Between alligators for a moment-- I'm thinking about that article about the black comedians, as the new mistrels... I have seen those comedians, and what I saw was a complex thing, having to do with getting the audience to an acute awareness of their own attitudes and foibles, and bringing laughter to those very complex, interwoven places.

There is a way humor can work to bring catharsis to embarrassments, shames, discomforts... and in their comedy I have seen an imperfect mix of that and mere restimulation of existing feelings and prejudices. (They are after all HUMAN.)    At it's best, and most difficult to describe unless one is there feeling it, it's like a knowing wink between performer and audience, that says, "I KNOW you [white and black folk] see us [black folk] this way, let's be playful about ALL that entails [such as your fear and your hate, your assumptions, your desires to understand and be close]...."

To enjoy comedy you only have to be in the audience. To critique it and analyze it you have to be able to discern a wide range of things happening simultaneously in rapid-fire time-frames. What MAKES comedy work IS the complexity and the juxtaposition of differing concepts, all brought together in one moment to explode through the audience member's usual mental barriers between those concepts.

I think the article focused on the superficial observations of someone not understanding ALL the levels of skill going on there, and all the nuances of meaning.

And I bet that applies to the minstrel shows, too, but then we were not there, were we? It applies equally to the audiences and critics of the time-- each one got only as much as they got.

So Butch, what do you see aout that when you do what YOU do? On how many different levels are people experiencing what you present? Like, 9 or 10 for each person, with each person's response being completely individual to their own experiences and perspectives?

Lot going on there, eh? Makes rigid rules kinda... non-applicable, huh?

What a concept-- putting rules and rigidity over something essentially creative and always-in-the-act-of-being-created.

I think that's what some of the people, who have been so concerned about this issue, have asked us to do-- agree to the imposition of rigid rules. I think what we should ask of ourselves is to THINK.

~Susan