Slippery slide i’m getting ready to go down. But here I go.
2019, here I am, an early millennial, based on the calendar of 9gag and other internet means of measuring more or less anything. I grew up with french anime, Cartoon Network to Sesame street. What a time to be alive. Entertainment and comedy all tied up into fictional characters that taught me how to be brave, how to be kind, how to be polite and most important of all, how to make people laugh. It was my greatest learning and one of the most beautiful things our destructive species has ever created: the power to make other people laugh, smile and be happy. And as I grew older and older, my taste in comedy might have changed, moving to tv series like Seinfeld and Friends to Simpsons and South Park. And throughout these years, trust me, never have i ever seen comedy as something that can hurt, harm or create the social disruptiveness as it does today. “It’s offensive, it’s cruel, it’s uncalled for, it’s rude.'' So that brings me to the question: Are people offended or are they just calling out for even more attention?
I recently went to a stand-up, and i love to pick out the first row seats. I do it to be picked on. Why? Not to answer back, to be the politically auto correct of the room. I do it because it says something about me. Like an artist painting a model in front of him, I want to be the mona lisa of a comedian, his muse, his inspiration from where he creates his show. Crazy? Maybe, but the path to self knowledge is through the eyes of those who are watching. And if I can learn anything about myself from what this artist sees in me, so be it.
Unfortunately, just like any kind of art, or horror movies, or the church, not everything is for everybody. And that’s totally fine. But people, if you do choose to embrace comedy, embrace it with the same passion you embrace any form of art. No one told Arnold that being pregnant isn’t funny, or Johnny Bravo making Yo Mama jokes was inappropriate. It was made in good humor, it was fictional, not addressed to a certain person, or gender, or race, but addressed to us as human beings, with no barriers, no constraints, no social seatbelts.
As an early millennial i want to thank comedy for making me the man I am today, and I wish it would never change, no matter what is changing around us. If you don’t like something, it’s in your power to do or not do something. But if you don’t, if it’s not for you, don’t ruin it for everyone else.