Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Political Writing, Humor, and Jay Leno

Anything humorous, as long as it is not slapstick appeals to me. The same goes for political humor, even when the humor is lopsided, like that of Bill Maher’s. I watch him every Friday evening and laugh, even if I don’t agree with his views. There are other comics, of course, on TV, whose antics I watch every now and then.

Most everyone’s humor, however, flaunts a bias. The comic usually puts down the group or party whose ideas and actions are in contrast to his beliefs, while not touching the ones too much that he sides with.

Jay Leno wasn’t like that. He gave it equally to everyone, right, left, up, or down. He was special that way. He also found something to highlight the human condition in each of his jokes. Unfortunately, he was too aged according to NBC’s assumptions. Well, NBC will have to find out who will watch NBC or NOT from now on.

In the same vein, when it comes to writing about politics, humorous or not, I think the political writings do not stand the test of time as well as those works that address the human condition. The works that hold up the human condition stay past their prime. Take Shakespeare for example. Some of his plays can be considered political, but in all of them, the human condition has the top rank.

Thomas C Foster, in his very perceptive book How to Read Literature Like a professor, says:

“I hate “political” writing—novels, plays, poems. They don’t travel well, don’t age well, and generally aren’t much good in their own time and place, however sincere they may be.”

Once he delves deeper into the above statement, he continues on with:

“I love “political” writing. Writing that engages the realities of the world—that thinks about human problems including those in the social and political realm that addresses the rights of persons and the wrongs of those in power—can be not only interesting but hugely compelling.”

Surely, his second statement deals with the human condition, which has the pole position in an astute writer’s mind.

Accordingly, Jay Leno was classy. He cared for all people no matter what their beliefs or political stances. He cared about what the general population cared about. Too bad NBC could not see that.

I am going to miss Jay Leno's opening monologues and off-hand, impromptu humor.