Comedy in Culture in Comedy

An analytical, comedic essay diving into how different types of comedy have changed culture for the better (made for a school project)

Imagine a world where it was literally impossible to make a living off of making people laugh. No stand-ups, no late night shows, no sitcoms, etc. How different do you think our culture would be? Very different? A little different? Would it even change at all? I’m willing to bet that most of you said either a little or not at all. “I mean, it’s comedy,” You might even say to yourself. “Sure, we wouldn’t know some comedians here and there, but so what?” Well, I am here to say that that belief is wrong, and that comedy is not only important to society, it is vital.

“Wait, what?” I hear you say, as you push your glasses up higher on your face and take a sip from your “Go Giants” coffee mug. “Comedy is vital to culture? Yeah, right. Where’s your proof?” Oh, my dear friend, I am so glad that you asked.

Now, I’m not the first one to come up with this theory. A quick Google search will yield hundreds of results on why comedy is so important. I mean, sure, a quick Google search will also yield hundreds of results on how drinking too much water causes cancer, but I still think it’s a very valid theory. Comedy can, has, and will continue to shape our culture. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst. And while I could spend half a millennium explaining in detail why using credible sources and studies and the likes, I’m not gonna. Because that’s boring. And hard. And would be really confusing. It would also take way longer than the three weeks I have. So instead, I’m gonna focus on four main types of comedy performance: vaudeville, stand-up, sitcoms, and late night shows. I was gonna do puns, but I’m fairly certain the only impact they’ve had was a fist against someone’s face. Guess you could call it a sucker pun! ...No? Alright.

 

Vaudeville

First off, let’s talk vaudeville. Now, unless you’re in your late 80s, you probably have no idea what vaudeville is. So I’ll quickly explain it. Vaudeville comedy is stuff like The Three Stooges, Charlie Chaplin, Abbott and Costello, that sort of thing. It mainly consisted of quick comedic scenes that usually had somebody playing an idiot failing at everyday tasks, misunderstandings, and slapstick. Tons and tons of slapstick. I mean, vaudeville essentially invented the modern day iteration of slapstick. The previously mentioned Three Stooges were the kings of slapstick back in the day, but Charlie Chaplin was also very well known for this genre. Vaudeville rose to popularity in the 1880s and died off about 50 years later. Some of the more famous bits and shows from that era actually survived and became household names, like “Who’s on First” and, as stated earlier, The Three Stooges. It was huge in its heyday.

At the time, most of the comedy available was either too complicated or too dirty and filthy and disgusting for kids to really enjoy. But hey, it was the 19th century. Those kids were too busy learning, working, dying, or all three to have time to laugh. Then along came vaudeville. While there were certainly dirty vaudeville theaters out there, most were kept pretty clean and simple, meaning that parents could bring their children with them without feeling guilty. And when I say clean, I mean super clean. Like, if you even dipped into what could be considered “offensive” material, you could immediately be booted from the theater. Also, vaudeville was pretty cheap for the time, allowing even more people to enjoy it. This helped it rocket up in popularity and made it the hip new cash cow of its day. In its height, the vaudeville industry was employing over twelve thousand different employees. So that was pretty cool. It almost makes up for the way that vaudeville actors were treated.

Yeah, comedians were treated terribly at the time. Vaudeville was basically a cash cow at the time, and the people running them wanted to milk it for all it was worth. So they cut corners everywhere, especially in the “basic human respect” department. The people going up on stage were often placed in the cheapest, most disgusting dressing rooms money can buy. They would often be flooded, filled with rats, falling apart, un-air conditioned, the list goes on and on. In one case, a comedian’s dressing room was literally a spare storeroom and was filled with bags of unpopped popcorn. So not exactly the most humane conditions. And that’s not even bringing up the drugs and alcohol. At the time, drugs, specifically opium, essentially became a second type of currency for entertainers. A lot of comedians were chosen to do shows because they were drug dealers. A lot of big comedians were arrested because of this. Things weren’t going so well. And then the prohibition on alcohol hit.

Not surprisingly, a lot of comedians were alcoholics. So when alcohol was banned, those comedians went a bit crazy. They desperately searched for any bootleggers nearby and would sneak bottles of it around. This also got a lot of them arrested, which made the public image of comedians even worse. Also, there was a lot of racism. Like, a lot of racism. You know blackface? That crappy black makeup with the big lips that basically shows to the world that those who wear it are racists? Yeah, it was invented in Vaudeville. Many theaters would refuse to hire African Americans because, y’know, they were racists, and would instead have white people just wear makeup and act like idiots. Cause apparently that was a better option. God, the 19th century was awful.

The few African Americans who were given jobs would mostly either fall into obscurity or get cast in incredibly racists roles. Want examples of racism in vaudeville? Oh, I got plenty! A quick Google search will yield hundreds of results on racism in vaudeville. We got shows like Coon Hollow Capers, St. Patrick’s Day is Bad for Coons, The Coffee Colored Coon (They really liked that particular slur), the list goes on and on. And while I could talk about how horrible this is for hours on end, you have to remember that back then everything in mainstream media was racist. Just be glad this isn’t an issue anymore. Now, if Hollywood has a person of color in their show, they just hire a person of color. What’s that? Whitewashing? Psssh, please! I doubt Hollywood would ever purposefully rewrite characters to be white! No, they’d never do that!

Anyway, let’s review what we’ve learned about vaudeville. It helped introduce a whole new generation of people to the wonders of comedy while also creating a stigma for comedians because they were druggies and alcoholics. Vaudeville died off in the early 1930s due to a whole number of factors, like cheaper alternatives and the rise of radio shows. And while I talked for a while about the negative impact vaudeville had, I do want to emphasize that it was very important for the growth of comedy in the US. Not only did it introduce more and more people to comedy, but it also basically created the bedrock for the American style of comedy. Seriously, the in-your-face slapstick style of today’s shows and tv basically spawned from vaudeville. People were inspired by these shows and made their own stuff, which then inspired others to make their own things, and so on and so forth.

 

 

 

Stand-Up

Next up, stand-up. So, what’s up with stand-up? Well, get up out of your chair and show up to my show and I’m gonna stop this now before I break into song. Unless you’ve literally spent your entire life in a bubble and this is your first contact with the outside world, you know what stand-up is. If that is the case, welcome friend! I’m glad you’ve left your comfy little bubble and entered the hellscape that is the world! Stand-up is easily my favorite form of comedy. I mean, with figures like Brian Regan, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, etc., how can you not love it?

Now, there are a lot of ways that stand-up has affected culture, but, for the sake of time, I’m only going to focus on one: freedom of speech.

Our main protagonist today is a man by the name of Lenny Bruce. He was a very popular stand-up in the late 50’s and early 60’s, and if you have any interest in the history of comedy I highly recommend looking more into this man. Now, before Bruce, mainstream comedy (I.E. the stuff being shown on TV) was, by and large, pretty clean. Sure, you had your risque stuff here and there in entertainment, but comedy was seen as kid’s stuff. Childish. At the very least, that made it more marketable. And then in walks Mr. Bruce. The stuff he was saying was pretty out there at the time. Want an example? Well, it wasn’t easy, but I got some. Most of the quotes I found online were either pretty passé by today’s standard’s or dip a little bit too much into the hard R range. But I did find a couple. There were a couple common themes in his comedy:

Sex: “You can't do anything with anybody's body to make it dirty to me. … you can do only one thing to make it dirty: kill it.”

Religion: “I think it's about time we gave up religion and got back to God.”

And freedom of speech: “Freedom of speech is a two-way street, man. You have the right to say whatever you want and the Boss has a right to tell the police to arrest you.”
So why am I telling you about this guy? Well, because he changed the way we thought about entertainment. While you might have found these quotes pretty standard, they were outlandish at the time. Bruce actually got arrested for what he said several times for “obscenity.” Because somebody using naughty words is totally an understandable reason to throw them in jail! And yet, no matter how many times he was arrested, he kept on coming back. And Bruce was actually pretty successful. He was a firm believer in the first amendment. He believed that making certain topics or words illegal to say on TV was horrible. And he fought hard for these rights. He did whatever he could to change public opinion. And change it he did. Sure, not immediately, but he was definitely winning his fight. Sadly, in 1966, he overdosed and died on morphine in his home. He was an amazing comedian, and America was sad to see him go. Fortunately, the legacy he left behind would encourage other stand-ups to finish the fight he started, the big one being George Carlin. Ever heard of the “7 words you can’t say on television” bit? Yeah, that was Carlin. He basically did a whole spiel on why censorship in media is dumb before quickly saying the seven words that, at the time, were illegal to say on television. He then went into the specifics on why each word was on the list. I would tell you what those seven words are, but this is a school project.
Carlin and several other comedians helped finish the fight that Bruce started all those years ago. And now we have more freedom in media than ever in American history. And, in all honesty, I think that this is for the better. While more freedom of speech also means more morons spouting nonsense that people somehow believe, it’s also allowed news stations and other media figures to bring up really important issues without the fear of their shows being pulled from TV for being “too controversial” or “too upsetting.” Before Bruce, I feel that we probably wouldn’t have been able to discuss Trump’s effect on the world or the issues going on in Syria, at least not on mainstream networks. Now, you may disagree and say that we have too much freedom in media and if things continue unchecked, all Hell will break loose. But one thing’s for sure; none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Lenny Bruce’s dirty, dirty mouth.

 

 

 

Sitcoms

Now it’s time for sitcoms. I doubt I have to give you a history lesson here either. They’ve been on TV since we first got TVs! And these shows have created some of the most memorable characters and families in the history of entertainment. It also helped a lot of actors and actresses become household names: Jaleel White, Will Smith, Tim Allen, the Olsen twins, etc. and etc. I mean, with all of these great characters and great setups, who doesn’t love sitcoms?

…Well, me. But we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about how sitcoms helped America become better.

Back in the day, similarly to African Americans, women were rarely given starring roles in Hollywood. Don’t get me wrong, female actors had it significantly better than African American actors, but females were mostly limited to “damsel in distress” or the stay-at-home mom. They certainly weren’t given roles that allowed them to show off their acting talents. But along came a little show called I Love Lucy to change all of that. I Love Lucy ran from 1951 to 1957 and, along with pioneering the sitcom genre, it was one of the first shows on TV to give a female the starring role. This was unheard of at the time. And while it wasn’t exactly the most progressive depiction of women by today’s standard’s, it was definitely a start. The show followed the titular Lucy’s zany antics to try and become famous and the trouble it got her and her singer/bandleader husband, Ricky Ricardo. It’s cheesy, goofy, and just overall a lot of fun. It hasn’t exactly aged amazingly, but I’d say give it a watch if you want to see the start of the modern sitcom.

I Love Lucy was huge for female actors and females in general, but they weren’t the only ones who benefited by the sitcom craze. Plenty of other minorities benefited: African Americans with The Jeffersons and The Cosby Show (look past what we know about him now), homosexuals with Will and Grace and The Corner Bar (the latter being the first show to feature a recurring gay character), etc. and etc. The main point I want to make here is that due to their marketability and success, the sitcom genre has allowed people to bring up complex issues like racism and sexism and homophobia that nobody really likes to talk about by hiding them with comedy. But don’t misunderstand me; they may be hidden, but they are certainly making a difference. TV shows like the ones I listed above have helped bring about real change, like normalizing homosexuality or changing the stereotypical view of minorities without being obvious and preachy about it. They didn’t end their episodes with a five-minute PSA about these things, they cleverly slipped them between the cracks and we didn’t even notice. Put simply, sitcoms have been changing the way we view each other without us even realizing. And while I personally might not find them funny, I have to give respect where respect is due. Now if only there were more good ones.

 

 

 

Late Night Shows

Finally, we move on to late night talk shows. Y’know, shows like The Late Show, The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight, etc. Now, these types of shows have been around for a while, but haven’t really risen to popularity until recently, so their obvious effect on culture isn’t as apparent. But there is still a lot to dive into here, so let’s begin.
If I were to start talking about politics, how many of you would immediately switch to something else? Probably most of you. That’s understandable, politics isn’t exactly the most interesting or fun subject. Alright, but if that’s true, then why is it that John Oliver, who talks exclusively about politics, has become a household name and has a net worth of $5 million? Simple: Because he’s funny as all hell.

I seriously doubt any of you reading this haven’t at least heard of what I’m talking about here. These shows have brought politics to the forefront of people’s minds. They’ve brought complex issues to light and made people passionate about these subjects by simply making it funny. Nothing, and I mean nothing, keeps people’s attention more than comedy. Well, it’s either comedy or controversy. But comedy is positive. Sprinkle some funny jokes into a conversation on nearly any subject, and I guarantee that people will pay attention. Even if they don’t agree with what you’re saying, they’re going to keep on listening because it’s fun to laugh. I mean, John Oliver has done 25 minute long talks on pennies, fantasy football, campaign songs, and freaking dialysis, which is a word that I didn’t even know existed, and has gotten millions of views for each video. Hell, that last one has over four million views! God, I can’t even get people to listen to me for five minutes, and this guy has more people than the population of Puerto Rico listening to him talk about some obscure kidney problem. I could go on for hours talking about how these shows have become successful, but I think you get the point; they use comedy to draw people into the discussion. Put simply, you come for the jokes, stay for the fascinating and eye-opening analysis on serious political issues in our world. God, I wish I had their people skills.

 

 

Conclusion

And there we are! Four types of comedy performance and how they’ve changed American culture! If I had more time, I’d dig even further into each topic and look into even more examples. But I really wanted to focus on the main four that I picked. For one, they represent a bunch of different eras: the 19th century with vaudeville, the 50’s with sitcoms, the 70’s and 80’s with stand-up, and the modern day with late night talk shows. Also, they all have something in common; they each mark a major change not only in comedy and entertainment, but culture in general. Let’s go down the list. Vaudeville brought humor to the masses, and specifically young kids, where previously it was usually enjoyed only by the more upper class. Sitcoms finally gave female and minority actors the spotlight and allowed them to show off their talent. Stand-up saw rise to the free speech movement and helped people share their thoughts and feelings to the masses. And late night shows helped the culture become more directly involved with politics and important issues.

Some may argue that these changes weren’t brought on by comedians alone, and that I’m exaggerating the role that comedians played. These changes would’ve come about even if the comedians I mentioned weren’t present. Well, while I agree that they weren’t the only people bringing about change, I personally feel that for big change to happen, comedy needs to be present. Not necessarily leading the charge, but it has to be in the crowd somewhere. Maybe near the middle or something, I dunno. How so? Well, let me ask you something; imagine that same world from before where it was impossible to make a living off of comedy. Do you think as many people would care about politics if we didn’t have Trevor Noah to explain it to us in a funny way? Do you think that women would have been as accepted as actors if we never laughed at Lucy and her husband? Do you think we’d have nearly as much free speech in media as we do if Lenny Bruce didn’t step up and make us all laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole thing? Do you think that the entertainment industry would have become as profitable as it is if vaudeville didn’t make it cheaper and more family friendly? Comedy is a driving force behind our culture, always pushing us towards change and growth. I could probably do a whole paper on comedy during the civil and women’s rights movements.

Now, this entire time I’ve been talking about how comedy can affect culture. However, it can also go the other way around; culture can affect comedy. I don’t have time to get into the specifics right now, but what is going on in American life has undeniably changed our sense of humor and what we want to see in our comedians. During Dr. King’s protests and boycotts, I can guarantee you that comedians were making jokes about it like they do today. Some supporting King, others against him. But it goes even deeper than that. Certain movements in culture have changed what we find acceptable.

“Wow, really groundbreaking stuff.” I hear you say, as you roll your eyes and drink from your “Go A’s” mug (switching sides, how dare you). “What’s going on in the world changes what we find funny? I’m so shocked.” Alright, you want something a bit more? Fine. How about this: our current culture has made comedy next to impossible to pull off.

Let me explain.

I don’t have time to jump into this topic as deeply as I would like to, but it’s an interesting theory that has been brought up recently. Basically, thanks to the current situation going on in America, comedy writers, especially those doing satire, need to kick it into overdrive. Reason being? The Trump.

Now, whether you support him or not, you have to admit that he’s made things a little… tense, especially for comedians. Where before they could freely poke at both sides, they now have to pick a side. You’re either pro-Trump or anti-Trump. And while some comedians have quickly jumped onto one side or the other, a lot have become quiet. We basically have half the country at each other’s throats right now, so picking either side will guarantee a significant loss in viewership. Side with Trump, you’ve just lost every single liberal who watches your show. Against Trump? Say goodbye to all those conservatives who watch your show. And the thought of not only losing all of those viewers but those same viewers wanting your head has scared a lot of comedians away from touching the subject at all. And political satire is important, as discussed above, so this is actually a bigger deal than it might seem.

Now, to be fair, some comedy shows have thrived in this Trump era, like SNL and The Tonight Show. But, thanks to Trump and his antics in the White House, satire has become significantly harder to pull off successfully. Which is really sad.

But enough political garbage for now. No matter what happens next, I know one thing for sure; whatever the next big change will be, we’ll all have comedians to thank. And if the next big change is bad, we’ll have comedians to blame. So either way, we’re covered.

 

Sources:

Zoglin, Richard. Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America. New York, NY: Bloomsbury USA, 2009. Print.

Nesteroff, Kliph. The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy. New York: Grove, 2016. Print.

"Vaudeville." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 May 2017. Web. 01 June 2017.

"Lenny Bruce." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 May 2017. Web. 01 June 2017.

"I Love Lucy." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 31 May 2017. Web. 01 June 2017.

Author's Note

Let me know if it's easy to follow at all. I tend to get a bit rambly when I'm talking about stuff I'm interested in and want to know if it people get confused while reading it.