I am beginning to wonder if anything is funny anymore. What used to be funny isn’t anymore, or it is just not allowed. This is really a lousy time in our history to be a comedian. Nothing is funny when everything is censored by PC codes which are put forth and monitored by…whom…? Nothing is funny when everyone has a thin skin. Nobody can take a joke anymore. Not only is everything nauseatingly serious, but everything is also recorded and filmed. Why? So the situation or material can be used in a lawsuit where the deck is stacked toward PC standards…formulated by whom…? The slightest misstep is instantly available globally to an unforgiving media which is duplicitous at best and biased at the least.
This would all be funny, even hysterical if we were looking at it from afar in distance or in time. But not when everything is deathly serious; when every word you use, every joke you tell, whether story or anecdote, demeaning or uplifting could have contained in it a time bomb or a flash bang. At this point it can be difficult to convey humorous content. Could any of the older, great comedians work now under these conditions? Benny, Burns, Berle, Barbutti; Caesar, Cosby, Corey, Carlin; Dangerfield, Diller, Foxx, Pryor, Rickles, etc…? If they were tied up and artistically strangled as in our day, could they even perform, let alone figure out how to be funny, or even determine what exactly is funny. Can you really be “on” night after night when you feel as if you are walking through a minefield? Thinking: Watch where you step! Will this one blow up? Is this the end of my career?
And think for a moment about satire. Comedy used to be free to criticize, put down, draw similes to, make fun of, and point out the deficiencies and foibles of anyone famous or just anyone: politicians, actors, musicians, everyday workers and the average and below average personality without fear of instant retribution. This backlash is the reason books like “Gulliver’s Travels” and “Lord of the Flies,” etc., were written. They wore a thin disguise to save face (or life and limb) to get their point across. There was a time when nothing was so sacred that it couldn’t draw a laugh. I can’t put my finger on it, but I’m sure that it happened. More recently time wise we had “icebreakers” like Lenny Bruce, Eddie Murphy, and Richard Pryor that paved the way for “all out,” “no holds barred” comedy. The ice got broken, but it again froze over and the door slammed shut again.
Now we have new personalities like Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman and Roseanne Barr that again push the envelope. They also are quickly shunned or dropped if they cross the line. But…where is the line? No one knows unless someone pushes the envelope again or breaks the ice again until PC’s unknown entity says through the complicit media that “you crossed the line.” So besides getting shut down, the line comes closer and then its cohort, the net, gets even tighter so that the only thing that is left is…SAFE! And now what is safe? Mr. Rogers was safe. Pinky Lee was safe. Pee Wee Herman was safe (and then he wasn’t safe anymore).
So what are we left with? Potty humor and toilet jokes, and all of the safe items in the PC agenda. Is multiculturalism funny? Is the transference of the sexes (either way) funny? Is anything at all in the news funny? Were you content with the Teletubbies or Barney? Is the last action of satire and comedy “South Park?” Is this show just hanging on until the hammer falls? I’m waiting…waiting…! We are in the midst of a battle for free speech and thought again. In other words freedom from a life-sucking censorship.
And what is the answer? Is there a solution? Usually my answer has something to do with music. This time I am not so sure. The glut of music which we experience daily everywhere and in every conceivable style has been dumbed down to be used as wallpaper or background just to sell products that for the most part we don’t need. But the music is supposed to put us in a malleable mood so that we might just consider the product. Any product. And this music has been sanitized to appeal to the absolute lowest mentality. Thankfully in our daily lives there are a few exceptions.
A large percentage of film music is honest, because it is married to a story or a situation. There are small pockets of music in almost every style that show craft and artistry in the composing and production. They are not easy to find; you have to dig for them, but the effort is well worth it. Even so, will this help the present situation? In my opinion yes, because music can be a sort of “bellwether” or even a kind of thermometer or barometer held to our society to measure somewhat our truthfulness and our honesty. And, if there is to be a solution, this could very well be it. For if music is overcome by the same evil forces that plague comedy, then we are done as a free society. But if it holds its stance, then comedy again will have a chance to be truthful and honest. And if that happens then all of our intellects will be able to survive the impending dark age. We will again have something to genuinely laugh about. Just remember again that freedom isn’t free. We all have to constantly work for it. While laughing and listening to music…!