Pondering

No comedy today really. MM + TPIR this morning, no FMW because I was out of milk. In the afternoon I went to get gas and then went to Giant to stock up on food. With those expenditures I am pretty much at my budget for the summer. But some of the things I'm counting could definitely count otherwise, so either way I'll end up +/- maybe $100 for the summer, which is not bad at all. Nice. For dinner we made a sweet potato curry, which was delicious, but for our lack of curry powder. Still good though, and plenty of leftovers. Mmm.

Anyway, I was thinking yesterday about comedy as an art-form and/or pursuit, and I came to an interesting conclusion. It is the only thing I could come up with off the top of my head that is a nationally recognized talent that doesn't have a clear route to success. I'll explain. If you want to be a star musician, you could teach yourself and make it big. But more likely you'll start in school, do well in school, go to camps, perform in college, and become a professional. If you want to be a star athlete, you could try to walk on in college, or more likely you'd start playing in rec leagues and move up through the school teams. Same thing with other sports, acting, music, art, and everything else. There is always some sort of path. Even more obscure things like billiards have youth leagues and championships and a clear path.

But with comedy, there is no such thing. For a subject with an entire channel devoted to it, there is little cultivation at any level. Granted, one could group it with the performing arts, but starring in your high school production of Guys and Dolls is very different from performing stand-up. So where do these people come from? Some of the people in my class were actors trying to expand their abilities, but most comedians are just people who think they are funny. I'm sure this would never happen, but maybe we should start comedy at a younger age. It's much cheaper than music, or anything for that matter. You can do it with a book and a teacher who barely knows what they are doing. I think it just has a reputation as not as artful a pursuit, but there is a lot of merit.

If anyone can think of something with national stars and national recognition that is as haphazardly pursued, I would be interested to hear it.