The track was first developed during the recording sessions in Fez, Morocco, but the band struggled to complete the song and it was recreated numerous times over the following 16 months.
[3] Guitarist the Edge's collaboration with Jimmy Page and Jack White on the 2009 film It Might Get Loud resulted in their influence being felt in the new guitar part.
[6] He likened "Stand Up Comedy"'s creation to the popular YouTube video Evolution of Dance, noting that it had been rewritten so many times that it was "a study in itself".
"[7] Several of the song's lyrics stem from Bono mocking his sense of hubris and his fear that his activism and campaigning will go too far, making him unable to measure up to his ideals.
[8] The lyrics "Stand up to rock stars" and "Beware of small men with big ideas" reflect this inner doubt; Bono believed that the latter line was the funniest on the album.
BBC Music's Chris Jones felt the track was a classic U2 song, calling it "a rowdy, grand gesture urging you to 'stand up for love' as only U2 can."
[13][14] Rolling Stone felt that the lyrics had "an almost hip-hop-like cadence," while calling The Edge's guitar riff a cross between The Beatles' "Come Together" and Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker".
[15] Allmusic was disappointed by the song, describing it as "hamfisted white-boy funk" and suggesting that the absence of co-writers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno was the reason it seemed "stilted.
[17] Spin believed the song was a clumsy attempt to "adopt a self-conscious Zoo TV swagger", noting that the result "exposes Bono's dodgier wordplay.