The proper question should possibly read "are you even laughing at all?"
Thank you, World Health Organization, for dragging me back into a bleak, hilarity lacking world.
It only makes me want to spin comedic yarns even more, because I need to tell them just as much those around me need to hear them.
Laughter is an escape, and given current world trends, we'll desperately need something to laugh at.
But who will provide it? Comedy movies haven't been very "comedic" as of late. Sure Jim Carrey's "Yes Man" was a return to form, Kevin Smith gave us "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," and...well, that's about it.
Oh yeah, "Paul Blart - Mall Cop" is a contender, but since I was unable to get to the theater to see it, I can't judge it as being funny or not, even though I admit I'm willing to get it on DVD so you can tell I'm leaning towards the funny side.
Then there's Seth Rogen - a nice enough guy, and he is conversationally funny, but that's about it. I state "conversationally funny" because it's a different type of material, where two or three people are just hanging out, making instantly funny, yet quickly forgettable jokes.
I have my conversationally funny moments -- and they're nowhere near as funny as the sketches or scenarios I've written in the past.
We've also had a lot of the over polished, run of the mill, by the numbers teen sex comedies which really aren't that funny to begin with: "Sex Drive," and "Fired Up!" come to mind. It's like all the funny ideas are ran through a calculator, made to equal a particular number, and when the solution is made clear, the laughs are supposed to happen.
Well that's not happening.
There's no presentation in comedy anymore -- and this I know for experience.
In high school, to be taken seriously as a person (i.e. diffusing situations) I lashed out with my wicked style of humor, which finally earned me respect I didn't have with the overall population while I also managed to assert myself creatively in ways that simply weren't possible.
Nothing is rougher than high school, especially if you're just a 90 pound kid, six feet high, known for mastering video games and a peculiar love for cheese. The "white" Steve Urkel is what I was called. It's a fair cop.
But I wasn't alone, I had two others that were just as crazy as I. But I was the more flamboyant one.
When my 10 year reunion came back in '06, the old twitch (that never really went away) came to the forefront of my mind: "Weird Al" Yankovic had his hit "White and Nerdy" at that time, so I toiled with the idea of coming in, boombox in hand, blaring said song, while dressed up as the whitest gangsta rapper Arkansas had ever known.
I would then proceed to sing the entire song, while meeting and greeting everyone from days gone by.
It never happened...but I should've done it.
I also should've attended my prom (which I didn't) dressed up as "The Mask:" green face, yellow zoot suit, and all.
Two of my friends similarly had the notion to dress up like the guys in "Dumb and Dumber:" light blue and orange suits, matching walking sticks, and all.
That didn't happen either.
We were teenagers, we didn't have that kind of money...or any at all, which kept us from living out our fantasies.
Presentation is everything, you literally have to be a madman to break the monotony of life. Conversational humor won't do it, which is why Seth Rogen (and Judd Apatow's) movies cannot illicit a true lung busting laugh from yours truly.
No one is rolling on the floor laughing at anything anymore. I used to find myself, laughing so hard with tears streaming down my face, pounding my fist into the floor at the movies we used to get.
And I miss that experience. It's one I only get when I'm writing my own material (because it is a throwback to those days when comedy was actually funny) and, of course, Michael Xavier Maelstrom who is a fellow blogger at Mania.
The man is brilliant. He's also insane.
He obviously realized presentation, and the willingness to go far beyond the safety barriers, is what it takes to be genuinely funny. His blogs are the funniest I've read (no matter how serious they are in tone) and they are the only other source of material out there that can bring about the phenomenon of laughing so hard that it hurts, while tears of joy just wash down my face.
There's a potential for collaboration here, but it has to be like the experiences I had in high school: two half crazed people, looking at the world, knowing it's a screwed up place, standing up in defiance of it while declaring war on it with his "Mystery Apparatus" and the destructive "Butterscotch Catapult."
Any man that can come up with weaponry like that should be made a saint. That's all I'm saying.
I silently suspect if such a partnership arose, it would definitely burn bright and energetic, in the same style of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again," which we both love dearly, coupled with the styles of Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, and Steve Martin, with a raw naughtiness unseen since "Porky's" was last seen flickering of a movie screen back in the 80's.
There are no funny movie trailers or concepts on the horizon....except for the possibility of a "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" sequel, which I dearly loved.
There really isn't anything truly inventive on the television set anymore...except maybe "Dollhouse," which I cannot see as I do not have a Fox Affiliate I can tune in, and "Eureka" used to be brilliant, but I fear its becoming a victim of its own success.
But those shows aren't really comedies, per se.
Thankfully, we do have Lewis Black, Jeff Dunham, Kathy Griffin, and John Pinette. But they haven't actually starred in any blockbuster comedies lately.
Comedic movies, like my own "Summertime Blues," need to have a wicked attitude, a Cheshire cat grin, and the nerves to stand up and flip off the establishment and the social norms while belting out Italian Operas while also dressed up in blue Speedos, swimming fins, a snorkel, and tuxedo jacket complete with tails and top hat .
Comedies literally have to have the cajones to be brash, loud, fast, and absolutely off the wall, just like we used to see in the mid 90's. It's a proven formula, and along with a certain naughty inventiveness, some of us could truly create something the world has never seen before that won't simply be quoted, it'll be emulated.
Quoting movies is nice, but it then becomes conversational humor. Acting like a maniac while throwing yourself whole heartedly into the material is where American comedies should be going.
We need trailblazers, and I absolutely consider myself one of them in this jungle. No one else is going to do it, no one else really understands it, and you can't really describe it to others, so you might as well just show off what you can do and, like me, watch them keep coming back for more.
So what are you laughing at?
I'm laughing at my own jokes and sketches: they're ten years old, and they haven't lost their comedic sting in a decade. They are timeless, just like "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," "The Mask," "Liar Liar," "Bowfinger," and "Austin Powers."
I'm laughing at Maelstrom's blogs, namely "The Chronicles of Sarah Palin" and "Tokyo Stomp" which we both devised quite by accident.
I'm still laughing at my old sketches like "The Remains of Babe Ruth" and "There's A Penguin In My Trousers!"
Hell I'm still laughing at all the crap I wrote in high school.
And I plan to keep on writing everything that delivers a right hook to current comedy standards, because they need to be knocked down. I plan on dreaming big while the world worries about all the possibilities of things that can kill us.
I'm not afraid to proclaim that there truly is no one out there as inventive as we are, Maelstrom. Not by a long shot.
Now, if you'll excuse us, the Mystery Apparatus needs to be oiled.
(It does use oil, right Maelstrom?)
PS - Come on Hollywood, not only do I need to do this as I have always done (and always will continued to do so) but the world needs something to laugh at to take its mind off all our collective troubles.
Film it, and they will come...by the millions.
Of this I'm very, very certain. And that's a statement I'll risk fifteen years of writing and performing experience, and an untold amount of friends (both real and online) upon.
The audience, (my audience) already exists. It has only grown bigger since I left high school, and it continues to grow. I'm laying my reputation on the line, and I know with absolute certainty that I will be victorious.
