Falling-Down Funny

Genius: Stan Laurel

 I am a comedian. By which, I mean, I use comedy, in a variety of forms, to express a lot of what I have to express. That said, I remember a quote from Stan Laurel (though I might be paraphrasing a bit here):

"Comedians don't open funny doors, they open doors in funny ways

That quote says so much. And usually, it should be left at that. Comedy kinda dies if you try to analyze it too much. Ever try to explain why something, a joke maybe, was funny to someone that didn't get it. Hardly worth the effort.

this is not to say comedy doesn't have theory. I love thinking about comedy theory. Seriously. But of all the shop-talk I do, I never talk a lot about the mechanics of comedy.

All of this above has been sort of lead-up to a great article, "Falling-Down Funny" by A. O. Scott, I stumbled across lately. Check it out HERE.

"Physical comedy did not exactly die with the rise of the talkies, as any fan of the Three Stooges, Jerry Lewis or Jim Carrey will attest. But it did suffer a loss of prestige; what for Agee was the highest form of laughter is frequently seen as the lowest, fit for the amusement of children or French people.