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In one performance posted to YouTube, Williams addresses the interpreter as though he is an exotic carnival act.
Facing the interpreter in anticipation of his inevitable next sign, Williams burps, Blow me.
The interpreter does his job, and the audience laughs atthe interpreter, constrained under lingual subjugation.
Then, Williams gratuitously adds, What a great fucking night, imitating the interpreters hand gestures.
He says the interaction is fast becoming likeDeliverancewith Helen Keller.
Such a bit, caked with condescension, might play well with many showgoers, particularly the hearing ones.
But ASL interpreters themselves may not be so charmed by a comedian breaking the deaf audiences fourth wall.
Prior to showtime, Lorenti-Wann pleads with stand-ups shes working with not to interact with her during their set.
Theyll just [say], How do you sayfuck?
How do you sayshit?
How do you saymotherfucking shit?
Everybody thinks its funny except the interpreter.
She remembers one comedian who went so far as to lick the bald head of an interpreter she knows.
That requires hours of dedicated preparation beyond baseline sign-language fluency.
Youve got to give them an experience; you cant just give them access, she explains.
(Her ASL comedy interpreting resume includesJohn Mulaney,Leslie Jones, andSebastian Maniscalco.)
Joke timing, so vital to the comedian, is executed in ASL in various ways.
When they bring it down, and put up a new sign, theyve manufactured a beat.
The interpreter doesnt want to look bad; I dont want to look bad, Callaway says.
I want to verify that [the routine] has the most impact on the hearing audience.
Wann ran a bit in which he was a child playing hide-and-seek with his disinterested father.
The hearing audience at the show roared at the unintentional pun, made more profound by its lethargic delivery.
Not anticipating a laugh at that point, Wann stopped the performance to ask the interpreter what hed said.
It just seemed like I would be failing completely.
I would have way rather done anything else than a stand-up show.
Kasher chooses not to engage with ASL interpreters very often, but that doesnt mean hes completely against it.
Ive been doing that kind of thing since I was a little kid, he says.
Anytime theres weird tension in the room …
I think it creates this spicy environment.
Invariably they say yes, and hell hand the interpreter his microphone and begin signing his fairly blue act.
The interpreters minds are blown, the audiences minds are blown.
Its always a lot of fun, he says.
She didnt respond and simply signed what he said to the crowd.
Once he understood that she wouldnt address him, he wished her a good show.
She stopped and looked at me, and then the place went crazy, he says.
Kreischer says his wife also admonished him for the trick, and he wrote an apology to the interpreter.
Months later, he found out that Northeastern had sent word to other colleges suggesting they not book him.
It fucked me up.
I felt like such a bad person, Kreischer says.
Then I learned from my fuck-up.
I was so fucking moved, he says.
Kreischer told the crowd the Northeastern story, and again, it got laughs.
