The Silly, Silly, (Very Silly), YouTube Comedy Has Ruined it for us Elite Comedy Writers
My parents grew up with Charlie Chaplin and The Marx Brothers.
I grew up with Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Airplane.
Today, I hear laughter from my teenage daughter's room, but she doesn't have a TV in there. She has her iPhone. She is cracking up and Dan and Phil on YouTube. I asked her what is that, some television show? "No, dad, it's these two hilarious guys in England!"
"Oh," I said.
My daughter loves comedy. But if I told her to watch "Blazing Saddles" or "Annie Hall" she would roll her eyes and reply, "Two whole hours? For a comedy?"
YouTube is, today, the King of Comedy. Prove it? Ok, one word: Cat Videos. (Ok, that's two words). But, everyone who has a mobile phone and a YouTube channel is a comedian these days.
Me? I slave away for weeks and months at a time writing an elaborate story with plot points, and in-depth characters, and the mean, boss (always funny, no matter how you use it), and kids who didn't spend $100K to go to a fancy, shmancy film school post something they shot in their pajamas (it could even be THEM in their pajamas) and it gets a gazillion hits.
Remember the Chewbacca Lady? Yes, it was funny. But she didn't go to film school.
Now, I'm not saying I'm an elite comedian (I know, that is the title of this post), but damnit, I read Syd Field's book three times! And I studied comedy!
The only thing I can grasp is that the Chewbacca Lady and the countless cate videos online, are not masterpieces that will be watched over and over again, like "Annie Hall" or "Airplane" or "Young Frankenstein". So, fine, go ahead and upload your silly video, see if I care! I refuse to do it... for now.
