Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
It’s just a joke. Can’t you take a joke?
You can’t say anything anymore. Comedy is dead.
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When I worked at the big bookstore, we would have the occasional potluck. And as bookstores tend to be a more liberal-minded space, there were a couple of fellow vegetarians that worked there, ensuring that there would be stuff I would eat, and that there would be receptive parties for what I brought. Most people out in the world1 are extremely suspicious when they find out food is vegetarian or vegan. Part of the reason it’s all called “plant based” now.
I was talking to the store manager, and she asked why I was vegetarian. And we all have these little Origin Stories — us people who abstain from facets of life that are usually considered the default — although the tales vegans and vegetarians have to tell tend to be more banal than, say, the reason why someone is sober, for instance. And since I value humor in my life, I decided to give a joke answer. Because it would ultimately be more entertaining than the truth2.
“Because I wanna piss off my dad.”
I got a laugh. Mission accomplished.
However, even though I immediately followed up with the mea culpa that I was joking, she would go on tell other people that was, in fact, the reason why I was vegetarian. I don’t know if she was trying to pass the baton of my joke off to an unsuspecting participant of a race they didn’t know they were in, or if the sentiment of taking a rebellious stand against the authority my parents represented was a more powerful truth to buy into, than that I was simply trying to make a funny.
Misunderstandings are a cornerstone of comedy. Again, broadly, comedy comes from an expectation being subverted. However, if the subversion — the unexpected — is that you are presenting what is expected, then that’s when things can get confusing3.
When everyone knows where the joke is going, it’s no longer funny. I could see that coming from a mile away. Stand-ups burn through material — once they record a special, they usually don’t do those jokes anymore — and so the good ones are always writing new stuff. People will rewatch funny movies or re-listen to comedy podcasts or albums, but you’ll usually just smile and nod with the recognition that you know it’s funny4. That dragon of the first time hearing a joke and busting a gut and fighting to catch your breath, is something you will always chase. Instead, you usually find yourself inside the warm recognition of the room temperature bath of nostalgia.
To find those worms of comedy, you have to advance and break new ground. It takes work. And when you get old, you tend to have less energy, so you might want to take shortcuts. Stick with what worked in the past. Old reliable. That’s what’s given us certain members of the old guard saying: “You can’t make jokes anymore!”
No, YOU can’t make jokes anymore, because it’s not funny. It’s been done before. There’s no more subversion — it’s the version. You aren’t fighting the power, you are the power.
Working cash registers at retail, something will inevitably not scan correctly, and there will always be someone who offers: “I guess it’s free, then.” And us captive wage slaves have to force the driest desiccated corpse of a laugh, or else risk managerial reprisal from acting out on what we really want to do after hearing that same old bullshit for the thousandth time this week.
Not funny. We’ve all heard it before, and it was never funny to begin with. Jokes and comedy are about subverting expectations, but they also have to be funny, first and foremost.
Looking back, it might not have been a good idea for sarcasm and irony to take hold of the cultural zeitgeist right around the time that we were figuring out how we were going to interact with all the other anonymous weirdos on the internet. There is no sarcasm font, and vocal inflection is strictly limited to audio comunication.
Saying something and following it up with “Not” fucking killed on playgrounds across America in the early 90s5. Sarcasm and irony were ways to signal peers — because while on the surface it would look like you’re meeting expectations by being in agreeance, to those in on the joke, they know that you are not being truthful. Thus, subversion.
The status quo rarely is considered the cool thing. The Establishment is codified by older people and is usually what they thought was cool when they were kids. So The Man that you’re sticking it to is always going to change — the expectations that you’re trying to subvert will shift with the sands of time.
The sarcasm and irony school of comedy used to be: “Look at me! I’m saying the things you aren’t supposed to say. Ain’t I a stinker?” Because, yes, saying inappropriate or “politically incorrect” things are subversive. But the expectation being up-ended there is: Be Excellent To Each Other.
There have always been roasts, making fun of people, calling people names, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, body shaming, playing pranks, and all different ways of being an asshole to other people. And a common school of thought was that jesters or other lower class jokers were employed to be the only ones that could poke fun at royalty — that they were given permission. Mutual consent that this person can say what we’re all thinking about the individual in power, but for anyone else, it’s forbidden.
When the jester has no power to speak of, his words don’t have weight behind them. No matter how cutting the barb, the inbred hemophiliac ruling class will not bleed6. It’s why racism against white people isn’t really a thing7 (classism against white people on the other hand, oh, hell yes).
But now that people have the power, does that mean we’re all fair game for ridicule? That living in a fair and equal society means we all have a target on our back primed for a Kick Me sign? That Free Speech means we have a duty to say anything and everything, because the world takes no prisoner and if you’re soft, you’re never going to survive. That it’s more important for comedy to break rules of convention and politeness, and always push the boundaries of what speech is and isn’t allowed?
I’m just about out of space, so I’ll take a look at those questions next time.
-bcp
With a Pearl Jam tour going on right now (that I’m not going to), and my birthday coming up, I’m being hit with a particularly persistent depression flare-up. That’s why I haven’t been writing, because, what’s the point? But I know that isn’t how I really feel and all that. I’ll get over it. At the time I’m writing this I feel a little better, so I’ll take that as a win!
And if you just gotta have jokes about gay and trans people, then this special that came out at the end of last year is probably both not up your alley (if you’re a piece of shit), and/or, your type of shit (if you like comedy that’s funny).
I guess I could be judicious and say a lot, but it really depends on the cultural make up and geographical location of said people.
It’s because I’m a big softy and don’t want animals to die, if you really must know.
Just like that attempted segue.
Never say “that’s funny” when someone says something funny — laugh! That’s like going up to buy something and saying “I should pay you” and then just standing there. Hand over the fucking laugh cash, man!
Borat saying it is a meta context that goes way deep that I don’t have the space to get into right here, but there are people that have taken their scholarly stabs at it if you’d like to do your own research.
The saying is: “The pen mightier than the sword.” But no one is bringing a sword to a gun fight, these days.
Also something I don’t have space to explore.