Speaking of MIA… (Standing Up for Standup)
Yeah. I ended up on Long Island after heading to South Africa for a few days. I totally dig their accents, maybe even more than the trinity of British-Australian-New Zealander/ish/ian/esque. South Africa was great. Dave Chappelle and I split a cab there. He’s feeling a little fried and getting his priorities straight after signing that $50 million deal with Comedy Central. Me, I’m recovering from my nihilist/new age phase, and more generally from the demanding six-year task of feigning the existence of an academic, with my nose occasionally buried in a book instead of having it lodged in more wonderful places.
Like a glass of red wine.
Dave and I aren’t the only hysterical people who’ve been missing in action lately. Stand-up comics in general (rather than sit-down comics, like ME) have been out of circulation, not pushed nearly as hard on the late night shows as they should be, or at least were ten years ago.
Name for me, I dunno, four stand-up comics.
I’m not saying you can’t do it, I’m just assuming that it takes more time than that one little line break allowed for.
And that’s dangerous. Comics out of the public consciousness. THAT should be unheard of.
Ooh..what’s…what’s that?? (foot tapping rhythmically) Is that…I think it is!–A latent truth coming on?!
It’s no secret that the powers that be (be they electromagnetic, gravitational, organic, ionic, what have you) are inducing a culture of fear. Or at least were until we stopped paying attention to that little traffic light of death they have.
Oh Orange. Hit me baby. One more time.
Well – even if we’re not scared…we’d better start laughing again. ‘Cause if you stop laughing, you’re dead. (it’s an inversion of the Weasel credo from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. If you don’t acknowledge the ludicrousness that is existence, then you’re not a part of it. You’re sucking the joy out of life for the rest of us, a Black Hole of Sobriety (the emotional kind) where not even a chuckle can escape.
Humor comes from alternate sources nowadays, I know that. The fossil-humor sources are running out rapidly, and my metaphors are getting tangled like a phucking fone wirel,;=-
LATENT TRUTH:
The Powers That Be want there to be less humor on television. More reality shows, fewer sitcoms. More and more hour long dramas. Many fewer stand-ups on the late night shows. And then to top it off they toss quarter-baked “comedies” at us. Please.
And it’s not only about not making you laugh, oh no. It’s worse. It’s about inundating you with “humor” all the time — when was the last time you saw a commercial that didn’t at least try to be funny? — such that your tastes get so rounded over that whatever edge you had, your SENSE of humor, is dulled to the point of sensory overload, your perspective is lost and whatever they want you to accept glides smoothly into your consciousness.
Fuck that shit. Fuck it.
Fuck.
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