These sketches were a good match for Hodgson, who began his career as a prop comic; indeed, many of the inventions were items originally found in his standup act.

Or performing your standup act in front of the most self-conscious crowd ever assembled, people who look as if they wish they could text their publicists to ask whether they should laugh at the last joke or not.

On April 1, 2007, Stone appeared with the Family Stone at the Flamingo Las Vegas Showroom, after George Wallace's standup act.

Even next to New England Coach Bill Belichick, hardly a standup act, Reid could have put a classroom of kindergartners to sleep.

"Rather than do a standup act as Ian, I wanted to enhance the character by putting him in a dramatic situation," Mr. Kessler said the other day.

In that episode, Floorwax is shown at the tournament banquet doing his standup act, which consisted of fish voices, doughnut eating, and a Vicki Carr reference.

The 50-year-old actor rose to fame as a "Saturday Night Live" castmember and became best known for his edgy standup act and R-rated action-comedy flicks like "48 Hrs."

The Cosby Show was based on comedy routines in Cosby's standup act, which were based on his family life.

The DVD also includes samples of Mr. Jeremy's standup act.

As Ansari refines his standup act, his main task is to make sure that the rude vigor of Randy is ever present, and never dominant.