Comedy and Tragedy

If comedy is tragedy plus time, how do you determine the element of time?  There are things in life that in the moment are the furthest thing from comedy for us, but with time we look back and laugh at.  How do you determine how much time has to pass before that becomes the case?  Is it simply a case of time in itself?  Will every event no matter how tragic, eventually become funny?  There are certainly things that have happened in my lifetime that nobody jokes about, not just things that happened to me specifically but in the world as a whole.  There are historical events that even now when we look back on them we still don't joke about them, even though decades, and in a few instances over a century has now passed since they happened.

"Bad taste" it seems is entirely subjective.  There is a comedian in the UK called Graham Norton who jokes about quite a few things but is generally perceived to be a well mannered comedian that doesn't make jokes that are in poor taste.  That's not strictly true however, Graham Norton's career actually stems from some very crude humour much of it often in bad taste when it is taken out of context, what he does have a talent for however is framing that humour in a way that it becomes easy to digest.  Take for example a stand-up comedy special he did about almost two decades ago at The Roundhouse, a performance space in North London.  This comedy special sticks out in my mind for the simple reason that even Norton himself acknowledges the fact he can take a bar and steadily lower it over time.

Throughout the performance Norton's jokes become increasingly crude, what is remarkable however is that the audience at the opening of the act are hesitant to laugh at jokes that are risqué although timid by comparison to the end.  By the end of the act however he has the audience crying out to go even cruder which even provokes Norton to comment tongue in cheek at how much the audience has changed their attitude which they are in fits of laughter over.  If you like Graham Norton and his style of comedy, the show is well worth a watch, I highly recommend it.

What happened that night however is something that you become aware of as you get older.  When you are young, you tend to have beliefs that are deeply held and profound.  You believe a certain thing and it doesn't matter who or what tells you anything to the contrary, it goes in one ear and out the other.  I know not everyone is like this when they are younger but in my experience most people are - I certainly was.  You couldn't tell me I was wrong, I had to prove it for myself, I was convinced I was right and I wouldn't accept the contrary until I tried it for myself - which didn't always result in me admitting I was wrong I might add, I often turned out to be right.

As you get older though there is a reluctance to fight every battle.  You begin to look at the war as a whole and decide what is and is not worth fighting over.  There comes a point where even the things you object to, you end up asking "is this what we're doing now?" and if the answer is yes, with reticence you often simply sigh and go with it.  That does lead to complacency with some things, which I admit is a problem when it comes to changing the way the world works.  Revolutions are for the young, relaxation is for the old.

The audience that night demonstrates how comfort breeds complacency, there was a comfort and security in knowing that everything was a joke and none of it was serious.  The night then progresses with people becoming much more relaxed and open to being led wherever Norton wanted to take them.  Now I should point out there's nothing macabre here.  Nothing he joked about would I consider offensive or even politically incorrect, it was just the juxtaposition of an audience that was adamantly uptight and yuppie becoming crude and crass so easily. 

Graham Norton is not a politician, I think it's a good thing he's not because he demonstrates an ability that many of them lack - charisma.  It is only through charming an audience can you actually lead them to behave in this way.  If you can make someone comfortable with the decision you want them to make, they'll go along with it even if it goes against everything they profess to believe in.  The question is how do you prevent yourself being led like this?  It's harmless when it's done for the sake of comedy and entertainment where no harm comes to anyone in the process, it's entirely different when it comes to our actual lives and decision making that will impact our lives for years to come.