Wednesday, April 18, 2001
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Wednesday, April 18, 2001 |
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Musings on comedy and the nature of humor By
MICHAEL BOYLAN Why do I find certain things funny? I have a good sense of humor (or so I'm told) but it can also be very sick and dark at times. I might laugh at "Dharma and Greg" one night and then thoroughly enjoy "The Best of Tom Green" the next night or listening to a Wesley Willis CD. Most of you have never heard of Wesley Willis, so let me fill you in. He was a street person with mental problems in Chicago. He wrote hundreds of songs on a Casio keyboard to the very same tune and eventually he built up a cult following. Some members of the following could play instruments and now he has a band and tours around the country. The lyrics are very basic and repetitive, but it is hysterical. If you have Napster, download "Northwest Airlines." I'm not laughing at him, I'm laughing at the simplicity of his songs. If anything he is laughing at the people who fork down money for a CD or a concert ticket. In a way I think I am inspired by his triumph. I've walked past a bunch of homeless people and I would never guess that one of them could achieve their rock and roll dream. In fact, in some ways I can envy Wesley Willis because he is doing what he wants to do. He'll never win a Grammy, but people know his name. So, what is funny? Repetition? Gross-Out humor? Good jokes? Does anybody have one true answer? The answer is different for different people. Some people find a man slipping on a banana to be funny and other people think it would be funny if a banana slipped on a man. Some people love Mad TV while others love Saturday Night Live. Personally, I'm an SNL fan, but I think it is very inconsistent. I also think that they used to take more chances in the past. The early days of SNL were very edgy and different, but the shows now use the same characters over and over again and the sketches are very long. I would rather see shorter sketches and more of them. I think that comedy should take chances. Too many times, comedians go for the time-tested laughs or the easy jokes and though it may get laughs, it feels cheap. Eventually, all the jokes run together and then you can't remember where exactly you saw it. Sure, you laughed but it didn't leave a distinct impression on you. There is no reason that comedy shouldn't touch you the same way that music might. Comedy should be thought-provoking, it should tell a story and it should be funny. My dream is to one day write for Saturday Night Live and I still think I will make it there one day. I have studied the greatest sketch comedy groups of all time and think that my work, though heavily influenced by all of the groups, is purely original and consistently getting better. When I get there, I vow to return the quality of sketches to the old days. By that I mean the days of Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner as well as the days of Dana Carvey, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler and David Spade. Until I make it to SNL, I will be here, writing more sketch comedy shows for Creatures of Habit. Keep your eyes peeled. We will be performing more shows soon and we just keep getting better.
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