Life, comedy and tragedy

One of the most moving and realistic depictions of life that I've found is a TV show called 'Derek'. The setting is a residential care home for the elderly. The protagonist is the most loving, caring and genuine person it's possible to imagine. Surrounding him is a crew of imperfect saints. The community in 'Derek' is my idea of church as it should be. If you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend it. 

This show has made me laugh hard and cry hard. It is seamless in the way it shows the ups and downs of life. Dave told me that apparently Ricky Gervais, the creator of the show, was asked by a fan whether he would class 'Derek' as a comedy or drama. Ricky Gervais responded that those categories were fairly arbitrary. If depends on your point of view, he said. If you see life as funny, 'Derek' is a comedy. If you see life as sad, 'Derek' is a drama.

I've been thinking about comedy and tragedy, and how closely linked they can be. I remember seeing some interviews with famous British comedians on this topic a few years back. Many of them expressed that for them there was a fine line between hilarity and depression, humour and sadness. Many of them said that they saw the sadness and tragedy of life, and they generated their comedy by using humour and satire to view and critique the world. You see this interweaving of comedy and tragedy all over the British comedy. Think Bill Bailey. Think the angry irony of Jack Dee and Charlie Brooker. And obviously, there's Ricky Gervais with 'Extras' and 'The Office'. Comedy and tragedy can be two sides of the same coin.

I recently discovered a hilarious, despairingly nihilistic American comedian called Doug Stanhope. I love this guy. I think he really hits the nail on the head, exposing the facile superficiality of our cuilture and the moral bankruptcy of our media. Granted, he is deeply nihilistic and vitriolic on almost every front, including faith - and obviously I don't agree with him that there is no purpose or meaning behind anything. He is also pretty rude and offensive about almost everything and everyone, which is unfortunate. But I think Stanhope is brilliant at showing us the stark, awful logical end point of our vacuous modern world. (This is one of my favourite Doug Stanhope rants; if you don't like swearing though, please avoid.) 

In one of his slots, Doug Stanhope ends an angry, vitriolic rant on the emptiness of talk shows and news coverage on an almost desperate note. "No one ever does anything anymore," he says in despair. He pauses, then laughs. Elsewhere he loudly proclaims that the only way we can ever make it out of this dire and pointless mess we call life is by being able to see it for what it really is and laugh in its face. And that he does.

It is hard to explain how deeply I feel this link between comedy and tragedy sometimes. My husband will be the first to call me out on my tendency to swing to extreme despair at the corrupt selfishness of human nature and bleakness of the world we live in, crippled by mistrust and cynicism. Maybe this is why Doug Stanhope's words resonate with me so much. And why depression sits so naturally in my personality.

At the same time, I find so many things in this world hilarious and wonderful. "You laugh more than anyone I know," a close friend told me the other day. This is possibly true. I laugh hard and I cry hard. I feel things deeply. And without humour and bursts of childlike wonder, I don't think I would survive this life.

Maybe the reason why comedy and tragedy are so intertwined is this. The world is full of tragedy. It's overflowing with it. Left alone with it, we would be overwhelmed, consumed by it. We use comedy and humour to fight. To be able to survive the tragedy and move onto the next day. We use comedy as a weapon against the tragic and awful elements of people and the world. And the more we hone this comedic skill, this ability to laugh and see the humour in any situation, the more we can get through in life.

We do what we can, anyway.