10.29.09
Kick Enthusiasm To The Curb
Scatalogical. Scathing. Sarcastic. Sinister. That’s the impression a radio host got from a recent episode of, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” The story line involved urinating on a picture of Jesus in someone’s bathroom.
What’s so funny about that? Plenty. Depending of who you are. According to your own sense of humor.
But is it clean comedy? No. And not just because the main joke occurs in a bathroom.
It isn’t clean because the protagonist (antagonist?) broke a cardinal rule of clean comedy. He made fun of ‘the other’.
It may not have been hilarious if he were a Christian and made that joke. But at least he would have been in the realm of authenticity. Making fun of ‘the other’ makes you look attacking. Mean. And your audience will attack you.
If the actor and writers would have known about situational humor, they would have done things differently.
–they would have made fun of the situation, rather than a particular religion
–they would have made fun of themselves; anything less appears narcissistic
–they would have let the other person in the scene save face; as it was he attacked on two counts, the person’s gender and her religion
Why do I dissect comedy into minutiae and analyze it? So we know what NOT to do. So we can learn from others’ mistakes. So we can continue to Live Live–Lite!
