I had three dreams last night. There are two I'd like to talk about a little.
DREAM #1
There are dragon like creatures that can climb walls and get to different levels of an enormous building I've arrived at. Green ones can be touched without being harmed. Red ones can both touch others and be touched without being harmed. Much to my surprise as I watch these creatures, I find that I am a red dragon.
DREAM #2
All humans start off not being real. We're kind of like ghosts. But if I can write a joke that's genuinely funny, I get a laugh, and I become a little less of a ghost and a little more real. I am encouraged as I find more and more funny things to write about everyday life. I think that one day, I might actually get to experience being a real person and break out of this ghostly state.
INTERPRETATION
I think both of these dreams point to my wanting to come out of my shell. I can touch and affect others in the first dream, and in the second, I make other people laugh and it helps me to escape living a completely hidden life.
I've been thinking a lot about the role of someone's personal sense of the truth in humor.
I recently read Shane Dawson's book of humorous essays, since I am writing a humorous short story collection, and want to learn from the people who have already gone down that path.
Not everyone knows who Shane Dawson is. Shane Dawson was canceled a couple of years ago for making humorous videos that people think are racist. (I agree that they're offensive--at least the ones I saw. I didn't delve too deeply into the situation. I think I watched one and a half or two videos on the topic.)
Not everyone is into YouTube drama... Personally, I usually block channels if I believe they are trying to make a name for themselves by putting out videos bullying creators or spreading drama, but sometimes channels I follow talk about YouTube tea and I get sucked in. I wouldn't want to associate with someone judgmental or a gossip in person, so I think it's a bad idea to do it online. But hey, even in person, good people talk about other people sometimes--especially if they're being a problem for someone else.
Anyway, after reading his first book, I think I understand how Shane Dawson got himself into trouble. I also think I understand how he got popular.
His semi-autobiographical (I definitely can't believe the dialogue in the book actually took place) book, I Hate My Selfie, is applaudable in one big way: there's a joke in pretty much every single paragraph. There are 230 pages. So that takes a tremendous amount of effort and cleverness.
However, almost all the humor I can remember is shock and insult humor. That's not going to land well with everyone in the audience, and even if it does, it tends to get tiresome. People stop being shocked. And a lot of people don't like insult humor. And a lot of people actually like and support the person being insulted.
There is subtext in humor. There are assumptions about the truth. Humor is very opinion-driven. And even though there's a joke a minute in this book, and the jokes are often clever, you have to assume some childish things are true in order to feel good about laughing at them without reservation. A lot of the assumptions in the jokes are shallow too (for example, a lot of it is about physical appearance).
Fortunately, Shane avoided racial topics and jokes for the most part in the book. He mentions his first, less severe cancelation for that in the book. The second one hadn't happened yet.
I think Shane is way, way funnier on the written page than in video. I'm not even tempted to smile in my heart in the privacy of my own home at his comedy on the screen. But whoever wrote this book, whether Shane or a ghost writer, is a very talented writer. I read the book in a day because it flowed so well. And you do end up liking the Shane "character," because there are several heartwarming moments in the essays as well.
So I hope I learned something about "the truth" from reading such a controversial book. I think I did absorb some things I'll find useful in the future, like thinking carefully about the underlying implications beneath a joke.
To sum up my rant/review, it's my theory that he assumed that he knew enough about minority cultures, without being a part of them, to comment on them in a way that combines his shocking and insulting humor. And it ended up in this PR nightmare. He mentioned that Margaret Cho talks about race and gets away with it, but from what I've seen, she is Asian and talks about being Asian. She has a stake in the community she jokes about. She's not punching down. Dawson forgets, or doesn't know, that a comedian isn't supposed to punch down on people less powerful or less fortunate. He forgets that when he makes his jokes about homeless people as well.
Anyway. I've also been reading David Sedaris's humorous autobiographical essays, and I've been learning from those too. For one thing, David doesn't use social media at all, and I think it's really helped him as a writer. He's been focused on meeting people in person, and I think that saves him the time and trouble of dealing with that small, but loud and obnoxious handful of genuinely hateful people on the internet. It also bonds him that much more tightly to his actual fans. He can also get helpful feedback about the quality of his writing by trying out experimental material at his readings, which I think is a really good idea. It's really hard to find useful feedback that actually helps you to improve your writing, but a laugh is a definite indication that something is working.
I haven't found too many more writers of humorous essays. There's always Dave Barry. And I just heard about a book called Ant Farm which I've put on hold at the library. I'm trying to learn from sitcoms and late night television as well.
