An open letter to stand up comedians:
Life is good, comics. After years in a low zone, stand up is coming into vogue as a form again. More people are seeing it, more people are talking about it, and more comedians are achieving itty-bitty rock star status.
This is good for all of us. Let's bring our 'a' games to this fun new golden age.
Let's retire some hack material.
I'd like to nominate two subjects of hackness here today. First, any and all jokes about computers that use a combination of "RAM", "hard drive" and "floppy disk" references as sexual puns. Floppy disks haven't been used for 15 years or so - if you're still using them as a punch line, it's time to upgrade, as it were.
Second, cougar jokes. These ones were so easy that I almost wonder if the whole 'cougar' slang phenomenon was actually invented by comedians the way greeting card companies invented Secretary's Day. Cougar jokes spread quickly, so even though they haven't been around as long as computer jokes, it is time for them to stop. I know that some comics want these ones to stick around the way they want Bush to do a third term, but just have faith that some other easy reference will come along that you will come to love as much as you love your cougar jokes.
Just a thought.
PS I'm not implying I don't have problems of my own with regards to writing (Don't you hate it when a comedian uses her sexual orientation as a crutch? Yeah, that sucks...) Working on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment