Here’s something i wrote to a mailing list after a difficult conversation about humour
i’ve been thinking about this thread a lot this week, especially since my name was invoked.
i’d like to say i have laughed at adultery, but i don’t think i have. i’ve laughed with people over the smoking remains of their home, and at death, even by suicide, and at divorce. but not adultery.
I have been helping a friend release an album – satirical songs, mostly political. politics and politicians aren’t very funny, but i think humour can twist the issues (and the hypocrisy) in ways that undermine the lies while making the issues bearable. i’m a long long way from england, but we had a very similar scandal last year, and one of his songs has the line “hey bronwyn don’t be embarrased, you could’ve done worse than poor old gareth.”
he says this:
“We are a generation that no longer expects integrity from the politicians we vote for. Which means satire has to be done thoughtfully. It only works if you’re having more fun than the people you are taking the piss out of.”
maybe it’s hard to make adultery funny, but hypocrisy and politics and the media spin and the whole cultural