Modified On September 29, 2009
The San Diego Union-Trib article begins:
Drugs, violence, teen pregnancy and incarceration– not exactly the stuff of punch lines and laugh tracks.
Unless it’s the teens telling the jokes. And the material is coming from their own experiences.
Ah! “Troubled teens playing it for laughs in comedy class” is the title of this one. Someone got the bright idea of “helping” troubled teens by teaching them standup.
Here’s the punchline, in paragraph four:
Paid for with $6,500 in federal stimulus money, this new course was designed for students who are interested in the entertainment industry. But it has also helped teenagers face their demons and relate to classmates at the county Office of Education community school in National City.
Your tax dollars at work!
Holdonaminute… are we not often told that standup comics are the rudest, most scramble-brained, narcissistic, drug-addled ne’er-do-wells on the face of the earth, plying their trade in tatty roadhouses, dark, dank nightclubs and seedy bars? Why ever would we want to send troubled teens down that same path?
Well, it turns out that standup will cure all your ills. Allow troubled teens to be honest an open and not hold anything back! Doing standup, we’re told now, gets these rebels without a cause to “think outside the box and expose them to something different!” Oh… we see now. Doing standup is good for troubled teens. But when done by adults, it makes for self-indulgent, obnoxious louts.
The tagline to the above punchline is:
About 20 students enrolled in the course, “Laughter Is the Best Medicine,” this year. It’s taught by Sandi C. Shore, who hails from a family that’s well-versed in comedy.
“These kids have been through a lot. I am blown away at their honesty and their creativity — they don’t hold anything back,” said Shore, who herself was “kicked out of Beverly Hills High.”
Arrgh! It’s taught by Sandi C. Shore, authoress of “Sandi C. Shore’s Secret to Standup Succes,” which is, quite possibly, the worst book ever written about standup comedy. (And progeny of Sammi and Mitzi Shore of the Comedy Store fame.)
It’s a trainwreck in SoCal!