Afraid to Laugh, Are we losing our sense of humor when we need it the most?
The art of comedy is an American phenomenon. We have more comedians, more comedy venues than anywhere else in the world. Over the years, the American comedy scene has become a diverse medium with voices representing everyone from the LBGTQ to the immigrant community. From Protestants and Catholic to Jews and Muslims, From Africans to African Americans I can easily come up with a successful comedian or three representing each. But just when we can brag about these multi layered voices, we are also losing our ability to laugh at ourselves. We are asking that comics commit to the kind of scrutiny that used to be reserved for politicians, and in doing so the light is starting to fade on our collective laughter.
With so many voices welcome in comedy we have choices. We can tune in or tune out, buy tickets or not, but we now live in a world where a group of word and morality police has gotten way too much traction and this time it is coming from the left side of the political aisle. It used to be, as George Carlin poignantly pointed out, that the FCC was given the power to decide what would or would not be bleeped. Now the audience, as Dave Chappelle correctly points out, is the self-proclaimed Federal Communication Commission telling everyone what and who should or should not be permitted on stage.
If comedians are performing their difficult craft well, they will be speaking from their own experience and relating it to audiences through the viaduct of our mutual funny bones. The best of them find the universal in their lived experiences. So though I am not black or gay, I find Wanda Sykes very funny and it is because she goes in search of the universal connection between us all. It is personal the same way it is not. On the other hand, I am Jewish and though I can relate well to most Jewish comedians, I may or may not find them funny. and that is the beauty of freedom. I am free not to like someone because they do not have their comedic arrows pointed toward the nuances of my funny bone.
Comedy is a mystery. Even though I am a Jewish woman with an interest in politics and an overpopulation activist I find Jim Gaffigan, a white male non-political comedian with Irish/Catholic heritage and five children hilarious. Why? Well that is the mystery. Tickling someone’s funny bone is more of an art than a science. If a type of comedy is no longer funny due to a more enlightened society than let the empty seats reflect that.
I spend most of my Sirius XM time over on the comedy stations, channels #’s 93–99. It is easy to change the channel if someone comes on that I do not like, but mostly I change the channel because I have heard the routine before, though often I listen again and again. I know many of Vin Das, Mike Birbiglia, Nate Bargatze and Sara Silverman’s routines by heart, but no one in their right mind would want me to perform them. These talents are masters at their craft which has taken years to perfect. I have been fortunate to have seen the following comedians in person: the late great George Carlin, Lewis Black, Bill Maher, (2x), Al Franken, Kathleen Madigan, D.L.Hugley, Dana Carvey, Paula Poundstone and countless others and laughed all the way home and into the next morning. I have many of their books and other comedic performances on my wish list. I am afraid however, that they are a part of a dying rather than a thriving art form. I read that Jerry Seinfeld refuses to perform on colleges campuses because of the cancel culture that has taken root there. While no one would ever accuse me of being a car person, I think I am all caught up on his terrific Netflix show, “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”
Milton Berle once said that laughter is a mini-vacation. In today’s world of 24/7 depressing news cycles, we need many not fewer mini vacations. Let’s do what comedians Bill Burr, Bill Maher and so many others recommend, let’s lighten up and search for the reasons to laugh, not for the reasons not to. We as a society will be so much better off.