Funny Business

Have noticed just lately that Im becoming slightly annoyed and irritated at the amount of people trying to make me laugh - stand-up comedians seem to have become rock stars all of a sudden, playing huge arenas and plastered on billboards everywhere. You cant turn the television on without a comedy panel game show or comedy showcase. Being funny is a serious business as legions of depressed comedians have testified to over the years, Ive known quite a few in my time and not many of them could be called funny people - it was their job and they took it very seriously indeed. Just the thought of getting up in front of a live audience of any size and trying to make them laugh is a nightmare for most of us but these people do it night after night after night with varying degrees of success - imagine doing a job that depends on getting positive emotional feedback from strangers. Failure in that task would be crippling to most of us - we learn pretty quickly as children to not repeat actions that cause us pain, either physically or emotionally, but comedians seem to be attracted to that flame sometimes at a great cost. Im ill at ease with their nakedness and bravery.