Send In the Clowns
Many comedians these days rely alot on finding shock tactics to deliver the all too familiar four-letter ‘f’ word to every respectable sentence that ever graced a stage. I wonder sometimes if that’s just a lack of vocabulary on their part!
A good comedian (I think) has a repetoire of clever-witted (as opposed to dim-witted) speak that is not only intellectually engaging but also theatrically competent. I miss that about so much of what gets passed off for stand-up.
I’ve often thought that if the so-called stand-up humour gets any more obtuse than it already is we’ll all be lying prone wondering what on earth hit us! In reality, it’s not a joke but it’s laughable nonetheless! There is something disparagingly crass about a comedian whose limited vocabulary (though amply peppered with unmentionable expletives) is considered, well, funny! I think they’re pitiful!
That kind of stand-up comic is indeed a joke but the joke it would seem is all on him (or her). That laughter you hear from the audience is gawping embarrassment more than it is a person getting the gist of the content of the gig (assuming there is some). Comic genius is about stimulating subject matter, immaculate timing and sublime delivery, anything less is a poor substitute!
If laughter is indeed the best medicine then it behoves us (as an audience) to expect more from those making a buck or fifty off us. While they are indeed laughing all the way to the bank, we at least, ought to be the proof of the pudding that ‘real’ humour will give us sore cheeks and have us screaming for morewith an encore if we’re lucky!
