Let’s take a break from all the COVID-19 related news and let’s talk about something important to me – namely comedy. Readers of my blog will notice that I approach things in a funny way and I aim to add humor into all my articles (yes, even lengthy discourses on depreciation and accounting fundamentals). So today, I’ve written a short opinion piece on what it means to be a responsible comic – you gotta punch up, and don’t punch down.
When telling a joke, I invariably will make fun of things – these can be rules, societies, organisations and sometimes individuals. Because, hey, it’s funny to make fun of stuff. It’s funny to make fun of society’s obsession with money. It’s funny to make fun of overly bureaucratic rules. It’s funny to make fun of staggeringly wealthy individuals who, for some reason whinge about paying taxes.
But in all cases, I ask myself, am I punching up, or punching down? Punching up means making fun of a subject that enjoys a position of privilege in society. These are usually the rich, the wealthy corporations, the corrupt officials, the ones who, for lack of a better word, can take a silly joke, laugh it off and still make an annual turnover of a billion odd-dollars or so.
Punching down means making fun of those already maligned by society. The so-called dregs, the outcasts, those shunned for being different. These are the poor, the needy, those discriminated against for the color of their skin, their nationality and their beliefs. With the recent COVID-19 outbreak, I hear of a lot of people bullying and making fun of individuals infected with COVID-19. Stop it. It is mean, hurtful and evil. It could easily be you sitting there in self-isolation, infected with COVID-19 as well. There is no humor to be had in punching down. It is pathetic at its best, and outright bullying at its worst.
Most of the time, to be on the safe side, I make fun of myself. Self-deprecating humor always comes across as genuine and safe. Safe because no one can ever fault me for making fun of myself, my background and my beliefs. When I self-deprecate I guess I’m just punching shadows. But hey, at least shadows don’t punch back.
So yeah, by all means, every comedy needs a punchline. But when throwing those punches, be sure to punch something that can take a punch.