I went to see a show by Eddie Izzard a few weeks ago; it was the third one this year (already had been lucky enough to see Trevor Noah and, my personal favourite, Louis CK) but this one was the most unexpected! I mean, I knew he was funny but I admit I had no idea how cultured, traveled, well spoken (in many languages, I might add) he is! He generously gave me two hours of laughter, two hours free of worries and stress and my work problems and my exhaustion after a looooong year and a particularly tough few weeks.... two hours of pure joy! And I honestly would have no words to thank him enough!
Moreover, I started thinking... I have loved standup comedy for many years now, I get my news from comedy shows because, really, the news lately are so bad that I can only swallow them coated in a thick layer of jokes... and I would always choose a good comedy over any other genre of films. But only now I start to realise how intimate comedy can be! A comedian chooses to expose themselves on stage, to share personal stories and details about their lives with the audience, chooses the road of laughing with their sadness, pain, embarrassment or heartache... and I keep thinking "why"?!... do they need to exorcise the traumas this way? Do they just do it for us, a selfless act of kindness for people like me who need the laughter desperately? Is it just for the money?... All of the above?... no, this last one is very improbable, surely there are easier ways to make a living that stripping your soul naked in front of a full theatre!
I don't know... I can understand the need, though, to look at tragic moments in one's life through comedy tinted glasses, to focus on the funny side (it's always there, just difficult to see) and cure this way the pain... but that doesn't make comedians' offer to me less valuable! It's priceless! And, in the times that we live in and with everything that's been going on on this planet (no, I refuse to go into details...), it is indispensable! I have no doubt we will need comedy and comedians more than ever and, hopefully, they will be there to make sure that we all together heal the pain and fight evil and fear with a good dosage of laughter!
And that is absolutely better that shoes! And I will always be thankful to them 😉