Critics who sometimes laugh at beats

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Jason Ginoman, a comedy columnist for the New York Times since 2011, happened to stumble into his role.

“It was just fortunate,” said Ginoman, a freelance theater critic for the Times, who just published a book on modern horror films, a longtime passion. “But looking back, that makes sense to me. There's a lot of theatrical elements in comedy, and there's a really great line between horror and comedy.”

Now, almost 15 years after approaching the offer to become a paper comedy critic, his beat has spread. He joined the Times Culture Desk full-time in 2022 as a critic covering films, books, plays and of course all comedies. He has since written about the political power of naked stand-up comedy, a Jewish artist wrestling with anti-Semitism and former vice president Kamala Harris' laughter.

“It's really satisfying when you can find a theme that can bring together all these different cultural threads,” Ginoman said.

In a recent interview, Zinoman looked back at the evolution of comedy over the past decade. These are excerpts from that conversation.

You are a Times comedy columnist, but you also write about theater, film, politics, and even sports. How would you describe your role as a critic as a whole?

I consider this work to be an act of translation. I want to understand, explain, contextualize and critically engage the cultural world that experts can respect, but in the way a wider New York Times audience understands.

Which do you enjoy more: Find new angles to well-known people, or introduce subjects that your readers aren't familiar with?

I'm even more pleased with writing about people no one knows. One of the great things about this beat is spending time in improvised homes and clubs and getting a sense of who will break a lot in the future. I remember seeing Hannah Gasby in this little theatre. I was like this: This will be a big part of the discourse, and it is engaged in some truly provocative ideas. I was really pleased to be the first critic to see her show in America and introduce her to readers.

At the same time, I think one of the critics' tasks is to say, “Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's good.” These people who are not in the spotlight are often some of the most talented artists.

How has the comedy landscape changed since you started covering it almost 15 years ago?

More and more artists are working on Tiktok and Instagram. For many teenagers, comedy introductions aren't mine. My first experience with comedy was not watching late-night talk shows. Their first stand-up comic will likely take part in social media. So we have to meet people where they are.

How many live comedies do you watch today?

I go out three or four times a week. When I started covering comedies, I probably went to four or five times a week, and even more clubs. I still go out a lot, but not that much. There are two reasons for this. One reason I go to the club is to see new people. If you get a sense of who is there, you don't have to go there often.

But the bigger reason is the bounty of comedians online. When I first started this job, I saw it as something like covering a theater that covers comedy. Before I wrote about anyone, I wanted to see them live. But increasingly, the way that most people consume comedy is through social media and streaming platforms. So now I'm watching comedians online and listening to podcasts.

Are you the one who laughs loudly on shows?

I struggle with the same things that most comedians do. In other words, seeing as many comedies as I do makes me laugh less. I'm not the kind of person who laughs a lot in the audience. Sometimes it makes me self-conscious. Because if I'm in a room with very few people, if no one laughs it will have a big impact. So I've noticed that sometimes I'm falsely lying to the room not to warp it or feel it's almost rude. But I'm trying to be honest with the laughter.

Do you think you're a funny person?

I don't think of myself as an entertainer-level entertainer, but I think my sense of humor is fine. I'm not interested in doing comedy. That was one thing I knew when I got to work. I would never write a story that I would try to stand up, and I realized: Ah, that's difficult. I'm not going to do that again.

Comedians work. I have mine. They are completely different.