 Comedy: November 16, 2010 Issue [#4079] |
  Comedy
This week: The Fool Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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"I had thought - I had been told - that a 'funny' thing is a thing of a goodness. It isn't. Not ever is it funny to the person it happens to. Like that sheriff without his pants. The goodness is in the laughing itself. I grok it is a bravery... and a sharing... against pain and sorrow and defeat."
- Valentine Michael Smith
(Robert Heinlein,
Stranger in a Strange Land) |
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The Fool
The holiday season is a time for reflection. Fortunately, that's next month - despite what stores try to do, the holiday season doesn't start until next week.
This being Comedy, though, it makes sense to invoke nonsense and get the whole "introspection" thing backwards.
In other words, next month, I'll be funny. This month... well, I've got a more serious topic in mind. So skip to the Picks if you don't want a little pepper in your sugar.
My own introspection and reflection has led me to some important conclusions, lately. The first is that chicks dig guitar players, so I've been learning guitar. But that's not really relevant to this newsletter (but ladies... you have my email address). The second is that Virginia in November can suck, weather-wise. Um, okay, that's not relevant either. The relevant conclusion is that comedy is damn important.
I like to consider archetypes when I write. Not stereotypes - that way lies being broke. But archetypes, those Jungian characterizations that transcend time and speak directly to the unconscious. And when I think about comedy, some important archetypes include the Trickster... and the Fool.
The two are, inherently, different, though they share some characteristics in common. The Trickster is more about getting the better of someone (or a situation) through the use of wit and deceit, though always in a way that is amusing to an outsider. There are many examples, but my personal favorite is Bugs Bunny.
As useful as the Trickster is, though, when it comes to changing consciousness through comedy, no one can compare to the Fool. Like the Trickster, the Fool uses wit and charm - unlike the Trickster, though, the Fool is all about honesty. Sometimes, this is brutal, you-can't-handle-the-truth honesty.
Historically, the Fool appears as the court jester in medieval Europe; his job (apart from juggling and singing and general entertainment) was to point out those things no one else had the guts or ability to state - for instance, if the Emperor has no clothes, the only ones allowed to mention it are children and Fools.
These days are different, and we get our information from TV and radio and internet, usually from talking heads who have to be serious and sober. And we have this "freedom of speech" thing, implying that anyone can take on the role of the noble Fool, pointing out that the emperor has no clothes, or the Speaker of the House has no brain, or whatever. And yet, the role of the Fool continues.
Back around Halloween, we saw this writ large on the national stage as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, both Fools in the archetypal sense (that's a compliment, by the way) held an enormous rally in DC. Now, I'm not going to get into the argument over how big the crowd was, or comment about the politics of the whole thing, but it remains true that those Fools are the most trusted names in news - and it's because they don't pull punches, they don't make stuff up...
...and, most importantly, because they're comedians.
Comedians are important, folks... if for no other reason than without them, the world would be a gray, dreary place, resembling Dickens' London or anything by Morrissey. And because someone has to play the Fool. |
Foolishness from around the site:
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Last time, in "Comedy Newsletter (October 20, 2010)" , I talked about pun costumes for Halloween.
NaNoNette  :
I could sure use the advice on costumes this year. I find the one about wearing plain clothes a great one, and I can always say I had it on good authority.
Uh, but I don't get the angry witch/ribbit joke. Help! I am not half as educated as a frog.
Okay, though it's never as funny when it has to be explained. As a reminder, the joke was: "What do you say to an angry witch? Ribbit." Now, presume you've pissed off a Halloween witch. She turns you into a frog. Then you say "Ribbit." Get it? Hey, I told you it wouldn't be funny if I had to explain it.
LJPC - the tortoise  :
Robert-
--Laura
Laura-
--Robert
scribbler :
One of my favorite costumes of the last few years were some girls I knew in college. They dressed up as two of the spartan's from 300 but instead referred themselves as 300 minus 298
Let's see... the Spartans didn't wear any shirts. Why don't I get invited to that kind of party??!
Andrew  :
Come to think of it, one of my friends this year is dressing up in a dark cape with a black hood and a broom in hand: the Grim Sweeper. My forehead still hurts from smacking it in respunse.
`Andrew
Excellent!
And that's it for this time... tune in next month to see if I butcher the winter holidays! Until then, Happy Thanksgiving to our US readers, and...
LAUGH ON!!! |
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