Thoughts on the Comedian as a Social Scientist, Teacher, Artist

Good stand-up comedians are doing performance art. Key word being good comedians. Maybe good isn't the right word. I'll elaborate..... comedians whose stand-up routine includes insights into the human condition, are doing great performance art. Important work. I am being totally serious.

It has occurred to me recently (and many times before) that some of the biggest influences on my way of thinking have been comedians (more specifically their stand-up routines, which, like a work of art, are often developed and polished over a period of time.) People like; Bill Cosby, Bill Hicks, Bill Burr, Bobcat Goldthwait, Whoopi Goldberg, Roseanne Barr, Andy Kauffman, Lenny Bruce, Sarah Silverman, (and many more).

“Folks, it's time to evolve. That's why we're troubled. You know why our institutions are failing us, the church, the state, everything's failing? It's because, um – they're no longer relevant. We're supposed to keep evolving. Evolution did not end with us growing opposable thumbs. You do know that, right?”  ― Bill Hicks

It's amazing to me how artists like these manage to tackle subjects including: social commentary, political commentary, satire, philosophy, truth to power, and more; with deep insights into these subjects, and sell it to the audience. Things that are hard to talk about maybe in daily conversation, things you don't see on traditional media like television, film, and newspaper. Sometimes things that you are not going to learn in any classroom. So this is just a little tribute to the stand-up comedian/world philosopher role that is very important in my opinion, to modern culture.

I want to mention Andy Kaufman specifically, who didn't do stand up as much as he did actual performance art. Check out the documentary A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman (1995). Or any other of the many different  media forms out there that talk about him. Andy's art (I call it performance art more than comedy) was misunderstood by a lot of people I think.

"What's real? What's not? That's what I do in my act, test how other people deal with reality." - Andy Kaufman

To me his work was about how much of a reaction he could get out of people, by manipulating their basic emotions with his antics, for his own twisted gratification (which is kind of awesome). Or on the opposite end of the spectrum, using simple things in a moment of poetic whimsy, like a jazz artist might. Example - Kaufman's "Mighty Mouse Theme" skit. If you judge Kaufman's work sheerly as comedy maybe some of the critics have a point. But in my opinion his work crosses over into social commentary and really great performance art. Like a lot of good art, it transcends any label you might try to put on it. I am one of those hoping that his pre-mature death was his last great bit of work, and he is still out there somewhere, sweeping up the floor of a deli, quietly enjoying life.