There are a lot of dangerous jobs out there in the world we live in today.
Police officer is pretty high on the list, and the same goes for firefighter, even being a crab fisherman is pretty dangerous by the looks of that Deadliest Catch show.
But in 2023, one job that you couldn't pay me to try and attempt is standup comedy. Or writing any sort of comedy, for that matter, whether it's a TV show or a movie.
John Cleese is a legendary name in comedy. The iconic Monty Python performer, 83, is not only known for his time with the British comedy troupe, but for his other roles that have gained him fame, including the role of Basil Fawlty in the sitcom 'Fawlty Towers', which may have only produced 12 episodes split into two six-episode runs in 1975 and 1979, but hey, that's bizarre British television for you.
The show, which is rated 8.8/10 on the Internet Movie Database and carries a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, centered on the happenings and the comedic situations at a British hotel. I'd heard of the show before, but I'd never seen it until Outlook's Equinox Theatre group staged a production of the show onstage. After I saw that, I went back and watched the actual show, laughing my face off.
Fast forward to this past week, when a younger Bristol Live reporter, apparently from that age group that's been labeled Generation Z, gave her take on an episode of the show. She noted that humour has changed in the 48 years that have passed since the show first debuted and while she understood why it was such a sensation in its time, she didn't get any of the humour behind the jokes and setups.
Fans of the show leapt to its defense, and Cleese himself posted the following on his Twitter page:
“It's surprised me for years that people have such different senses of humour. The only danger arises when people with very little s.o.h (sense of humour) are allowed to decide what kind of humour is acceptable.”
John's response, in my view, is right on the money. There is a very real danger that comes attached to any form of art in 2023 when society allows every kind of Karen and Ken to dictate whether said art should even exist. I truly don't understand why we live in a world where if someone doesn't like something and they say they don't like it on their Twitter page or Facebook feed, then BOOM, down it comes! It's not allowed to exist anymore!
It comes right back to the drama with other comedians such as Dave Chappelle, whose Netflix standup specials over the last couple of years have produced some drama here and there with the "Twitterati" folks. And the funny thing about all the "anger" to do with Dave - his numbers are absolutely huge. The specials on Netflix? Millions of hours streamed. His standup tour dates? Instant sellouts. The money he makes? Man, it would take several dump trucks to load that much cash.
People fail to realize that sometimes, you just need to stop giving something attention, and it'll go away on its own. But that's not the generation we live in, see. Everything MUST be spotlighted, streamed, tweeted about, recorded, and put on blast so that every Tom, Dick and Joe can have his five minutes of internet fame because they talked about "the issues at hand". It used to be if you were a lowlife with some degenerative views, you were avoided like the plague. In 2023, if you happen to share an opinion or viewpoint that even remotely differs from that of the Woke Mob, your spotlight has never been bigger.
Here's what this thin-skinned Generation Z needs to realize: comedy, whether it's in standup performances, television sitcoms, or Hollywood films, is art. Much the same as music and the movies, it hits everyone differently. What I find funny might not be what you find funny, and vice versa. That's because it's art! So this notion that something might be "offensive" because it hasn't gone through the patented Gen Z Output Filter where we're mindful of everyone's feelings and everyone loves everyone else is not only ridiculous, it's downright censorship from people who come from a generation that would turn right around and not expect to be censored by anyone else.
In this regard, the hypocrisy is stunning. In a lot of ways, this kind of broken mindset is similar to that of the people I spoke of last week, who are all up in arms over a transsexual performer singing at the upcoming Saskatchewan Rush game. A lot of people in 2023 just need to take a good, long, hard look in the mirror at themselves, I guess.
Meanwhile, Cleese, who has been firmly against cancel culture and doesn't try to shield his opinions and views on the world we live in, is actually at work on a sequel to Fawlty Towers, set to star himself and his daughter Camilla. It'll be interesting to see how that project turns out down the road, with Cleese no doubt taking the opportunity to pleasantly roast the Cancel Culture crowd. I'll be pleased to watch!
For this week, that's been the Ruttle Report.
