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07 Nov 2009 05:35 pm
Keeping A Straight Face
Howard Jacobson talks about offensive jokes - like the one about war amputees - and makes this observation:
No great comedian is ever amused by himself. Billy Connelly could have been a great comedian had he not taken to collapsing
hysterically during his own routines. The seal on David Brent's
prattishness was his laughing at his own jokes. Then it turned out that Ricky Gervais, who created him, laughs at his own jokes too. Self-satisfaction is an
unpardonable crime in a comedian because his role is to remind us that
nothing is satisfactory. Hence the necessity of keeping a straight
face. It affirms the seriousness of his calling. Which is to make
people laugh, not because life is funny but because it isn't.
(Hat tip: The Awl)
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