Comics: Unreliable deviants, chimps, idiots

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on October 30th, 2007

This is Stanley McHale, columnist for the Liverpool Echo and allegedly a standup comic for the past decade. Her latest work is “If you don’t want job be a comedian.” We’re not sure, but we think it’s satirical. Although it’s written so badly, it’s hard to know. (But it’s so utterly vicious, it had better be satire.)

Comedy is God’s way of giving idiots as great a chance in life as regular people.

It’s a job that, by its very nature, allows you to have virtually no responsibility. I know comedians who resent having to go to a simple meeting during the day because the whole reason they became a comedian in the first place is so their entire day was free of any burdens or dependability.

She goes on to say more unflattering things about comics, comparing them to monkeys, painting them as juvenile nitwits, drunks, emotional wrecks. Nothing positive. (We were always told in writing classes to mix things up a little… provide a little contrast, a little texture, lest someone take the satire the wrong way. There’s no indication that McHale is kidding in the least. We kept waiting for the “But seriously folks…” paragraph and it never came. It’s curiously void of any humor or wit– strange, considering it’s written by someone who claims to have been a comedian.)

The punchline is that McHale is going to be a judge tonight at a comedy competition. She exhorts Echo readers to come on down and watch the freak show. We wouldn’t want to be those comedians.

We’d love to have a day or two free of responsibility. But is it necessary to move to England to achieve that?

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