"Comedy"

So I was re-reading this article on Cracked.com when it occurred to me: some of the most insightful criticism and commentary I've read in the past few years (practically since I've discovered the site) has come from there. A comedy website that also boasts such articles as "7 Physical Mutations that Helped Famous Careers" and "The 6 Stupidest Video Game Commercials".

Now, I'd like to think I'm fairly well read. I keep up with the news as best I can, and I don't rely on Cracked for all of my information and commentary on current events. But the most memorable articles I've read, and most of the ones I've found online that have profoundly affected my thought process and worldview have come from Cracked.com. One of my all time favorites has to be "7 Reasons the 21st Century is Making You Miserable" by David Wong.

Another thing that's very apparent from these types of pieces that show up on the site (usually written by one of the columnists) is that they actually aren't all that funny. They'll have a few chuckles maybe but they're more profound than humorous. If anything, the jokes are there to justify their existence on a comedy site, but you won't remember them. You'll remember the intellectual points the columnists would point out.

The crazy part? That's a perfect way to write these kinds of pieces. Rather than urge them to excise the humor and turn these columns into "serious" works, I (for what it's worth) applaud them for taking this approach to intellectual and philosophical debates.

Another great example is The Daily Show. One of the images that has for a long time been etched into my mind was a political cartoon that appeared in the Columbus Dispatch many years ago. I can't find it online, but I can describe it perfectly. Like most every political cartoon, it is distinctly unfunny, more intent on eliciting a knowing chuckle from supporters than actual laughs. It consisted entirely of a man in a suit looking at a younger man in a black turtleneck who says, essentially, "Well, I get all my news from the Daily Show." That was it. No, seriously. Hah hah?

Upon further examination, it's possible to glimpse why this cartoon was made. The idea was to get readers to shake their heads at those crazy kids, watching a comedy show and thinking that it was news. The main flaw in this argument (and one which has surely been pointed out before, but here we go anyway) is assuming that the Daily Show wants to serve as a news outlet. It doesn't. It's half an hour long, and doesn't try to relate what happened that day, as that would be pointless and dumb. What it instead does is examine the news media itself. For every joke on the Daily Show about some gaffe a politician makes on camera, there are ten about how major networks will spend 10 minutes discussing real issues and then 50 about the gaffe, reactions to the gaffe, what people on twitter have to say about it, etc. As Jon Stewart said, the trouble isn't that they're trying to inject comedy into news, the problem is that the news is becoming far too much like a satire of itself.

The overarching theme here is that this comedy website and a comedy news show have become, for me, two of the most consistently insightful and intellectually stimulating media outlets available. And they're able to be this not just because so many things about modern life are inherently ridiculous (though to be sure, they are), but also because they're supposed to be comedic. And for really great comedy, nothing can be sacred. So maybe they can get away with this because, as the argument goes, they're allowed to make fun of everything. It's expected of them to lampoon things that "serious" commentators and news outlets are supposed to treat with somber tones or not even mention for fear of provoking controversy. Look at that Gladstone piece about atheists and believers at the top of this piece again, then imagine CNN or Fox News trying to discuss the issue. Then imagine watching the shoutfest that would more likely than not ensue and being able to come away from it with something resembling a new outlook, or even a single new insight.

I'm not saying this is the way things should be, and I definitely haven't shut out "serious" sources of information entirely. What I am saying is that in the modern era, comedy is proving to elicit more of a response from my generation in particular to the issues of the day than mainstream news outlets. And this isn't borne out of cynicism either. These articles and the Daily Show's segments have an undercurrent of wanting to keep people honest. Of telling people that it's not only okay to laugh at ridiculous politicians and viewpoints, but it's kind of necessary. Because once you strip away the veneer of inviolability that surrounds some of these things, it's a lot easier to effect meaningful change.