Why must we endure stand ups at a theatre festival?

One of the delights of our coverage of the Fringe Festival is that – rather than just arguing with each other all the time – there are more people for Alex and me to squabble with. (A quick note to the Higher Windows people, Alex was never even at the show. He was downing banana splits at DQ – his weakness, hence the weight issues.)

For my part, I’ve had to endure the wrath of a comedian who thinks it’s transgressive to play Jesus and a zombie in the same show. You’re not in Red Deer anymore, whatever your name is. This is the big city. We have Jesus parties here all the time and evoke the undead every weekend. And, we’re funny when we’re doing it to boot.

Still, my temerity of saying that I find most stand ups dull seemed to upset some people but I left an even more important question unasked. Why is a festival started and supported by the theatre community (and theatre funding) infested with stand ups in the first place? Don’t they have their own festival? And isn’t it starting this weekend? Would the stand up fans at that Festival appreciate it if I booked in Alex performing my new 6 hour adaption of Hamlet (which involves Alex pacing back and forth saying “What should I do? What should I do?” before stabbing himself)?

Why do we have to endure boring comedians from Alberta when we could be sitting through boring two handers from Alberta instead? This is what I want answers to.