Nick Offerman takes the stage in a one-man showcase of his abilites as a humourist. Watch it for yourself and comment if you agree or disagree with my review!
This week has been a long one and next week I intend to do something a little more introspective, but I really don't have the time to do it justice this week.
So instead, I leave you with my two all-time favourite bits. If these don't make you laugh, then I don't know what to do. Enjoy!
The events of the horrific attack in Paris have gone through the 24-hour news cycle enough times that its probably lost a sock. There have been a lot of great discussions about the freedom of speech, and freedom of press as a result. French illustrator Lucille Clerc published my favourite comic in solidarity.
Charlie Hebdo was a magazine that I likely would not have enjoyed. From what I understand, it was akin to a francophone MAD Magazine. But it was satire, and if we decide we want to defend free speech, that means the kind of speech that offends some people.
Being offensive does not make you funny. I can not say this enough. Sadly, like so many of our rights, when we enforce the freedom to speak, some people speak like idiots.
Bad satire – which seems to make up the majority of it these days – has given good, amazing, thought-provoking satire a bad name.
The Onion is the New York Times of satire. Seriously, you know those people who believe fake articles they see on Facebook? They come from The Onion.
Good satire, real satire is difficult to do. Stephen Colbert did it for eight years masterfully, and Fox News hasn't realized they've been doing it all along.
Key and Peele are another source of spectacular social commentary today. My generation's Chappelle's Show, these two comedians are masters at poking the tropes and stereotypes of race culture in America. The duo's writing ability is only heightened by their ability to believably inhabit the outrageous characters they create, leading to grounded performances from decidedly ungrounded people. The Auction Block
Soul Food
Alien Imposters
But if you really want to find the Abbott and Costello, the Moses and Aaron, the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck of satire, look no further than:
Oh yeah, we're talking about South Park. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have carved out a piece of real estate in which they have an unprecedented amount of creative freedom.
From the Sexual Harassment Panda to Man-Bear-Pig, Matt and Trey have never found a line they didn't want to cross. And they do so with an insane amount of intellect and intention – these are the same guys who wrote The Book of Mormon, the Broadway play that won 9 Tonys and were nominated for an Oscar (I'll repeat that) an OSCAR for the song "Blame Canada."
Note: I totally understand the style of comedy in South Park is NOT for everyone. But people who dismiss it entirely do not understand the level on which the show operates.
When South Park mercilessly mocked Family Guy for their lazy writing on a special two-parter that showed the people of the US shoving their heads into sand to avoid watching the show, the writers of King of the Hill and The Simpsons sent flowers.
When, earlier this season, Randy Marsh revealed that he is actually Lorde and he records all his music on the toilet and auto-tunes it, Lorde said she loved the joke.
The list of episodes with original, current references that say what so many comedians fail to is endless, but something interesting happened on episode 200, which aired early in 2015.
– Some back story first, South Park has aired images of Muhammad the prophet in early episodes. During the controversy over a Swedish cartoonist drawing him in 2007, Comedy Central censored any images of Muhammad in South Park's reruns.
Matt and Trey do not like being told what to do, and aired a number of episodes that were not subtle about the danger of censorship.
Back to 200, the plot of the episode is that every single celebrity made fun of in South Park's history decides to file a class-action lawsuit against the town of South Park. Everyone is there, Tom Cruise, Bill Cosby, Hillary Clinton, the whole gang.
Even Muhammad.
Comedy Central demanded any depiction of Muhammad be censored from the episode and Matt and Trey didn't really have a choice, but they handled it in true South Park fashion. Watch the video below to see what good satire looks like.
THAT is what satire is supposed to do.
Fun fact for you all, Comedy Central is even censoring the episode on the DVD release, so that episode will never run uncensored again.
My good friend Laina Groom is a very funny person. I don't say this about every person I know who makes jokes. I may write a comedy blog, but her writing is way, WAY funnier than mine is.
She wrote that blog post as a response to a joke I made on a previous one, and in doing so, proved her own point about the importance of commitment to a bit.
There is nothing worse (in comedy) than someone who fails to commit to the bit.
Stand-ups respect sketch actors because, to them, the idea of being locked into a written piece in front of an audience that isn't on board is the scariest thing in the world. Good stand-ups build their sets with break-away points so they have an out if something falls flat.
Conversely, sketch actors often express that same terror at the idea of being the only person on stage when something flops, and not having the herd mentality that sketch acting brings.
They're both right. In either case, a comedian who doesn't commit to whatever premise they're trying to establish will fail, every time.
For a very low-video-quality example, observe this sketch from MADtv, where Josh Meyers and Ike Barinholtz pretend they're simply explaining how improv works. Like the sketch or not, it takes commitment to make this funny.
It's impossible to talk about commitment to a joke without bring up Will Ferrell.
Whether you love him or hate him (in my experience there is no middle ground) there is no one better at committing to a joke.
Many of his SNL colleagues have shared stories of Will's attitude towards this. If a sketch bombed in front of the audience at dress rehearsal or live, he shifted into a "if we're going down, you're coming with us" mindset, and would dig into every uncomfortable aspect of the character he could.
His acceptance speech for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is brilliant.
His Golden Globes bit with the incredible Kristen Wiig
Ferrell in character as Ron Burgundy sitting in on a real newscast KXMB-TV from North Dakota. Bonus points for watching the curling commentators struggle to deal with Ron Burgundy at the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings
Nick Offerman was skyrocketed into pop culture in 2009 with his portrayal of Ron Swanson on NBC's Parks and Recreation. Ron Swanson is so traditionally masculine that Hemingway himself might think twice about trading shots with him. Interestingly, Nick Offerman's personality is nearer to Swanson's than many actors are to their characters. He has successfully operated a woodshop for a number of years, and has made everything from canoes to ukeleles himself. I've listened to Offerman's great interviews on the Nerdist Podcast (first and second) and loved his philosophies and attitudes on life, acting, and what it means to be a man.
I've said all this because I want you to know how ready I was to love his special, American Ham. Offerman is not a stand-up, per se, but a "humourist". Think of Mark Twain, and how he wasn't doing bits about airplane food, but more specific observational anecdotes. Sadly, I did not like American Ham.
I know Chris, I know Leslie. I was shocked too.
Offerman doesn't even have the problem of being "not funny". He has the problem of being a very funny person doing material that is unoriginal and, more much of the special, rather boring.
He does almost 15 minutes on "Man, the Bible sure says some stupid stuff!" which isn't bad because it could be considered offensive by some, but bad because it's so unoriginal and uninspired that you'd hear much of it at Sunday School (minus the frequent references to oral sex).
There are, of course, redeeming moments, like when he is forced to cut out a parody of a Johnny Cash song and it cuts to a pre-taped video segment featuring Offerman in his workshop feigning bewilderment at the "lawyer" telling him why he can't show the song, while speaking to camera about where fans can go find the song on YouTube.
I will continue to love Nick Offerman despite this special. I think he's still an inspiring figure, and I tend to agree with much of his personal philosophy. I just won't concern myself with seeking out tickets to any of his one-man shows.
My name is Jason Dueck.
I am a Creative Communications student at Red River College.
This is where I talk about comedy. Sitcoms, stand-up, improv, movies, whatever. I love comedy and I love breaking it down.
All opinions expressed are my own and are informed by my experience and love for the performers and their ability.
To me, comedy is no laughing matter.
