81–90 of 130 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You might want to check the news about Russel Brand. Probably not the best person to link to.
A world where we let people's failings and faults dominate their success and virtues is a world inherently destined for incredible mediocrity and the creation of only tepid works.
The symbol of happy/sad drama masks (Thalia and Melpomene) is an ancient reference to this same dynamic. Was prompted to look up the definition of the word "pathetic," recently, and it means evocativeness of emotion, but typically sympathy or pity instead of laughter. Being comical and pathetic seem like the same thing, we just don't understand the word well because it's an epithet in pop culture that nobody consider…
This immediately brought the Dolly Parton song Jolene into my head. First time I heard it I was struck with how pathetic it was. It was very jarring hearing a superstar like Dolly singing from such a position of inferiority. But the song is incredible. You feel her feelings of inadequacy so deeply. It's a masterful example of this mechanic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixrje2rXLMA
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You might want to check the news about Russel Brand. Probably not the best person to link to.
What, that he was a sex addict for much of his career and made some regrettable choices during that time? I'm aware. He's mentioned it once or twice.
I did a clowning masterclass in France a few months ago. (That was a whole, wild experience that I’ll be haunted by for years). While I was there I realised I’ve been operating under a certain kind of dumb philosophy my whole life without realising it. The philosophy is something like this: “I believe if I’m “good” enough, nobody will reject me for being “bad” and people will like me.” And fill in whatever you want f…
Entirely this. It even applies to physical beauty. People who appear physically flawless are generally perceived as less beautiful than ones that don't.
So, reading the comments.. there seem to be an internal and an external explanations to the paradox. Internal explanations are that people who want to do comedy tend to be somehow messed up somehow. External explanations are that the world itself is messed up, and if you want to do comedy, you have to understand it, and that makes you sad. I think to determine which one is true, we should look at people curious about…
Comedians typically were in sad environments and coped by making people (and themselves) laugh. But laughter is transitory. And jokes grow stale. So it’s chasing a high. A type of hedonic treadmill.
According to Richard Belzer's wikipedia page, he "declared that his comedy career began when trying to make her laugh to distract her from abusing him and his brother". Which is may be an extreme case, but illustrative of what drives some people to comedy.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What, that he was a sex addict for much of his career and made some regrettable choices during that time? I'm aware. He's mentioned it once or twice.
He's been accused of rape and sexual assault by multiple women.
I did a clowning masterclass in France a few months ago. (That was a whole, wild experience that I’ll be haunted by for years). While I was there I realised I’ve been operating under a certain kind of dumb philosophy my whole life without realising it. The philosophy is something like this: “I believe if I’m “good” enough, nobody will reject me for being “bad” and people will like me.” And fill in whatever you want f…
Lol, now you can't even be funny in peace... If you're too funny, you might be diagnosed as depressed... smh. Tough crowd. :p
I did a clowning masterclass in France a few months ago. (That was a whole, wild experience that I’ll be haunted by for years). While I was there I realised I’ve been operating under a certain kind of dumb philosophy my whole life without realising it. The philosophy is something like this: “I believe if I’m “good” enough, nobody will reject me for being “bad” and people will like me.” And fill in whatever you want f…
https://old.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/17ql19y/how_to_work_...
The fact that the audience member wearing the cargo pants clearly had a learning disability changed everything. The source of the comedy switched from teasing someone about poor fashion choices to being in the presence of a zen master who wore whatever the fuck he wanted. (It was actually a brilliant response on the part of the performer.)
This is almost universal. We celebrate (say) people confined to wheelchairs playing basketball, but only if they have no choice but to use a wheelchair. Able-bodied people playing wheelchair basketball would be a grotesque farce. (But it's not completely universal. The DAAA games [1], for example, are not nearly as widely known as (say) the special olympics [2].)
The symbol of happy/sad drama masks (Thalia and Melpomene) is an ancient reference to this same dynamic. Was prompted to look up the definition of the word "pathetic," recently, and it means evocativeness of emotion, but typically sympathy or pity instead of laughter. Being comical and pathetic seem like the same thing, we just don't understand the word well because it's an epithet in pop culture that nobody consider…
This immediately brought the Dolly Parton song Jolene into my head. First time I heard it I was struck with how pathetic it was. It was very jarring hearing a superstar like Dolly singing from such a position of inferiority. But the song is incredible. You feel her feelings of inadequacy so deeply. It's a masterful example of this mechanic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixrje2rXLMA