Cervantes Magazine - Vol. 13: Guest Writer
Comedy, as a subgenre of the arts, takes its roots from humanity, from what we feel and live. from the sharpest satire, to a simple joke about daily routine, the job of making people laugh is as extensive and complex as the deepest feelings. And in many cases, the author is inspired by the less beautiful side of living, loneliness, sadness, traumas, and of course, anger.
In the case of stand up comedy, for the last couple of decades, the community of comedians has digged into the origins of the most visceral and dense humor, that which comes from our dark side, from the place where we don’t have much control sometimes, but where the best jokes are born.
In 2015, actor, director and comedian Kevin Pollak, released a documentary called "Misery Loves Comedy", whose premise was to find out if it was necessary to live a miserable life, in order to transform that into quality material from the likes of Louis CK, Richard Pryor, Maria Bamford, George Carlin and other luminaries of the genre. I highly recommend watching it.
But in this issue of @cervantes Magazine, we are focused on anger, so for this post I’ll talk about some of the comedians who have used their own fury as a creative motor for their jokes, not only in what they say, but how they say it, their timing, and how they seem to explode during routines to deliver punchlines with -amusing- violence.
Lewis Black
Already considered a legendary comedian, Lewis Black is known for his explosive sense of humor. During his routines, Black usually sets up the premises of his jokes in a calm way, only to gradually increase his voice, to the point where one could believe that he’s having a nervous breakdown in the middle his acts, which provides a great way to deliver the punchlines.
To see him is to feel identified with his frustration about things that should be of common sense within society, but that for some reason, are not yet a reality at all. His style even managed to get him the role of "Anger" in the animated Disney movie, Inside Out (2015).
Bill Burr
Probably one of the most frontal and unapologetic comedians nowadays. Bill Burr is not afraid to attack with his jokes everything that in these modern times we consider "offensive": PC Culture, feminism, the use of social networks, etc. This has caused Burr to become one of those artists that "either you love or hate him", however, his quick mind is undeniable.
On one occasion in Philadelphia, due to the public not being very respectful during an event, Bill simply used the 12 minutes of his routine to bombard comic insults to the audience, his improvisational ability and sharp comments provoked people to boo him and laugh at the same time, without a doubt one of his classics moments.
Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks had already become a cult comedian before his unfortunate death from pancreatic cancer in 1994. His style was totally unpredictable, in a second he could go from total calm to pure chaos. His stage histrionics were very similar to that of a rock musician, and in fact, religion and Satanism were recurrent topics during his performances. On one occasion, he was invited by the band ** Tool ** to open several shows for them, where Hicks began saying to the audience: "I lost a contact lens, can you help me look for it?".
His style was more conversational, unlike the typical comedian who uses the formula "Set up-punchline", with Bill you couldn’t see the joke coming, they were intertwined in deep monologues about topics such as war, advertising, and the injustices of the world.
Comedy is a great defense mechanism, we have all used jokes to channel our sadness or anger before things that happen to us. And that's fine, that's healthy, don’t let them convince you otherwise.