The Sad and Frightening Reality that There’s Truth Behind Every Joke

Yes, laughter can be the best medicine, but it can also be a facade for when we’re struggling the most

Lindsey Carson
4 min readJan 4, 2022

One of my husband’s favorite things to do in his downtime — usually while he’s eating lunch or relaxing after dinner — is watch SNL on YouTube. When there hasn’t been a new airing released on YouTube yet, he resorts to watching old videos from the past.

The other day while we were eating lunch together, he pulled up an SNL video from about six years ago which featured Luis C.K. as the guest host. Somewhere in between Luis C.K.’s opening monologue and the laughter of the audience, I asked him, “Aren’t we not supposed to like Luis C.K. anymore?” (in reference to the New York Times article that was published a few years ago, exposing his behavior of sexual misconduct) to which my husband responded, “Yea, but he’s still funny” in which I nodded in agreement. As we continued watching the rest of Luis C.K.’s SNL monologue, I realized how dark Luis C.K.’s humor actually was.

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Lindsey Carson

Writer, Runner, Mother. Trying to navigate my identity as a new parent. I write about work, relationships, culture, and life in general.