Like Weird "Funny" or Haha "Funny"?

Seinfeld observes, Chappelle challenges, Pryor discussed, Carlin ridicules…all of them laughing all the way to the bank. Maybe awkwardly. I attended the 50 Mason Lounge last night in San Francisco, a small joint with no more than 40 chairs set up in a semicircle around a stage that had two fake lamp posts and a painted brick wall as props. The journey there was laughable enough (hurrying through BART while having my girlfriend break one of her shoe’s heel, forcing me to break off both shoes’ heels so she could have makeshift flip flops, all while I cut my finger while tearing off the second heel), but the little club that could surely delivered. The comics varied in style. Some were edgy, some were sarcastic, some sang, some just conversed. It made me a bit jealous of their talents, of their wit. About 70 percent of them were quite funny, worthy of the $7 per person cover (no drink minimum).

“Why are bumper stickers on the shittiest cars?”,

asked one of them. Its funny cuz it’s true. I own a light and peppy (codeword for shitty) Tracer, by the by.

As they did their bits with (mostly) great bravado, I remembered a magazine article that deconstructed the comedian psyche. According to the article, comedians are often socially awkward off-stage. They stay away from crowds or social groups, preferring instead to smoke in the alley as the audience members leave the forum. The comedian sees its audience as lesser beings, in a way, holding them in contempt for being so easily manipulated. Especially for the very skilled and successful comedian (unless you HAVE to be social in order to get movie deals and TV shows), the audience becomes a puppet they can twist as they see fit. Laugh, the comedian commands, and so does the audience follow. Sit silent while I relish in it, he says, and his orders are followed by the many. As confident and charismatic as they project themselves to be on stage, off it they fail to find their place. Personally, it seems like that would HAVE to be the case. If they are observing and obtaining ideas from the people that come into contact with it everyday; if they feed off what the masses give them only to repackage it in funny and sell it back to them, they pretty much have to separate themselves from the rest of society, in a way. It makes me wonder if the homeless might be funny as hell.

When the night ended and 5 out of the 12 comedians passed on to the semifinals, I observed how they interacted with each other after they were announced and brought back on stage, sans microphone. Shifting their weight, darting their eyes, shaking hands with uncertainty, the comedians looked awkward. Maybe I don’t want to be that funny.