When you look back at the likes of those who were on The Comedians, you watched and went into work the next day and shared the joke with colleagues at work. They were jokes. Not related to each other, just jokes that usually simply took the piss out of someone..
Now "comedians" have a routine based on a story they've written or experienced with funny bits added / exaggerated to produce laughs.
I listen to Hawksbee and Jacob's on Talk Bollocks and it seems to be daily they are interviewing some comedian I've never heard of plugging his new tour, and they are always asked "what can we expect on this tour" and "jokes" is never the answer..... it's always a story with a plot.......