Sort of comedians that don’t crack you up

I’ve never laughed at stand up, from anyone. I think it’s something about someone standing on a stage with the sole intention of showing off how funny they are. Just fucks it for me.

Have you been to a comedy/cabaret club to watch it, or just seen it on TV?. On TV it can look like that, but live it's different. Some comedians will always come across like that, in any setting, but in live performance it's much more interactive, even if the performer isn't one of the more coversational ones, because a good comic is sensing how the audience reacts and building on it. And they have twenty minutes or more to do this. So a good stand-up performance is one where the performer keeps some control, but isn't just lecturing the audience.

If the stage is in an actual theatre, this adds some distance but it can still be like that. TV, on the other hand, puts you outside that shared experience. TV doesn't make stand-up look good. There's a whole class of comedians who are great live and just don't do at all well on TV (e.g. Tim Vine) and others who had to fundamentally change their performance for TV; Harry Hill in a club is a much more intelligent and subtle performer than he is on TV.

Hecklers, now, they're mostly the insufferable assholes who see the comedian the way you describe, and get so upset that somebody else is the centre of attention that they eventually have to interfere.

You don't often hear people saying "Bloody musicians, thinking they can stand on stage with the sole intention of showing off how musical they are." I suppose most people realise they're not as talented as the peformer, when it comes to music. Seems not to be the case for a significant number of people when it comes to comedy.