Thread by @adamfelber

I’ve got a few minutes, so I’m gonna elaborate. But because I’ve written about this a few times already, I’m gonna try something different.

Let me tell you a story...

https://twitter.com/adamfelber/status/1077012859656101895

I never met my Uncle Arnie, but he was a legendary comedy writer who married my mom’s sister back in 50s (he wasn’t a legend at that point).

He wrote for Jackie Gleason (my aunt scored a small but memorable role on “The Honeymooners!”), Phil Silvers, and then he moved to LA.

Before he left, (he would go on to write for things like “Get Smart” and Carol Burnett), he had a piece of advice for my mom, who’d graduated college and was hoping to maybe write for television.

“Edie,” he told her, “All comedians are monsters.”

Now, let’s put aside that he was being kinda ironic. AND let’s put aside that writing opportunities for women back then were pretty much non-existent.

[My mom had the last laugh- she spent the last quarter century of her life as a successful novelist!]

Uncle Arnie had a point.

No, not literally. #NotAllComedians

But comedy people... at the very least, a whole lot of us are assholes.

Comedians get up and represent themselves and their context... I’d say “warts and all,” but that misses the point. The warts are key - theyre the secret sauce. (Ew!)

If you admire a comedian as a person, 9 times out of 10 you don’t really know them. Or you’re making excuses (attributing monstrous statements and behavior to “personal demons” is a popular dodge).

Astute observers may note that this also describes... well... everybody. True.

But unlike “everyone,” a lot of comedians make their ugliness their muse. They examine the weird bits of their psyche, and tease it out for laughs. Like the “pensieve” from Harry Potter, but in public.

Comedy is Not Pretty.

And so comedians, when they get together... we have different rules. We know that the bad shit in our brains has to be allowed to come out, and we accept that in each other.

There are limits, of course. Of course. Friendships get ruined, punches get thrown. But in general...

So, finally, my take:

Chris Rock didn’t “let” two white comics use the n-word. Jerry Seinfeld wasn’t expressing disapproval of those guys for using it - he was expressing his opinion about the word, not about his friends.

I would bet cash money that all four of those guys left the studio that night feeling perfectly okay with themselves and each other.

[I kid. Most of them left absolutely hating themselves. They’re comedians.

But they were fine with each other, that’s my point.]

So at base, I can’t hang with the people who are CANCELING Chris Rock. Or the people who are giving PROPS to Jerry Seinfeld.

But also not the people who are making lame excuses like “It was 7 years ago!” or “Why now?” or even “political correctness is destroying comedy!”

No.

To me-I feel like people have gotten childish about comedy. You don’t have to like the person and everything they’ve ever said in order to laugh.

Call them on their shit if they offend, and then listen to the next joke.That’s the deal. They’re not your hero or your president.

They’re people, as fucked up as the rest of us. More so, really. They’re putting all that out there because they’re good at it and it’s their job.

They don’t need your defense of their honor, nor your self-righteous Indignation (unless they’re truly shitty people. Some are!)

Some of you at this point want to tell me that comedians are still accountable for what they say. Shut up.

I mean, of course they are. But shut up.

Some jobs entitle people to different rules. Soldiers get to kill other soldiers and somehow it’s not murder.

Comedians get to say stuff that’s out of bounds, and we let them because that’s the only way to get to the stuff that brilliant. Their job is to take out all the weird, sometimes nasty stuff out their heads and play with it. In public.

Let’s remember that.

Call them out when they fuck up. That’s fine. They even LIKE that. (In fact, some of them like it in a creepy way!) Then move on.

But - you ask - is Adam saying that comedians are a special case and their speech deserves special exemptions?

Yes. Fuck yes. Exactly.

So, in conclusion, why did I feel the pressing need to spend all this time and energy expanding on this issue tonight?

Because good Italian meatballs take at least 90 minutes to simmer in the sauce, stirring occasionally.