Stand-up is a comedic art form that is openly devoted to getting and receiving laughs from an audience above any other component of the form (unlike theatrical comedy, which creates comedy within the structure of a play and with character and situation). The skills attributed to being a stand-up comic are diverse; it is often necessary for a solitary stand-up comic to simultaneously assume the roles of a writer, editor, performer, promoter, producer, and technician. One test of a master stand-up comedian is the ability to not only face down a "heckler", but win over and entertain the rest of the crowd with a retort. Many stand-up comedians work for years to get 45 minutes of material, and usually perform their bits over and over, slowly perfecting them over time. Actor and comedian Will Ferrell has called stand-up comedy hard, lonely and vicious.