The snobbery I have isn’t really of the hoity-toity type, and I’m not really<\/i> an intellectual snob – although I do have moments of that, I admit it. But that’s not really what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about open vehement snobbery.<\/p>\n
And where am I OPENLY a snob? Only one place really. Comedy.<\/p>\n
I am a comedy SNOB.<\/p>\n
Humor is, of course, completely subjective, so the entire thing is rather ridiculous. I can’t help it. My snobbery comes directly <\/i>from <\/i>how subjective humor is. Like: if I find something laugh-out-loud funny, I literally cannot understand<\/i> how someone else doesn’t find it funny. It literally boggles my mind<\/i>. This is sheer snobbery. I feel that my taste is BETTER than others. I admit it freely. I cannot understand how someone doesn’t find Best in Show<\/i> hilarious. Not only can I not understand it, but I don’t WANT to understand it. Most people (at least most SMART people) have snobberies such as this.<\/p>\n
I know people who … actually have a hard time being friends with people who don’t “get” Monty Python.<\/p>\n
One of my ex-boyfriends had to break up with a chick pretty much because she had never heard of Zero Mostel. I mean, he didn’t break up with her immediately <\/i>… but … eventually, he couldn’t get past that one thing. And here’s the thing, here’s the snobbery: HE RESPECTED HER LESS for not knowing who Zero Mostel was. As he told me the story, he was still<\/i> baffled over it. “I mean …” shaking his head, worldlessly. “I mean … how could she not know<\/i> … I just …” shaking his head again. I thought that was so funny. “Why’d you break up with her? Was she possessive? Psycho? Did she do drugs?” “Nah. She had never heard of Zero Mostel.” There was his snobbery at work.<\/p>\n
So here are some of mine:<\/p>\n
Sheila’s Comedy Snobbery:<\/p>\n
I cannot understand how a human being could watch This is Spinal Tap<\/i> and not find it funny. I think there must be something WRONG with someone who watches that and does not laugh.<\/p>\n
I cannot understand how somone could think that The Producers<\/i> wasn’t funny. I just … I don’t get it. And if someone told me WHY they didn’t laugh once while watching that movie, it would be as though they were speaking a foreign language.<\/p>\n
My friend Mitchell and I call them “litmus tests of personality”, and for the most part they are subconscious. Again, who cares – I’m not the arbiter of taste. But when meeting new people, when negotiating through social circumstances, making new friends, dating new people … to me, what someone finds FUNNY is of tremendous importance. I would even say, of the utmost importance. Because humor, more than any other quality, is how I gauge a person. Humor is how I discover who they are, what is important to them, where their humanity is most expressive. Do they love Charlie Chaplin movies? That says something<\/i> about a person. Is their favorite comic actor Jackie Gleason? To me, that says a lot. Maybe it doesn’t to you, and maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about. But to me, if someone starts raving about their love for Jackie Gleason, it is very illuminating about what really matters<\/i> to this person. I LOVE that.<\/p>\n
Maybe some of you don’t have the same comedy-snobbery. Highly possible. I know a ton of people who are snobs, but not about comedy. There are sci-fi novel snobs, for example. People who feel the need to shout in your face, “HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE READ EVERY SINGLE ONE OF URSULA LEGUIN’S BOOK? WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?” I don’t know, I find it kind of charming. This stuff is so important to these people that they are literally insulted and shocked that you have not dipped into that same world.<\/p>\n
Let’s see, more snobbery.<\/p>\n
If you didn’t think What’s Up Doc<\/i> was funny, I would have serious doubts on whether or not we could be friends.<\/p>\n
If you don’t guffaw with laughter over Bringing Up Baby<\/i>, or if you look at the shenanigans in that movie and think: “This is so stupid, what is so funny?” – I would have a hard time thinking that you and I could agree on ANYthing.<\/p>\n
And why am I blithering about all of this? What brought this on? The following article in The New York Times. It is called “Life after ‘The Office’.” <\/a><\/p>\n The Office<\/i> is on my “comedy snob” list. THAT SHOW! Ricky Gervais, the genius behind the show, used Spinal Tap<\/i> as his inspiration. The format is the same – a faux documentary, which – if you have a good cast – can be riotously funny and revealing (like all of those Christopher Guest movies). And here’s the deal: many people just don’t like that kind of humor. It’s not their thing. Fine. But to me? I ADORE it. It’s like candy. It’s hard to even talk about it, actually. It’s hard to talk about comedy, why <\/i>something is funny. But I think that show is feckin’ HILARIOUS, and it feels like the American fans of that show are a little secret comedy club. If I’m at a party, and I hear someone say, “Do you ever watch ‘The Office’?” – I feel a thrill of exhilaration. A sense of: Oh God, a kindred spirit!<\/p>\n Please feel free to add your own snobberies, if you have them.<\/p>\n “If someone doesn’t like Tolkien books … I honestly think we couldn’t be friends.”<\/p>\n Whatever. You catch my drift.<\/p>\n If you think I’m obnoxious for admitting that I’m a “comedy snob” (and the last time I posted on a similar topic I got a lot of sanctimonious “snobbery is not good” emails – what IS it with some people? Honestly.) – too bad. I think it’s amusing. My friends who are passionate and snobby about certain things will “get it” and it is for them that I post this!<\/p>\n My friend Mitchell has said before that … it is practically a REQUIREMENT with him that everyone in his life has seen and LOVED the movie Harold and Maude<\/i>.<\/p>\n I completely get this kind of thinking. Which is why I thought it was amusing (and not awful) that my ex-boyfriend broke up with some poor girl merely because she had never heard of Zero Mostel. Now I would never break up with someone just because they had never heard of Zero Mostel … Those are not my priorities, that is not where my own brand of snobbery lies.<\/p>\n But if that someone I was dating thought Bringing Up Baby<\/i> was asinine and un-funny?<\/p>\n I’d really have to do some serious thinking there about our compatability.<\/p>\n If you’re a snob about anything, admit it now. It feels good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The snobbery I have isn’t really of the hoity-toity type, and I’m not really an intellectual snob – although I do have moments of that, I admit it. But that’s not really what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about … Continue reading