How do they do it?

Sometimes remarkable things happen and we see them. Case in point:

Walking my dog the other day, I saw an older woman talking to a high school aged boy. He was very large, far too big for his apparent age. They were standing in a tennis court near my house. She was looking up at him and said something along these lines:

"You can't be doing this. If you want to live in my house, you have to follow the rules. Students are supposed to be in school. If you're not going to school, or working, then you have to leave."

I've seen this woman before. I'm fairly certain that she's a foster mother, as I've seen her walking with children of various ages, some too young to be her natural children, not to mention the multicultural backgrounds of the kids. Regardless, she was being very stern, and not very loving sounding, more scolding; Judge Judy-eque. The young man looked confused and angry. In my mind, he was a child, in a body that he hasn't matured into, but knew that his size gives him advantages to counter his fear. He could intimidate people, and they would likely back down. A cowardly lion that roars and threatens, hoping deep inside that he won't have to actually confront any situation, because he's ill equipped to deal with it.

He started to advance on her, and she very loudly said, "Don't pressure me into the corner!", and took out her cell phone. He looked around, and saw me. I didn't want to intrude, but I made sure to stay close enough that I could step in if he tried anything. I also made sure that I stayed in his sight line, so that he knew this too. He backed off, but again, looked confused, scared, angry. He yelled something, not exactly sure what, but it definitely had the F-word featured, and skate boarded off. I stuck around a little bit to make sure he didn't come running back to clock her one. She headed back home, and I didn't see him again.

So the situation seemed like one of the saddest things in the world to me. A child who's never known stability, can't hack it in a society that asks more than he's capable of (I imagine that he's learning disabled. The caveman expression prejudiced me, I'm sure, but I doubt I'm far off), and being rejected by the closest thing to a parental figure that he's got. "School sucks, and all I want to do is ride around on the skateboard" I almost wanted to tell him, "I get it, kid. School DOES suck, people can be mean, whatever, but it will end, and you'll be much better able to handle real life, when you enter it, than if you don't go through it"


It's interesting how humor can be found in the most awful of things. It's not shocking, of course, humor can be the relief for pain. See the Graham Chapman funeral, where it became a roast by his fellow Monty Python members. I read an article that said that laughter is a biological response to fear being dissipated. If you heard a rustle in the bushes, discovered that it was just the wind, then laughter was the way your body relieved the tension and told itself "you're ok, it's not a bear".

But back to the story. This was a very real, and sad moment. And I seriously thought for more than a moment "is there something funny in this?" Then I thought that I'm damned for even thinking that. Maybe for the kid there is something funny about it, or will be one day. If he became a comic he could relay the story, find the humor in the pain, who knows. But I couldn't, it's not my story, even though I just told it here. I don't need the relief that a joke would provide.  I do find sad things funny, but only when they're my sad things. And I'm sure I find them funny because I need to, to deal with the pain.

And now for my point. I know that I need more time to develop as a comic, because I notice things like that sad situation. That's what gets my attention, not "everything". A good comic notices something tiny, and can get 10 minutes out of it. I find myself to be too boring to do any kind of introspective humor. And because of that boring-ness, I also feel like I don't have very many experiences to relate that could be funny, comedy adventures. A good comic is constantly scanning everything to find the angle. I don't, and (this is a constant theme isn't it?) maybe that's why I won't be a very good comic. Whatever, I think I'm pretty funny sometimes, screw what's "right." Wow, that was a quick turnaround.

The end (?) dun dun duuunnnnn

The idea of this thing was to try to document what it's like to start out in comedy for a new person, as someone who knows nothing about what they're doing. There are 3 separate entries that I'm currently working on, and they're all dumb. To clarify, all of my posts are at least a little stupid, but I'm becoming more aware of it. It's the difference between being dumb and knowing that I'm dumb. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, I have known unknowns.

My perspectives aren't purely naive perspectives (take a drink), they're now partially naive. I've noticed that the school analogy often gets used. I'd say that I've finished with orientation, and am ready to start going to school as a freshman. I see the look of fear on a first timer and think "oh yeah, I remember feeling like that".  I've even given advice, at least the best I'm capable of, which isn't much, but it's something. I've bombed, gotten laughs, and everything in between. My point is that I don't have the exact same viewpoint of someone just starting out, so I don't think I can capture that anymore. That's why I'd say that the original intent/mission of this thing is over or maybe fulfilled.

In other words, I can't relate the thoughts of a newborn baby, which was what I was originally essentially trying to do. Nor do I have enough experience or perspective to offer anything of actual value to the comedy community through this thing. No one really cares what I think. I'm an annoying 2 year old. Sure, I can walk and talk, but mostly I just make a mess, sometimes in my pants, and speak useless nonsense.

So I'm at a crossroads. Do I end this blog, or not?  I lean towards not. Why? Why not, is my answer. But I'll be going beyond what I originally intended, just writing whatever I want, reviews, musings, ideas, whatever. It'll still be dumb, but at least I'll kind of know it.