Michael Feeney
Reflection
For my final project, Finding Humor in Life and Death, I
did a lot of research on comedy, specifically stand up. Listening to different
perspectives on life and death itself from a number of different comedians gave
me some insight into the way that some people view these acts. The humor that
each comedian instills into these serious subjects allows for the audience to remain
comfortable and relaxed while dealing with issues such as race, sex, politics,
and general observations of daily life. I think that their job is an important
one, because they ease tension while at the same time, talking about a lot of
things that usually go undiscussed in our society. Social issues that affect us
all need to be talked about and better understood, and comedians attempt to
explore the different facets of these issues through humor.
During the beginning of my project, I began researching
different famous comedians and the type of humor they used. I’m a fan of
observational comedy and dark comedy, and found that many big name comedians
fit both of these categories. Each comedian saw life through a unique set of
eyes, and used their distinct perspectives to create onstage characters and
sets that relate to their everyday life and how they viewed the people and
things occurring around them. I found that a lot of their humor had seemingly
came from some type of anger over a particular issue, and that they used this
anger to create comedy. Most of these comedians were able to pick apart issues
and get down to the brass tax. The central idea or focus of their jokes often
revolved around them trying to get their point across to their audience over a
certain issue. By using humor, they are able to ease their audience into their
concepts or viewpoints. Although they all have different styles and
perspectives on everything, they all share one thing, they are all human.
Comedy at its core is human, and it’s how we can easily relate to comedians and
understand where their humor is coming from.
Louis C.K. had originally been the comedian that had
sparked my interest, and this influenced me to learn more about the beginnings
of comedy and how other comedians had a made a name for themselves. I found
that a lot of early American humor was far too simple, and instead started
looking at comics that revolutionized comedy and helped turn it into what it is
today. Comedians like George Carlin and Richard Pryor showed me that they these
people were more than just laugh machines. They had interesting and unique
viewpoints of the world and the problems that exist in it. I saw that a lot of
them seemed angry at the state of society and how it restricted them. These
revelations grabbed my attention, as I myself have always seemed to go against
the grain in a lot of ways. I saw that these people weren’t afraid to talk
about difficult subjects, while being completely honest and true to their
audience at the same time. I began to see how people could be positively
affected by talking about and laughing at serious subjects and issues in our
culture. I began to draw the parallels between what I had been reading and
learning in this class, and started to see comedy in an entirely new light.
After reading Success Built to Last, I realized that
people’s definitions of success varied from person to person. One man’s dream
is often another man’s nightmare. Money within itself does not create
happiness. Working for purely material gain is futile and delusional. I
realized that these comedians I looked up to often felt the same way as I did.
They saw through the bullshit and wanted others to see the same. I felt as if
they had the golden ticket, they knew the meaning of life. As much as I wanted
to believe that these comedians had all the answers, I soon realized that this
simply was not true. These comedians were the same as me, you, anybody, and
everybody. They deal with the same problems the average person deals with, but
instead of getting worked up over things that are out of their control, they
add humor to it and try to understand it to the best of their ability. This
outlook on life is astounding to me, to be able to find humor in every little
thing. Obviously some things in life need to be taken seriously, and comedy is
all timing, but without it we would be a seriously depressed people. We need to
laugh, we need to get angry, and we need to be sad. Comedians often offend
people with their blunt statements on things they feel strongly about, and they
try to bring out emotion in the audience, they want people to feel something. Comedians are often open with
their emotions and thoughts and have no problem expressing themselves. I find
this to be an amazing human quality and hope to retain it within myself.
We do not have all that much time to waste, if any at
all. This life is short, so I believe that while we’re here we should try to
experience a vast amount of different things. I think that a lot of people in
our society suppress and bury their emotions inside themselves, in fear of what
others may think. People are too caught up in the daily bullshit that they forget
to stop and smell the flowers. Comedians are able to bring people back down to
earth in the sense that they bring out emotion and force you to deal with
things that you may not want to actively think about. They can make us laugh,
angry, and sometimes even sad. They remind us that we’re human, every single
one of us. They bring us together with laughs and make us seriously think about
serious issues that need to be talked about.
