I have always found that comedians (at least the good ones) have the best reactions to tragedies or horrific circumstances. It is not because they are able to make light of the situation and make fun of it so easily, because they usually don't so soon after an event, but because they are brutally honest with their feelings on the matter. Last night, I watched the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson the way I do almost every night. I had not watched any other late night show yesterday (most were on reruns anyway) so this was my first glimpse at what a comedian with a show was going to do with the Boston bombings.
Craig Ferguson opened the show very honestly and even though he threw in a little joke playing off the audience, he was a bit somber, but not in a depressing way. I feel like some of the things he said were what was on a lot of people's minds when they first heard about it. He said something along the lines of "Is anyone else sick of this shit?" And I don't think there is anyone who would disagree with that. The show went on after the mellow opening and even though he mentioned it with his guests (Rob Lowe and Larry King who were both fantastic) he stayed very honest and it felt like they were honest about it too. But, the show was also hilarious. I mean, I usually find this show very funny, but I felt myself laughing more than usual. Maybe it was because the feelings of the day were so horrible that this was such a welcome change.
There were also a lot of reactions floating around the internet yesterday and the one that stuck out the most and was probably the best, at least I think so, was one made by Patton Oswalt, who also happens to be a comedian. His post was incredibly honest and a lot more hopeful than you would expect if you follow his style of comedy. And then, I was thinking back to the shootings and Newtown and how the best reaction to it was an article by The Onion which summarized the reactions of so many people that I was astounded that it was possible for it to be put in words like that.
It takes a lot to be a successful comedian, or success at comedy or satire as The Onion. It takes an incredibly intelligent type of person to make an audience laugh with you instead of at you and to continually have something funny to say whether it is one person or a group of writers providing for one person. I think this is the reason why comedians tend to have such great insight on such horrible things. Many of them have had a lot of bad things that happened in their personal lives (Craig Ferguson is an example of that) and that is why they are able to face something like this so honestly and not attempt to hide behind their normal style of humor or empty rhetoric.
They think of the impact that their words have on others. They know that many people look to them for a relief or for a moment to forget about their hectic lives and they (usually) do not abuse that by trying to pry on their vulnerability. I've always had a great deal of respect for those they are in the comedy world and it is things like this that make my admiration for them grow even more.
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