When you feel like your worldview is growing a little stale, I recommend some comedy to jolt you out of your routine views on things. Why? Because comedy does what good literature does: makes us look at the world in a new way, challenges our assumptions, and makes us feel.
For example, a good dose of George Carlin. To wit:
"Sometimes people say, Do you know what time it is? And I say, Yes.There is no time… When the hell is it? We made it up! It's a man-made invention, Time.There are no numbers up in the sky… I've looked! Do you know what time it is? When the hell is it? We don't know when the hell it is…"
It's a comedy routine, but he's asking the same kinds of existential questions that authors ask in good essays and novels and poetry. He's just using humor instead of prose. Sometimes hearing these things from a different angle is just what we need to keep our minds fresh.
Then there's Mitch Hedberg. The guy has a way of presenting what is the most obvious, basic observations in a way that makes you think he is constantly walking around figuring out the meaning of life. For example:
"I'm staying at a hotel right now that has no 13th floor because of superstition. But, come on. If you're staying on the 14th floor, you know what floor you're really on."
It may not feel funny when you read it, but watch the video. He does it with citrus, he does it with strategic grill locations, and he does it with a whole host of little things you never notice.
And that's the value of comedy to a writer: new perspective on details that are all around you. Writers and comics share the task of presenting the world we all know in a new and interesting way, ideally to make us all feel something.
Who is your favorite comic?
Image source: George Carlin screenshot
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