19th
on the current culture of comedic personas
In light of recent events, bloggings and conversations, the idea of public persona versus private self has been on my mind a lot. It’s something that everyone deals with. In some instances, people are publicly obnoxious and off putting, while privately they couldn’t be more calm and caring. Others are publicly well liked, while they’re really tearing their families apart. I could go on about this for hours, but it’d start sounding like a self help book. This isn’t about normal people as much as it is about performers and artists.
Actors are so damn lucky. They get to have their words written for them, a character to create, costumes and sets to construct an alternate reality in which to play. At the end of the show, after taking their bows, they get to hang it all up and walk away from it. No one hates Ralph Fiennes or Anthony Hopkins as a person because even the simplest of minds can understand that although they played terrifyingly believable killers, they aren’t really that guy when walking down the street. In my 2 years of the professional actor training program at chattanooga state, I learned how to reach inside of myself and create a character from real and imagined life experiences. It wasn’t until after the program that I realized that all performers do this, but only actors really get credit for it. Being a multi-focused artist, I’ve been studying everyone I admire in the different fields of my sporadic focus.
Back in October, I trekked to Knoxville and saw Michael Buble in concert. I was shocked at how much of a jackass he was, or at least so I thought. He came out singing beautifully, but when he talked, he was vulgar, he was incredibly rude to his band, and seemed drunk. All of a sudden, something changed. He had a smirk on his face. He started laughing. He had just pulled one over on his audience. By the end of the show, he was the twinkly eyed lover that everyone expected. Both of these were characters. He was up there playing the part of lounge singer. He kept it spicy. He made the audience, who came in already madly in love with him, hate him a little, then pulled the rug out from under them and made them realize he was the guy they loved all along, just having a little fun at their expense. I guarantee no one walked out of that concert actually thinking Michael Buble was really a jerk (unless they were dumb enough to leave early… something no one should ever do, whether it be movies, theatre, concerts, etc.)
This reminds me of something a magician whom I greatly admire named David Williamson taught me. When you’re performing magic, you never let your audience see how good you are. You fool them the most when only giving them 20% then turning the hose on them at the end. Magic is an art form that is overtly manipulative. Every move is meticulously crafted to deceive the people watching. Much like acting, this is accepted as part of the craft. Only the most ignorant or fervent religious fanatics would walk away from a performance by Criss Angel or David Copperfield and think “that guy sold his soul to the devil!”
The reason that all of these are accepted as a character choice is because of the proscenium in which they’re presented. You see live theatre, a magic show, or even a concert, and you understand that these people are playing the role of their occupation. But, for some reason, this accepted standard of perception doesn’t apply to comedians.
Throughout history, the role of the comedian or jester has been one of great social importance. The jester was always the person who would point out to the king and his people that the king was making foolish decisions by acting foolish. This is still the case with jesters like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Stewart plays the character of journalist so convincingly, that sometimes his show goes from comic commentary to real journalism, and Stephen Colbert plays faux conservative pundit so well that a recent poll showed that a majority of conservatives don’t realize he’s making fun of them. Luckily for these guys, they’re playing characters in front of a set with other things to lend to the fact they aren’t really “this guy.”
Normal comedians aren’t that lucky. Comedians are writers who perform their material. People don’t seem to understand this. No one assumes that Stephen King is a serial killer for writing the things he does, and no one in their right mind would think after looking at Nora Roberts that she’d had that many steamy romances. Yet people watch a comedian perform and think that this is just this person talking. Sure, they may tell life stories (most of which are barely if at all true) and talk about things they may or may not really believe. Sure there are hints of honesty come from a comedian. They write this stuff… it is a part of them. Last week, I wrote a note concerning the situation with Sarah Palin and David Letterman in my comedic voice. Sure, I meant a lot of what I said. I think it’s absurd that Letterman be forced to apologize for making a simple joke about a public figure. I also said outrageous things that were greatly exaggerated, as was my general use of language. But only the most ignorant person would actually believe that I am a sexist because of the harsh, over the top words I use to make my point, or that I legitimately equate Sarah Palin with a woman who drowned her children or Hitler, both of which were comparisons I made. The same goes for much more brilliant comedic voices than my mediocre self. Nora Dunn, as castmember who no one really remembers from Saturday Night Live, famously walked off the show when Lorne Michaels invited Andrew Dice Clay to host. Of all people, this woman should have realized that the misogynistic, sexist things Dice said were part of his character, and not who he really was. She’s supposed to be a comedian for crying out loud. And of course I can’t talk comedy without talking about my two heroes: Andy Kaufman and George Carlin.
Andy Kaufman never broke character. He was both brilliant and out of his damn mind. Only a select few people, his closest friends and family, got to know who he really was. Everyone else was treated to whoever Andy wanted them to think he was. One of his most remembered character stunts was his famous battle with Jerry Lawler in the professional wrestling world. It was perfect, partly because of Andy’s brilliant execution, and partly because he picked a world of entertainment where the fans are often so ignorant that they aren’t able to distinguish that what they are seeing isn’t real. And I’m not talking about the fighting, but the continuous soap opera story line. More on that idea in a little.
Carlin. I could write about this guy for days, and I plan on writing a much longer thing about his influence on me on Monday, which will mark the 1 year anniversary of his death. But I will say this about him. He said a lot of outrageous things, to say the least. To judge him by what you see and hear on stage, you’d swear he was the most bitter, cynical son of a bitch to ever walk the face of the earth. He was so annoyed with the most minute details of humanity and peoples stupidity that there is no way he could be a happy, normal person. Right? No. This past March, at the Winter Carnival of Magic in Pigeon Forge, TN, I got to have a long talk with Harry Anderson (the judge from Night Court). Harry’s a magician and comedian, and was at the very first episode of Saturday Night Live, which Carlin hosted (and where Andy Kaufman performed his infamous Mighty Mouse routine). He and Carlin became pals over time, so needless to say I was in awe and just asking him to tell me story after story about my heroes, soaking it all in. And he said something about Carlin that I KNEW was true before I heard it. Harry was at the airport in New York. He had lost his wallet, and had no cash, only his cell phone. So he called George. Without hesitating, George hopped in his car and picked Harry up at the airport, spent the day with him catching up, and gave him a couple hundred bucks to get by on until he got everything squared away. When I was lucky enough to meet George on October 15, 2006 (the greatest day of my life) he was one of the kindest, most gracious celebrities I had ever met. I also got to say hi to his wife, and she just smiled and said “it’s nice to meet you.” Yes, ladies and gents, George Carlin, the abrasive bitter old bastard, was married. He married his first wife in 1961 and stayed with her until she died in 1997, and remarried in 1998 and was with that lovely woman until the day he died. These are not the signs of a bitter man.
So why is it that as a general rule people are completely unable to separate a persons comedic voice from themselves? I think it has to do with the culture of commentary in the current media environment in this country. If you turn on any cable news channel, you’re likely to see what I’m talking about. Sean Hannity, Michael Moore, Rachel Maddow, Anne Coulter, Glenn Beck, Bill Maher, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Keith Olberman: All of these people ARE NOT JOURNALISTS. They are ENTERTAINERS. But when their faces are being put on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, etc; it blurs the line between entertainment and news. Don’t get me wrong, this can be a good thing when entertainment becomes informative commentary; but when news starts turning towards entertainers to keep people watching it is bad for America. Not only does it make people incapable of having legitimate debate, but it also makes it harder to distinguish when someone is making comic commentary instead of spouting what they really believe. As the late, great George Carlin repeatedly said in his final HBO special: “It’s bullshit… and it’s bad for ya.”
