Its odd to me to suddenly think about the fact that the majority of my friends now days have no clue as to how deeply and fully obsessed I use to be about comedy. I don't mean that I was funny or that I even truly felt like I could do comedy but that I was just obsessed with the whole thing of it... all of it from Greeks to Shakespeare to Comedy Central stand up specials...gross out humor, British humor, and subtle and bizarre humor... It however runs deeper than a love of stand up and funny movies and silly sketches...it was a love of history and stories comics told about what inspired them, their struggles and triumphs...history of various comedy clubs or performers the picketing of the comedy store in LA , it was knowing roots and owning comedy albums not just because they are hilarious but because of their overall historical value.
I've always considered myself a closeted theatre kid but by all means my two favorite plays of all time are Lysistrata and the Importance of Being Earnest, two very funny stories from very different eras that to this day still leave me with sore sides from laughter and I don't just enjoy them at face value but because I enjoy them I looked deeper into Greek theatre history and into Oscar Wilde's life...it didn't make the plays any more or less funny but it certainly made me more entertained.
I could not quote you a famous comics famous piece but I can tell you who Mike Nicoles and Elane May are and why they are important, I can list you a great deal of people who were alums at Second City or The Groundlings and give you brief history on both schools and why they have their namess... I can tell you that all kinds of useless things on comedy and I just wonder when did I lose my spark for it? I use to love it so much it would ooze out of my pours it was my geekdom and I hate to think I grew out of it because I don't think I did I think I just became quiet due to insecurities that I'm not comfortable with and I truly truly miss that part of me. The part that squeals when one of the Pythons does something (anything really...just hearing Eric Idle speak makes me smile) the part that cried because people like David Brenner and George Carlin passed away in her lifetime and I had to immediately share some of their work with people I knew upon hearing then news. The kind that has to show someone a funny song or bit and the part that could watch stand up comedy or documentaries on comics for hours at a time.
I love to laugh, that is no secret and I only surround myself with witty and sarcastic people its not that I look for them I just draw them in or am drawn in by them. I however do miss my geekdom. I am often associated as a fan of things like Batman but no one knows how little I actually know about the Dark Knight in comparison to this much broader field of interest.
Its time I listen to my albums and embrace the girl I was because she was much more happy in what she liked than the girl I currently am. Time to reembrace the absurd and silly beyond the scope of the internet and back to the roots of comedy.
