A joke’s a very serious thing
~Charles Churchill, The Ghost (1763), book iv, line 1386
Laughter is a funny thing. Seriously.
It can be a boon, a relief, or completely humiliating.
A truly good comedy takes advantage of all three.
Yet, you’re still left with the undeniable fact that someone will not find it funny.
Their loss.
This years nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series are proof of another fact about comedy, good comedy is smart.
Mindless entertainment has no place here, because above all comedy should make you think, or have thought at one point in your life.
So why do we like comedy so much?
I could launch into a long-winded academically driven speech about the foundations of comedy, it’s cathartic foundation, and the benefits of seeing our own foibles in others.
But I won’t.
Comedy is the art of the unexpected, the truly ridiculous, and the unexpectedly sentimental.
It can be profane and graphic or innocent and sweet. It offends it, it reveals, but it usually makes you laugh.
Because at the end of the day I think we’re all looking for a chance to laugh–laugh at ourselves (the good and the bad), laugh at the ridiculousness of it all (the good and the bad), or just laugh.
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…bi-daily smile…
Favorites? Maybe…
