One rung above

Comedy is ass. And I don’t think I’m alone in saying that. The last great innovation in the medium, Cumtown, said it best: Donald Trump ruined it. It’s not because of his politics or his antiquated views on women and social issues. It’s because he treats the office of POTUS as one big standup routine. And the sad part is that it’s funnier and more daring and transgressive than almost all of comedy.

Comedians have struggled to keep up ever since.

But because the Trump era has created an unholy union between lowbrow entertainment and politics, certain performers, chief among them Joe Rogan, have mythologized comedians as modern day philosophers, or, to paraphrase Rogan himself, as the last line of defense for free speech. Hahaha! Isn’t that so funny? It’s getting high off your own supply. It’s aggrandizing your own self importance at the cost of comedy itself.

This explains why Stavros Halkias is having his moment in the sun. He’s offering a counter argument if you will; a return to tradition. His assertion is simple: comedy is good if it makes people laugh. Full stop. It’s not serious and the moment when you make it serious, it stops being funny. For Halkias, comedy is the lowest form of art. It doesn’t matter if that sentiment is valid though. What matters is that Stavvy doesn’t take himself seriously because seriousness is the polar opposite of comedy, which is his stock in trade.

It sounds pretty fuckin simple when you put it that way, eh?

But I suppose this gets at the heart of what it means to be a comedian. Who would subject themselves to being, as Stav said, one rung above a clown? Think about it. There is an ocean sized contradiction in the psyche of a comedian; to conceal their deep seated pain, they entice others to laugh at them. Or, in other words, the path towards standup comedy begins with a crippling superiority/inferiority complex. I’m sure even Rogan would agree with this. The best comedians can live with this gaping, unfilled hole in the hearts. They thrive on it. This is fuel for Nick Mullen and the legendary Cumtown podcast. Others give in to the anger and resentment and begin to smell their own farts. That’s the Rogansphere.

And others can successfully tread both worlds without fully reconciling them. Worse still, the gravitational pull of this calamitous spectacle can drag the entire universe into it. This is the mind of Donald Trump.

End of an era

Not for the first time, but the NFL really shit the bed this off season. Of course I’m referring to the cancellation of the Around the NFL podcast featuring the talent of Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal, and the late great Chris Wessling. Last year I watched a grand total of zero hours of football but I still managed to catch every episode of Around the NFL.

Brandon Perna discusses the importance and appeal of Around the NFL so I won’t go into that. Instead I wish to piss and moan over the decline and fall of my favorite podcasts/shows featuring three or more male friends discussing shit. In this regard, Around the NFL is on the Mount Rushmore along with Cumtown and Red Letter Media.

Cumtown ended a couple of years ago, leaving Red Letter Media as the lone survivor. So everyone say a prayer for Mike Stoklasa and Rich Evans to not succumb to alcohol poisoning and diabetes.

I don’t think people appreciate how difficult it is to achieve what Marc Sessler, Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling, Nick Mullen, Stavros Halkias, Adam Friedland, Mike Stoklasa, Rich Evans, and Jay Bauman have all achieved. Any group of random assholes can get together and create a podcast. But it takes a special chemistry to achieve greatness. No doubt there are countless podcasts featuring lifelong friends discussing their passions and almost all of them suck. So what made these guys different?

As you will find in any male friendship groups, there’s always the alpha. Not that anyone thinks of him as the alpha, he just so happens to be the biggest asshole of the group. The other friends just go along with his psychotic behavior to avoid incurring his wrath. In our case, that’s Dan Hanzus for Around the NFL, Nick Mullen for Cumtown, and Mike Stoklasa for Red Letter Media. This is where other podcasts/youtube channels get in trouble; the “alpha” lacks any semblance of self-awareness and treat their platform as a means to enact their inferiority complex (like Adam Carolla)

Equally important to our viewing experience is the “omega” or the guy that everyone shits on. In other words, this is Marc Sessler for NFL, Adam Friedland for Cumtown, and Rich Evans for Red Letter Media. Far be it from this individual being a laughingstock, they usually develop the fervent following among the listenership.

This balance is nearly impossible to achieve. Only the most talented, good looking, sexiest, thick dicked men can get it done, and that’s every guy on the list above (except Adam Friedland). And with Around the NFL gone, this leaves on Red Letter Media to carry on the mantle.

I’m old as shit

As I always tell my grandkids: “if I ever turn into an old cantankerous bastard that can’t accept change, shoot me and dump my body into the river.” And that’s why I’m still alive. Those kids will kill me at the first sign of senility.

Yet even my grandkids (who are 80 years old) will agree: comedy is dead.

Which is why jackass forever is such an anomaly; no social commentary, no pretensions of being something profound. It’s just a bunch of dudes smashing their dicks and shoving things up their ass for a laugh. In fact, kudos to Johnny Knoxville and the gang for not slowing down at their advanced age. The world needs comedy like this.

Sure, eventually I’ll get cancelled for my praise of Nick Mullen and Cumtown, but the man knows how to craft a joke on the fly. Of course everyone knows that Mullen (who is president of the DSA) and his sidekick Adam Friedland are NOTORIOUS leftists (however, The Adam Friedland Show is officially center-left), don’t let that fool you. Mullen is fully committed to the bit; he’s always playing a deranged version of his already deranged self. Forget “punching up or down”. The joke is supposed to be on him AND especially Friedland.

That level of commitment is gone in today’s comedy. So never let the mask slip. But mostly, I wish they’d bring back the gross-out comedies of the late 90/early 00s.

That was the one thing that era got right.