Current State of Writings on Subjects : Comedically Changing with the Times (as such)

I gotta hit a few Subjects that this blog hits soon. Ongoing ones that have been covered over the years here. There's a new Heino-Volution that has come to the forefront that needs looking into (probably even a deep enough look into) and some more Baseball ones have to be done.

For now we have to look at the current change in the comedy world which has taken shape pretty fast. It is changing ... no doubt. I mean there's not a lot of hold offs left anymore in the mainstream comedy world right now. There's not a lot of "old school" comedy left in the media world any longer.

Whenever you watch old stuff on youtube or whatever a phrase that constantly comes up in your mind is "Could They Have Done That Now?" ... and hypothetically about 85% of those mental queries usually end with "Probably Not, No."

Now young folks, before you cast us off and dislike all "old school" people and label us as horrible old dinosaurs and relics of the past .... let's look back at how we got here to begin with and maybe you can understand the comedy era that proceeded this current comedic era.

Let's limit the year range of the "previous era" to let's say 1990 to 2015 ... that's what we'll call the previous era of comedy. I can't speak for everyone so I'll use myself as the host-body to relate observationally how I was influenced living through the previous era of comedy.


1990 to 2015

I would say the nineties were categorized by the Howard Stern show, and WWE Wrestling. I'm not joking ... I think those were the two biggest factors on how totally out-of-control things got in media. The shock value of both these focal points of the art world kept increasingly getting more and more over-the-top in terms of shock value.

If you apply the "can you do that now" filter on half the things that happened on The Howard Stern Show from the 90s into the 2000s .... it's like a 100% "Probably Not. No" ratio. Could you invite a legally insane transvestite into your studio to hurl insane invective? Probably not, no. Could you bring in a set of twins to promote their new "album" who proceed to hurl insane invectives onto an actual crack head? No, I don't think so. Could you bring in two women to win breast implants by competing in a strip-off for a four foot tall man with a tiny head? No.....

Eventually the show toned down by like 2015 and I was one of the people back in 2015 who wrote something negative about the Howard Stern Show (here, at the very bottom). Looking back, I was wrong to say that. I mean, the show was the wildest carnival of insanity for like almost 30 years and then all of a sudden it was over ... I mean I probably wasn't the only person who felt sort of like "Wow, that's it, I guess...." but how can you be the "shock jock" character for 30 years? I'm sure it got boring for him after a while. He's a smart guy ... maybe he wanted a change, that's all. Evolving with the times is how you stay relevant. That's all, no big deal.

He has other talents. He's a great celebrity interviewer, very insightful and engaging. I think there's only four people up for the "Best Celebrity Interviewer of All Time" award and it's H. Stern, L. King, O. Winfrey, and D. Letterman ... and all of whom are still living so there's still time to continue to strive to be the best for these people.

I hope he continues interviewing and being engaging ... he might surpass those others on that list and be the Greatest Interviewer of All Time.

There's been other stand out "over-the-top" things in the art world in this era from Beavis and Butthead and Jackass others ... but I put WWE wrestling on here as the second focal factor because it went WAY OVER THE TOP ... to a point of like .... "Wow, this is so like, wow."

I watched wrestling obsessively from about like 1990 to 1995. Then I kind of grew out of it and focused on other sports ... maybe not so much grew out of it ... as the "product" was pretty bad in 1995. Looking at historical ratings lists it seems I wasn't the only one who tuned out in 1995 because they had low ratings. They lost HALF their viewership from 1994 to 1997. HALF. I was just another of the 1/2 people who tuned out it seems.

Then something curious happened, in 1998 ... the show gained steam ... got its lost half of viewers back ... and then by 2001 they DOUBLED their viewership again! Why? Because the show went totally out of control. The show was sex, n' drugs, n' rock n' roll!

....and it kept on getting more and more out of control until it made literally no sense. There's a bit where a 80 year old ex-female-wrestler gave birth on live television to a plastic hand (????). There's was a bit with a ventriloquist dummy (or corpse??) that was so poorly contrived that it probably made another 50% of people tune out on the spot.

Wrestling has kind of come back down to normal levels now in terms of shock value and it is basically 100% about the "cool moves" now a days which is ok ... but it could use like some story telling elements and "ring psychology" elements though. Ronda Rousey, I think, is maybe the biggest thing to happen in wrestling in a pretty long time. The Roddy Piper gimmick works and the character works.

Anyways, gang, this is what was going on in the 90s and early 2000s in the media world ... over-the-top insanity. This is what you did in the media world to get laughs and viewership. We were exposed to this 24-7 and then guess what happened? The internet happened...

The internet got big in the mid-90s and it was VERY different than the now-a-times internet which is very "personal brand exposure" oriented ... the old school internet was if you took old school Howard Stern and old school WWE and amplified it by one million percent ... and the result was unfiltered over-the-top disgusting insanity.

In the now-a-times internet, like ONE FALSE STEP online and your personal-brand/ youtube-persona/ influencer-status / acting-career/ or-whatever is OVER. In the old school internet it was different, it wasn't uncommon for like your friend to be like "Yo, check out this video of this guy shoving a battery through his eyeball!" and you'd click on it be like "oh wow, look at that...." .. you know? It was messed up! The Internet was messed up!

Was it normal? No it wasn't. To be honest, if I was like a parent in the 90s or early 2000s (or even now) and you asked me 100% honestly if I'd let children go on the internet ... I'd have to say no. Even today it's TOO MESSED UP for kids this dumb internet.

So, you got to keep in mind, new generation, where the old one came from, you know? Like, I agree that we should come back down to civil and thoughtful levels on the internet ... which for a good decade now has been utterly out-of-control ... but it's not gonna just happen over night.

You're telling a generation before you to be 100% politically correct but you have to understand this generation is one that grew up thinking that ... playing rock and roll trivia with an unbelievably drunken dwarf, or watching a wrestling match where a guy's teeth got knocked up into his nose while his children cried in the audience, or getting a link from a friend that was supposedly for a movie trailer but turned out to be a guy eating cackie .....were just totally normal things that happened in front of a screen.



Conclusion

We are quickly going from a media landscape where everything was acceptable to a media landscape where very little is acceptable ... and the new generation has to give us some leeway to make the transition, I think.

I'm no longer a hold out to the "old school", I'm on board now with the change now too. I'm reluctant but I know it's for the best. I started this blog because I wanted to be part of that old comedy guard I looked up to ... I wanted to be "famous" but not like how people want to be famous now a days on the internet ... now people want a million youtube subscriptions so they can get their sponsorship contracts as "influencers" ... for me starting this silly and at times stupid blog back a decade ago .... I wanted other forms of "fame" ... I wanted to be on Howard Stern ... or on Wrestling as a crazy heel manager a la Bobby Heenan .... you know? I think the 90s generation aspired to different forms of fame ... at least I did.

Many times I thought about deleting this thing ... but from a personal standpoint it was a learning experience. Especially in the last year ... I've been going back and reading old ones ... and wow some are like so "old guard" they are cringe-worthy as all heck by today's standards.

That's where I'm coming from. I see a few holdouts in the comedy world from time to time on Twitter and stuff and I respect the old guard and their fight. I know it's hard for people who have had a "character" or a "shtick" or a "bit" their whole lives and that act has to be toned down or even retired in present times.

I really believe society goes through fads .... and maybe in 2096 we'll hit another bump in the road and the pop art world will for another 20 years be an eyeball blast of horrible craziness again.

As for 2018? Well, haven't we all seen enough crazy guys stick batteries through their eye balls for one lifetime, gang? Haven't we all been blasted in the eyeballs enough by shocking silliness?

I have. I know that.

But, New Generation, all I'm really asking is for you to give the Old Generation some transition time. The media landscape from 2015 to 2018 ... not even three years .... has changed unimaginably. One question that still nags at me is....

Would even the silly little jokes Bobby Heenan did on Wrestling Challenge even be allowed today? Probably not, Gorilla Monsoon .... probably not.

And in one way, Gorilla Monsoon .... that's sad.

It's Almost 2000 ...

Time flies. It most surely does. It does. For many who don't know I switched to Count Von Count Standard Time a few months ago. It is an incremental time variable measure broadcast via Twitter which I find to be a quite compact and efficient time measuring utility.

Pshaw you say, but it is no more arbitrary than any other method of time tabulating metrics.

Most of us are currently on Greenwich Standard Time which is measured as official Time being what time it is in Greenwich, London in the United Kingdom. As you go eastward or westward from this arbitrary spot the Time then somehow changes. If you go really far out east or west ... then you might even be in the past or future apparently. It's Tomorrow in Australia if you're in the United States ... which to be honest ... is kind of hard to wrap a head around. To be fantastically honest ... it makes absolutely no sense at all for it to be Tomorrow somewhere.

When it comes to Time tabulations for Historical chronological mapping reasons ... most people are on the Roman calendar of January, February, blah blah blah. It has 365 days in a "year" which are divided into 12 non-equal "months." Sometimes February has more "days" in it and sometimes it has less ... for reasons as to which I have no understanding of as to why.

Not everyone is on the Roman calendar either. You know what Time it is in China right now? It is the 29th Water Rooster day in the 8th Water Dog month of the Year of the Dog. You know what Time it is in the Hebrew calendar right now? Hm, looks like we are the 29th of Tishrei in the 5779th year of their tabulations.

I don't think my Time tabulation method for chronological record keeping is that odd to be honest. In current Count Von Count Standardized Internet Time we stand at Moment 1961.

Nineteen, sixty-one. Wow. Time sure does fly. Especially on the Internet where data and news flow like wine at a non-stop banquet. So many things have happened in the last 1000 moments ... it's almost hard to fathom. So many historical moments, so many kids getting trapped in caves, so much whacky political silliness, so many salacious scandals....my goodness.

It's in Times like these, Canadian Thanksgiving, that it really is nice to take a Moment and quietly reflect. You know something? Time does not have to be mathematical and cold. Time is poetic, it truly is. Without Time, we wouldn't even know that our Moments are limited in this world of worlds.


Time

My dearest friend Peter Lorre once described Time as,

"Time. Time. What is time? Swiss manufacture it. French hoard it. Italians squander it. Americans say it is money. Hindus say it does not exist.

Do you know what I say? I say time is a crook."  

-Lorre, P. "Beat the Devil"

Time is a crook? Robbing us of our precious Moments? Maybe. Recently I saw venerable crooner Tay Zonday of Chocolate Rain Fame describe Time as the following...

"Time is like a burly bouncer trying to politely push you out of the bar of life -- and you're trying to tie up loose ends with everybody you know before you're out the door. If you die tragically, the bouncer throws you out of the bar from across the room like The Incredible Hulk."

-Zonday, T. (See: Here)

It's a nice definition. It's pretty apt. There's a sense of urgency derived from the notion that at any moment the Incredible Hulk of Life can haphazardly put the old kibosh on your most well laid of plans and dreams.

Time can be scary when you think about it like that. I remember listening to a song once when I was a teenager that really scared me ... it made Time seem more like a horror movie villain than a tabulation of chronology. It was off the album The Last Temptation of Reid by Lard. It was a 15 minute dirge of a song about a clock called "I am Your Clock."

"I am your clock

I am your religion
I am your shotgun mechanical bride
Nothing is done without my approval

I own you
I decide how long you sleep
And how much rest
You are ever allowed

I decide what you desire
I deny you time to think
I am the mirror of constant humiliation
That follows and shadows you
Wherever you go
And blocks out the light
At the end of every tunnel you try
Be on time
Be on schedule
Always feel
Like you're always late
And need more scolding and punishment"

-Biafra, J. "I am Your Clock".

I never looked at a clock the same way ever again. Especially alarm clocks. Damn those things can wake you up. That noise they make is the shrillest reminder that your peaceful respite is not allowed to last any longer for there is no rest for the wicked according to the alarm clock.

A joke I always liked about Time was from an old Kids in the Hall bit where Scott is MAD at Switzerland and Mark is there for support whilst his friend airs his many grievances against the so called "neutral" country...

"They've never done anything wrong you say? Ha! What about the Clock? Huh? If they hadn't invented the Clock ...

I'd still be in bed ... dreaming!"

-Thompson, S.,"Sick of the Swiss"

True, Scott, true. Without clocks we'd all still be caressing the deep and wonderful surreal moments of our multi-colored dreams. Instead of being smashed in and broken out of them by the whaling ghastly cry of the common household alarm clock. 

Another moment I liked that is Time-related was from the video game world. In Suikoden III, some of the characters have become immortal due to a rune they affixed to their person. The theme of immortality is one of the main themes of Suikoden III as some of these immortal characters are becoming very despondent with their ever-lasting lives. Out of their boredom of ever-lasting life some of their intentions become pretty nihilistic and evil. I liked a scene near the end where one of the villains gives this diatribe to one of the heroes before they fight. Both the villain and the hero being of the immortal category. After the diatribe by the villain, Yuber, to the hero, Geddoe, and it is time for them to fight ... the hero Geddoe pulls out his sword and the camera zooms in and you expect him to say something very epic, heroic and climactic and he just goes ....

"I feel tired," -Geddoe, Suikoden III, On his eternal life.

It was so anti-climactic that it was actually climactic and reminded me of another Suikoden quote where Viktor described a man's actions as being "wrong and priceless." From a writing standpoint the Geddoe/Yuber scene is wrong but it's so anti-climactic that it is priceless ... and Geddoe's correct in his assessment too. Wouldn't eternal life just tire you out? If Time wasn't a factor in your life wouldn't you just keep growing ever more despondent and ever-more tired? Saving the world was just another day at the office for the 112 year old mercenary Geddoe.


2000 Approaches 

As I continue to quietly reflect on the last 1000 moments of memories past on this cool Canadian Thanksgiving's morning ... I can't help but feel hopeful for the future. As the number slowly moves to roll over to 2000 and the Count lets out his trade mark laugh to let us know how proud he is of his ability to consistently count .... I feel as though a wave of excitement is on the horizon for the world.

A new exciting era is upon us! The future is Now! This era of Hope has me almost bursting at the seams! What exciting events await us in the next 1000 Moments!? What powerful historic events shall spring up which will need to be tethered to the history books!?

Brother Time, I've grown to respect you over the years. You aren't a scary horror movie villain, my brother, you are not a monster waiting to throw us off of our mortal coil. Brother Time ... you're an okay kinda guy, man. You are. I respect you.

Que sera, sera ... Brother Time. Que sera sera. The future? Hey, it's not even ours to see, even. Whatever it'll be. It'll be.