I'd assume 10-15, with the main 2 or 3 doing at least 30. I'll update when I know more, but there is no way I'm not going. Tickets prices are really nice too.
This guy starts off kinda weak but overall I think he's pretty good:
Heard greg fitzsimmons do the water fountain bit like a year or two ago. Sounded like a really close rip off (one way or the other). Don't remember if I saw him do it live or his special or his podcast though.
Edit: I remember it being said as almost verbatim from the guy's act, but longer form and he's definitely said Africa (instead of Pakistan as below), but this was a transcription from part of the bit I found:
"As Americans, we're fine, wanna know why? Water... We got a lot of it. Ever notice poor countries? Very dry... We have so much water it's a joke. We play in it, we have water parks. We squirt it down tubes and roll around in it and shoot it. We have fountains. A fountain is nothing more than us shooting fresh water into the air with our middle fingers saying "F- you! Look at all this water! We don't even need it." Then what do we do at the fountain? We take money we don't need, and throw it at the fountain.
Could you imagine a kid fresh from Pakistan coming to this country and seeing that? "What is this beautiful porcelain bowl fill with cool clean water? What do you do with this?"
Oh... Uh... We **** and piss in it. I mean, I wouldn't just **** in it if there was piss in it. I wouldn't **** it, i would flush it, get 6 fresh gallons and then **** into that. 'Cause you know, I'm not going to **** into pissy water. That's nasty. So I flush it away, bring up the fresh clean water, then boom... Or if there's a spider in it... If there's a spider in there, I'm not going to **** in it either, it could wake up, bite my ass. So... Flush it, bring up 6 fresh gallons, then **** in the fresh water...
Even in our showers we can't seem to get enough water going down the drain. It used to be 1 normal shower head. Now it's a man-hole cover blasting thousands of gallons a second then 4 other spigots hitting in different directions. Because why should you have to move in a shower?
Then we drink bottled water. But not any bottled water. Bring me water from a poor, island nation.. Fiji's water... Bring me water from there because they have very little drinking water. I want that water...."
SXSW going on reminded me of this opening to a set Rory Scovel had in Austin a few years ago. He's definitely one of my favorites to watch (and listen to on any podcast). He does of a lot in the moment stuff, but I think is really funny in general.
And if it doesn't look that bad at first, it was a tall, relatively slender, freestanding tower that's not tied down to anything.
I love him doing stuff like that, or john oliver I think where he did a german accent first, then said he was kidding around and switched to southern, but never using his actual voice.
More similarly to the climb there's also a funny clip somewhere where he's doing standup in like a terrible open hotel lobby, and at some point leaves the stage with the wireless mic and goes up the elevator and starts walking around while continuing to talk, following people into rooms and stuff.
Heard greg fitzsimmons do the water fountain bit like a year or two ago. Sounded like a really close rip off (one way or the other). Don't remember if I saw him do it live or his special or his podcast though.
I've also heard multiple routines about the "I didn't know I was pregnant" show.
My guess is that when you have 5 minutes before a national audience and your goal is to gain notoriety, there are certain topics that are so obvious that as long as you're in good standing within the community it's fair game to try and make it your own.
In 5 minutes it's fine, but I'm sure that to be a headliner you would probably need a certain percentage of the act to be your own. Maybe > 60%?
Just got back from seeing Bengt Washburn. I love these under-appreciated little guys who you just wonder why they aren't bigger. Laughed non-stop his entire set. Incredibly nice guy as well. He doesn't tour a great deal, but if he's ever in your area, be sure to check him out.
Yeh Jim Jefferies is fantastic. While I'm happy his career is taking off, I'm a bit upset he's been stolen from us (UK) by the USA, although I cant' complain - we lured him away from Australia in the first place.
I've only seen him once, at this infamous gig in Manchester a while back. I guess the tickets would be a bit more expensive now. I'd be interested to see if he's mellowed at all now he's got a kid.
I'll have to give that podcast a listen. Jefferies is definitely one of the funniest comedians I've heard when he's not being 'on'.
also fwiw a lot of comedians have serious depression issues (prolly why I'm not better at it, not nearly sad enough and parents were way too supportive and cool).