The End of Funny

One of my dearest friends gives me almost daily feedback on this blog. I value her opinion enormously. She said she found yesterday's post "very distressing." Not just distressing, but very distressing. I found that very alarming. (Not just alarming.) And not simply because I had written something that upset her, which I was sad to learn, but because she was right.

A long time ago I wrote a weekly humor column for a newspaper in Salt Lake City. I had to come up with funny stuff every week, and I always did. My goal was at least one laugh-out-loud line. When I started this blog ten years ago I had the same goal. But those days are gone; now I can barely come up with a wry grin. And it's not because I'm not funny anymore: I still crack myself up all the time. (Besides my son I'm the funniest person I know personally.) It's just that the world is no longer funny, which explains how someone like that piggish Amy Schumer, whose comedy consists of describing sex acts and spewing dirty words about genitalia, has become such a huge star. That's funny?

Also not funny anymore, and this is truly a great loss, is Saturday Night Live. It's over for them. Like Ringling's circus elephants, the show should just retire and go to Florida. Seeing Alec Baldwin in a blond wig, waving his hands and pursing his lips a la Donald Trump has already gotten stale, and Trump isn't even in office yet! Just imagine the boredom to come if either of them lasts four more years.

See, this post wasn't funny at all. Global chaos does that to a genre. In fact, even one of the funniest jokes I've heard is no longer funny:  *A black man walks into a bar. The bartender sees him and yells, "Get out!" 

*(No, you are not a racist if you laughed. It's the shock value.)