World View: The Importance of Laughter

October 1, 2012 World Screen

NEW YORK: Over the last four months, while headlines were screaming about the collapse of the euro zone, nuclear Iran, the war in Syria, the severe drought in the U.S., the shrinking ice caps in the Arctic, and the political mudslinging in the U.S. presidential campaign, I decided to check out of the 24-hour news cycle and dive into comedy.

 

One of the main features in this issue looks at television comedy. For several years, critics have been claiming we are in the second golden age of television drama. Now comedy is making a comeback. In its various incarnations, including variety, situation comedy and talk shows, comedy has been a staple of broadcast schedules around the world since the beginning of television. Nowadays, the genre has broadened considerably, from new takes on the traditional sitcom to the mockumentary, from animated series to shows that originate in webisodes.
 
While I was preparing for my interviews I got to thinking about the origins of comedy—have people always had a sense of humor, even when life was much more rudimentary and when civilizations existed at the mercy of weather, crop yields and invasions from enemies? Has there always been a need to look at the lighter side of daily life? I knew that comedy in the theater has its roots in Ancient Greece, but I wanted to learn more about its origins. My research led to some surprising findings.
 
“Comedy” comes from the Greek word komoidia, which scholars believe comes from komos, groups or processions of men singing, dancing and drinking—basically boys behaving badly. Not only were these bands of brothers drunk and rowdy, I found that Aristotle claimed that comedy originated from phallic songs or processions where men paraded about carrying a phallus pole. And apparently these phallus bearers went about and mocked and ridiculed the people watching them, to the great amusement of everyone. Onstage, comedy actors wore padded costumes, accentuating protruding bellies and butts. The Greeks exalted the beauty of the lean and fit human body, so these distortions—the fat paunch and backside—were sources of great laughter. I also found that at Greek fertility rituals, extremely sexual and scatological songs were often performed. Is it any wonder that sex, and even bathroom humor, continue to be such a big part of comedy today?
 
Since my research had taken a bit of a disturbing turn, I decided to look in a different direction. What about the benefits of laughter, which is a direct offshoot of comedy? Well, the benefits are plentiful. Studies have revealed that laughter, aside from improving your mood, also helps relieve pain, reduce stress and strengthen the immune system and aids in healing a wide range of illnesses, from hypertension and heart disease to allergies, asthma, even migraines. And of course, it improves relationships. A person who can make others laugh, even, or especially, in tense or difficult situations, is always quite popular.
 
Armed with this background knowledge I set out to interview some of the leading comedians, showrunners, writers and actors today: Ricky Gervais, Steven Levitan (creator of Modern Family), Liz Meriwether (creator of New Girl), David Duchovny (star of Californication), David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik (creators of Episodes; Crane was a co-creator of Friends), Armando Iannucci (creator of The Thick of It and Veep), Lisa Kudrow (a.k.a. Pheobe on Friends and co-creator and star of Web Therapy) Edie Falco (a.k.a. Carmela Soprano and star of Nurse Jackie), Marc Cherry (creator of Desperate Housewives and Devious Maids), and Doug Herzog, who heads up Comedy Central.
 
I didn’t really know what to expect. Would they answer the questions I had prepared or would they, as Ricky Gervais had in the past, venture off onto hilarious tangents? All of them, however, including Gervais, spoke forthrightly about their craft: that the best comedy comes from personal experience, that comedy so often speaks of truths about human nature, that writers and actors alike must feel free to fail, to get it wrong, before they can get it right. Many admitted to discovering a gift for comedy at a young age, either being class clown or trying to crack up mom and dad at the dinner table. From each of them I learned that comedy in all its elements—writing, delivery, timing, reaction and performance—is hard work and a very serious business.
 
We delve into other serious businesses in this issue: the power of television as an advertising medium for one. We interview the CEOs of the top commercial broadcasters in the U.K., Germany, Japan, Brazil, Mexico and Korea. We also speak to some of the major players in the television business, including Haim Saban; Gordon Ramsay; John de Mol; Mark Burnett; Cecile Frot-Coutaz; Sir David Attenborough; Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad, widely considered one of the top dramas today; and Aaron Sorkin, who is credited with having changed the course of TV drama with The West Wing and who recently created The Newsroom. All good dramas nowadays have their comedic moments. The need to laugh is indeed universal.  

 

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