It's a threat to any system to have people, men or women, to rise to prominence who are self assured, with independent thought, charisma, and the ability to influence people. Comedy is in fact a great way to draw attention to issues in a subtle or direct way by pointing out the absurdity of things. Hollywood doesn't want charismatic leading men, comedian or otherwise, nor do the political parties or the military for that matter.
It's hard to imagine any one rising and holding sway like Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and the like who did during the golden age of Hollywood. Let along have most of the leading men of Hollywood give up acting for a time to join the military during a war. Clark Gable was a bomber pilot over Europe during WW2, Errol Flynn tried to join but had medical disqualifications.
Music has become a formula business, they don't want people who experiment ad push music forward, they want people who are sure to make them money and not rock the boat. Not to mention it is a lot harder to break into the mainstream with smaller record labels comparatively to older generations of musicians. A lot of Classic Rock artists of the 60's and 70's started with followings in big and middle sized cities and worked their asses off touring and releasing albums until they broke into the popular conciseness. Nowadays as long as you can be auto tuned, follow the formula, and bend over to the music industry you to can sell out a stadium.
Comedy, like so many other things, has been infiltrated and co-opted so that instead of the cream rising to the top, only the people who will fit a certain mold will be given time on stage or film. It's a symptom of the environment that we are operating in. Instead of Joan Rivers you get Amy Schemer, instead of Chevy Chase and Bill Murray you get the current SNL crop, instead of Johnny Carson you have Stephen Colbert.
Some of these guys are still funny, or have the ability to be, when their bits aren't injected with politics and thinly veiled contempt.
Comedy at in it's highest form can challenge and draw attention to serious subjects. It can be a welcomed and needed distraction at the end of the day. It can be a simply laugh or make you think long after the curtains have closed. Like so many other things culturally today it seems that something akin to a soul is missing from a lot of it.
It's hard to imagine any one rising and holding sway like Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and the like who did during the golden age of Hollywood. Let along have most of the leading men of Hollywood give up acting for a time to join the military during a war. Clark Gable was a bomber pilot over Europe during WW2, Errol Flynn tried to join but had medical disqualifications.
Music has become a formula business, they don't want people who experiment ad push music forward, they want people who are sure to make them money and not rock the boat. Not to mention it is a lot harder to break into the mainstream with smaller record labels comparatively to older generations of musicians. A lot of Classic Rock artists of the 60's and 70's started with followings in big and middle sized cities and worked their asses off touring and releasing albums until they broke into the popular conciseness. Nowadays as long as you can be auto tuned, follow the formula, and bend over to the music industry you to can sell out a stadium.
Comedy, like so many other things, has been infiltrated and co-opted so that instead of the cream rising to the top, only the people who will fit a certain mold will be given time on stage or film. It's a symptom of the environment that we are operating in. Instead of Joan Rivers you get Amy Schemer, instead of Chevy Chase and Bill Murray you get the current SNL crop, instead of Johnny Carson you have Stephen Colbert.
Some of these guys are still funny, or have the ability to be, when their bits aren't injected with politics and thinly veiled contempt.
Comedy at in it's highest form can challenge and draw attention to serious subjects. It can be a welcomed and needed distraction at the end of the day. It can be a simply laugh or make you think long after the curtains have closed. Like so many other things culturally today it seems that something akin to a soul is missing from a lot of it.
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
Thomas Jefferson