Does Comedy Work?
Words, and music, are some of the mediums employed to move people to action often with remarkable results. Remarkable, most often construed as something positive, doesn’t necessarily have to be. Isn’t it remarkable the way some are able to get so many to their bidding? So much can be accomplished with words alone.
Music too has the ability to move people. So powerful it’s often censored, banned even. To this day books, and albums get abused by those unable to deal with their message, assuming they have one.
Comedy, another art form when done well, can push the boundaries, and invite us to consider/reconsider that which we’ve been Fed. Think Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and others, not the shock-jocks, although there is room for them too, someone has to say it.
Comedy is often used to put an insightful spin on the political rhetoric we are, more than ever, now subject to. The question then is, does it work, is it an effective tool for stimulating debate?
The days of comedians getting thrown in jail for their assault on delicate ears, appear to be behind us, one can say pretty much anything. What effect does this have on their ability to move others beyond an hour or so of ‘entertainment’?
