When I was in grade 12, as per the usual graduation tradition, we voted to decide what people would most likely become. Even at the time I didn’t really understand what the point of the activity was, but just went with it anyway. When the results came out I was very surprised to find that my classmates had voted me most likely to become a comedian. I still don’t really understand it. I never tried to be the centre of attention, didn’t constantly crack jokes, I’m not really that quick witted, and was never the life of the party. I did try to make people smile by being silly, but that doesn’t spell comedian to me at all. Yes, I will never get why people decided that I would make a good comedian.
I actually don’t really enjoy stand-up comedians all that much; the only comedy set that I have really loved was by Jim Gaffigan. To me watching someone stand up and talk at you with the expectation that you will laugh at what they are saying doesn’t seem like something that I really want to take part in. I find that some, not all, comedians spend their lives trying to make people laugh, but are actually really unpleasant people. I also really hate how a lot of current comedians use inappropriate language, and talk about really inappropriate things. If you can’t make people laugh about everyday things and you have to resort to swearing and be vulgar, then maybe you shouldn’t be a comedian.
This leads me to a story about attending a small comedy show one night during the winter. A friend of mine invited me to see a comedy show at a small pub one night, and I thought that, if nothing else, it would fun to hang out with my friend. Because the space was so small we ended up sitting in the front row, and trust me this is not where you want to be during a night of comedy. The first few people on deck were pretty entertaining, and a laughed a bit enjoying myself. Then Jerk Number One got up. He started out alright, and then he made a rape joke. Well, I don’t how you feel about rape jokes, but I don’t think that they are OK ever. For some reason this guy took great offense to the fact that I didn’t laugh at his rape joke and started to pick on me. Whatever, I thought, he will be done soon, and he was. Then up got Jerk Number Two, and when I didn’t laugh at one of his jokes he started to pick on me as well. He wasn’t the worst and did get back to his set. Then the last comedian of the night got up, I like to call him King of the Jerks. At this point I just wanted this whole show to be over and wasn’t really paying attention to what this guy was saying until he started to talk to me. Honestly, I can’t really remember what the first thing that he said to was, but I remember him say “What’s wrong with your face” which is not something that I don’t enjoy hearing due to the fact that I have scars covering my entire face. (That is a whole other story for another time). This guy just kept at it, it was borderline harassment. I know that he was just trying to get me to say something that he could use as a joke, but what he didn’t know is that I have an older brother who likes to try to get a rise out me whenever possible and I have a lot of patience. After ignoring him for a while, I looked at him and said “Move on”. My friend even asked me if I wanted to “go to the bathroom” at one point, but I wasn’t going to let this guy get the better of me. I stayed, told him to “move on”, and gave him annoyed looks until he was done. He wasn’t worth making me look weak over.
I think that the thing that gets me the most about this story is that these people just expected me to laugh at them. I can find things funny and not laugh out loud hysterically. I’m someone who wears my emotions on my sleeve; I don’t always laugh when I find something funny, and I don’t cry when I find something sad. I also don’t think that I need to. So what; deal with it.
So there is my reason for why I don’t really like comedians, and why I will never attempt to become one. I will, however, continue to act silly, try to make people laugh, and have as much fun with life as I can.
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