to what made that funny was simplicity.

We've all seen Steve Harvey impressions.

Kenan does them on SNL really well.

This guy, the second I saw him, I saw the thick mustache,

and the bald head, and the suit, I was like,

that's Steve Harvey, the m%ustache lets you know that,

and it was simple.

- Hey everybody it's your man Steve Harvey.

- [Iliza] We all know Steve Harvey

wears a lot of buttons on his suits.

- That's why I had my wife put an extra button

on my suit here.

- [Iliza] And to be honest,

I was so distracted by the buttons,

I didn't even realize he wasn't wearing pants.

- Aw damn.

Y'all can see I ain't wearing no damn pants.

- So that was a nice little tag at the end.

It's simple, it's easy, he nailed it, and that was that.

It's math.

Okay, what's next.

[chime]

[Bert moans]

[increasingly frenzied squealing]