Comedy or Assholery? One of those "Fine Lines"
I'm an outspoken individual (obviously). I haven't always been this way. I was painfully shy growing up, especially amongst my peers. I stood out as the quiet one or the smart one or the weird one who was bad at making friends. Unless I knew you well and felt at ease around you, chances are, you didn't know me very well or at all. I was picked on for my propensity for being a sort of know-it-all-glasses-wearing-braces-having-teacher's-pet-goodie-two-shoes type. You know the drill.
My social anxiety propelled me into the world of reading and writing, of getting lost in whatever film or game I was obsessed with at the moment, of absorbing the goings-on around me when I didn't have a mode of escape or had to appear to be paying attention. In essence, I had to develop a personality, as we all do, as well as a thicker skin and a rather dark sense of humor as a coping mechanism.
This story is true for many, if not all comedians. Everybody is capable of making it through life without turning into sociopathic unibomber types if we can just learn to laugh at ourselves and to allow others to do the same. If my story of a shit day has you in stitches by the time I'm finished telling you about it, then I don't feel like it was a waste. Maybe you needed to laugh more than I needed to get through a job interview without tripping and spilling coffee on my potential employer? Maybe he'll call me back? Just kidding, I made that up.
Here's a real story though, and it plays into my humor as a coping mechanism for social anxiety. I was out for a beer with a male friend of mine who had bought me lunch the last time we'd gotten together. I'd offered to buy him a beer to return the favor. We ended up at a place with a bunch of craft beers on tap and they were overpriced for the twenty dollars I had in my wallet.
After he ordered a second round for himself, I fessed up that I didn't have enough money to buy another. He stepped out for a smoke and I sat there feeling awkward and embarrassed for being a broke person in her mid-twenties although I'm more than capable of being a millionaire by now, probably, if I'd only applied myself (right), and the mental taunts of failure started kicking in.
He came back in and we sang along with a Zeppelin tune and when the tab came at closing time, he paid for it. Whew. I needed money for gas and probably more (cheaper) beer. The bartender asked his co-worker to help him clean up and she just looked up from her phone like, "Really?"
I made a crack like, "I'll clean it if you forget about the tab." He kind of smiled politely and then the chick held her phone out to him and said, "Look at Chloe [Kloe?] Kardashian's Wonder Woman costume! It's soooo cute!"
The bartender gave it a glance and said, "None of them ever smile for pictures."
I said, "That's because money doesn't buy happiness--only ass implants."
If looks could kill, I'd be dead. That girl clearly loves her Kardashians. Now, my question is this: does the fact that I took the opportunity to get in a witty one-liner without regard for another's opinion make me an asshole? I don't think it does.
Comedy is tragedy with a laugh track. That chick and I will probably never be friends, but did I personally cut her down? No. Do any of the Kardashians give a flying fuck about some remark made by a broke Texan? Hell naw.
Should we take anything said by comedians personally? I guess if the shoe fits. Comedy is a great medium for opening our minds to certain caveats about life and human nature we all fall into at times. The idea is that we can all laugh about them together and try not to be that asshole in the future. For those about to make light of the fuckery in life and help us lazy folks get a good ab workout in the process: I salute you.
My social anxiety propelled me into the world of reading and writing, of getting lost in whatever film or game I was obsessed with at the moment, of absorbing the goings-on around me when I didn't have a mode of escape or had to appear to be paying attention. In essence, I had to develop a personality, as we all do, as well as a thicker skin and a rather dark sense of humor as a coping mechanism.
This story is true for many, if not all comedians. Everybody is capable of making it through life without turning into sociopathic unibomber types if we can just learn to laugh at ourselves and to allow others to do the same. If my story of a shit day has you in stitches by the time I'm finished telling you about it, then I don't feel like it was a waste. Maybe you needed to laugh more than I needed to get through a job interview without tripping and spilling coffee on my potential employer? Maybe he'll call me back? Just kidding, I made that up.
Here's a real story though, and it plays into my humor as a coping mechanism for social anxiety. I was out for a beer with a male friend of mine who had bought me lunch the last time we'd gotten together. I'd offered to buy him a beer to return the favor. We ended up at a place with a bunch of craft beers on tap and they were overpriced for the twenty dollars I had in my wallet.
After he ordered a second round for himself, I fessed up that I didn't have enough money to buy another. He stepped out for a smoke and I sat there feeling awkward and embarrassed for being a broke person in her mid-twenties although I'm more than capable of being a millionaire by now, probably, if I'd only applied myself (right), and the mental taunts of failure started kicking in.
He came back in and we sang along with a Zeppelin tune and when the tab came at closing time, he paid for it. Whew. I needed money for gas and probably more (cheaper) beer. The bartender asked his co-worker to help him clean up and she just looked up from her phone like, "Really?"
I made a crack like, "I'll clean it if you forget about the tab." He kind of smiled politely and then the chick held her phone out to him and said, "Look at Chloe [Kloe?] Kardashian's Wonder Woman costume! It's soooo cute!"
The bartender gave it a glance and said, "None of them ever smile for pictures."
I said, "That's because money doesn't buy happiness--only ass implants."
If looks could kill, I'd be dead. That girl clearly loves her Kardashians. Now, my question is this: does the fact that I took the opportunity to get in a witty one-liner without regard for another's opinion make me an asshole? I don't think it does.
Comedy is tragedy with a laugh track. That chick and I will probably never be friends, but did I personally cut her down? No. Do any of the Kardashians give a flying fuck about some remark made by a broke Texan? Hell naw.
Should we take anything said by comedians personally? I guess if the shoe fits. Comedy is a great medium for opening our minds to certain caveats about life and human nature we all fall into at times. The idea is that we can all laugh about them together and try not to be that asshole in the future. For those about to make light of the fuckery in life and help us lazy folks get a good ab workout in the process: I salute you.