Front-facing camera comedy is a comedic genre filmed on the front-facing camera of smartphones in which performers deliver in-character monologues while directly facing the camera, sometimes playing multiple roles.
Early iterations of front-facing camera comedy went viral on Vine in the early 2010s, and now frequently appear on TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram.
[1] Notable practitioners include Cole Escola,[2] Chloe Fineman,[3] and Megan Stalter,[1] the latter of whom has referred to the genre as "solo improv".
While it has become a defining form for some comedians, others use it to workshop material that will eventually be polished for use on more traditional platforms.
[5][6] In March 2020, New York Times critic Jason Zinoman declared it "the dominant comedy form" of the pandemic.