Here’s a video of Blink-182 in concert at Big Day Out 2000. I’d like to point out a couple of things.

First, I don’t think snark and cynicism generally pair well with the project of live popular rock. The adolescent audience is surrounded by that shit everyday. They go to a live rock show to escape all that by being in close proximity to men who do and say what they hell they want, when the hell they want. The boring masses of workaday adults generally use snark and cynicism to shield their true emotions and aspirations from endless assault dished out by the rest of the masses of boring adults who have given up. At a rock show, we’d like to escape all that nonsense, even if true escape may just be a fantasy.

So my general rule would be to avoid snark and cynicism like the plague. That said, however, you can see here how confidence and authenticity can make Blink’s snarky, (falsely) self-deprecating jokes and banter work great for them.

So if self-deprecating is your shtick, by all means run with it, but unless it some how captures the authentic essence of your best self in a compelling way, that shit will just bomb mercilessly when the 10 people in your dive bar audience silently agree with you and think, “Yeah, this guy in front of us is pathetic. Barkeep, turn on the TV so we can see Channing Tatum or Ryan Reynolds prance around in a movie.”

I think that there is a self-limiting nature to how far snark and cynicism can take a rock band. When I think of snark and cynicism, two bands that come to mind are Blink-182 and Steel Panther. These bands are hugely successful, but they always seem to take second billing to earnest bands. At the very top level of success, at the major festivals you’ll have Blink-182 and Steel Panther playing during the daylight, and earnest bands like Muse and Aerosmith headlining. Even Blink’s pop-punk contemporaries Sum 41 seem to end up with better billing. Both are fun bands with a few major hits and clever, humorous song lyrics. The only major difference I can discern is that Blink is snarky and Sum is earnest.

The upshot is that if snark is the only thing you can do well, run with it as far as you can, but if you are able to do earnest, stick with that, as you’ll have a much longer runway in front of you.

So we have a rule (avoid snark) with a pretty major exception (Blink, Steel Panther, et al do snark to the adoration of millions), so stay tuned for some refinements of the theory. Consider this food for thought on the topic of sarcasm on the stage.

Back to Blink’s banter: I qualify their self-deprecation as “false” because to any observer’s subconscious lizard brain, these men are obviously among the top alphas anywhere, skillfully and successfully commanding the attention and love of thousands of emotional adolescents. So maybe part of the reason the snark works is that we all know that the self deprecation is really just evidence of a top alpha man being munificent, pretending to be just like the rest of us for our entertainment only.

Second, notice how the guys are wearing what amounts to a uniform. Each has long baggy cargo shorts, canvas sneakers and visible tube socks. Sure, there are different colors and t-shirt logos, but in essence they are all wearing the same thing. This visually communicates to the audience that this band is a united gang, and deep down in our lizard brains, we all love a gang. I think the subconscious psychology is a mixture of two basic emotions, greed and fear. Greed: “I would have more great things in my life if I were a part of that gang!” and fear: “It would be dangerous to piss off humans working together like that gang!”

Finally, as Mark and Tom trade witty scatological insults with each other, both of them are implementing improv’s “yes, and…”thinking and pickup artists’ “agree and amplify” strategy to great effect. The thrust of both concepts is to accept the logic and implications of whatever your verbal sparring partner says, no matter how ridiculous, and take it to the next logical step, in as dramatic and humorous direction as you can.

Generalizations of rules effective behaviors:

• Excessive, superfluous physical movement showing off power and stamina
• Let shine the authentic essence of your best self in a compelling way
• Snark and cynicism are probably not a good idea.
• Very simple humor is probably a good idea.
• Band members should wear a uniform that doesn’t consciously register as such
• Band as a gang
• “Yes, and…” and “agree and amplify” as banter strategies