The pushback, People.
I’m back in it.
I remember doing comedy in the days, months, years after Trump became president the first time. It was tense. I never know who’s in the room and what they may believe or what they are willing to do because of their beliefs. It’s a delicate balance.
People who know what I do generally know where I stand and that I will put that out there a bit in my shows. When I do a show or a set for a general audience and I talk about politics or what we are all going through collectively, part of that collective definitely doesn’t think like me and it’s going to irritate them. What they do when confronted with that irritation is the wild card.
But I’m going to do it.
I don’t know if I am courageous or not. I do know if I don’t speak my mind (and be funny about it) I will feel like I failed myself and my heroes. So, I do it. Resistance is essential and as this country becomes more of an autocracy or fascist or authoritarian or oligarchical, resistance is fraught with a certain amount of fear and risk. But I think if I can follow it with a cat joke I can usually pull it off. It’s necessary.
Punching down is easy and there’s no risk to it other than revealing yourself to be small and an asshole. If you’re surrounded by small assholes as an audience it’s big fun for everyone involved. We’ve all punched down at some point in our lives. The hope is you don’t get addicted to the rush of cruelty that it gives you. That’s a dangerous monkey to have on your back and also a shitty foundation for community.
The idea of speaking truth to power gives you a different rush. If it is what you feel and believe, and you are surrounded by at least a few like minded people or people who can't give voice to it, there is a sense of release from the bondage of fear and maybe a small glimmer of hope that the spark of humanity hasn’t gone out.
If you flip that, speaking power to truth, I think that is the duality. If power speaks to truth or, more likely, yells at it and does it over and over again, eventually truth will buckle and retreat and hide. Hopefully waiting for a gap or hole or a pause so it can pop out again and reveal itself but that’s not guaranteed. Human truth is a pretty fragile and vulnerable force.
Almost everything in our cultural dialogue mutes human truth. Even when it’s on full display or acted out in bits and pieces on TikTok or IG. The context of a reel is a punch to the brain to trigger an emotional reaction that is mostly fleeting. It exists unto itself to generate attention by evoking a feeling. So, if you live in your phone, your humanity gets used up by reacting to these bits and pieces of events and cries that make you feel the feels, but to no true end. They dissipate quickly.
Challenging people in real time with provocative material is where the real feels happen. Sometimes, like the other night, it lands and it upsets people to the point where they speak out, disrupt the show, condemn it and get thrown out of a comedy club. How the other people in the room react is where the real power of a moment lives.
I just see it as part of my job and, believe me, I wish I didn’t have to do it, but I do.
Today I talk to Erin Brockovich about environmental and consumer advocacy and speaking up and fighting the good fight. Thursday I talk to Noah Wyle about his new show The Pitt and the current state of healthcare and the people who provide it. Good week.
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
