Thursday, November 18, 2004

Chris Rock on comedy.

In an interview with the Onion AV Club, Chris Rock makes a point about comedy that never really occurred to me before:

I'm always of the mindset that if only smart people like your shit, it ain't that smart. If a guy drives a truck and he doesn't get your jokes, something's wrong there. I'm not saying you have to dumb it down, but they sell newspapers to everybody, not just the smartest people in the country. Everybody buys the newspaper. Everybody kind of watches the news. Your comedy can appeal to a wider audience if it's funny.


I think his quote is applicable not only to comedy, but to any art, or really any expression of one's self. If only the smart people get it, then it's really not that smart. The genius is in making your big ideas seem small.

# posted by ChuckJerry : 11/18/2004 08:00:00 PM
Comments:
Maybe, though, true genius comes in conveying one's ideas in their purest essence, and in their pure connection to the world. In teaching math, for instance, a good teacher with loads of theoretical knowledge would do a good job conveying ideas through having students understand what a fraction IS, and not just how to reduce, convert, and operate with them... they would show what 1/2 - 1/3 means... and not just "you need to make them both sixths".

I think there are just people in this world, regardless of IQ, who just "get it" and who can also explain it to others. Chris Rock's comedy (minus some of the ultra racial "it's all right cuz it's all white" stuff) appeals across the board.
# posted by Blogger Max : Friday, November 19, 2004
 
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