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
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One of my husband’s favorite things to do in his downtime — usually while he’s eating lunch or relaxing after dinner — is watching 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 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.
To be honest, I had never watched Luis C.K. perform much in the past. Then, when the Times article came out in 2017, I didn’t really take a deep dive into the full details of the accusations against him.
Watching this SNL YouTube video in present day was kind of an eye-opener to the fact that we probably shouldn’t have been all that surprised when the accusations came to light — he had been making raunchy jokes throughout a majority of his comedy career. And to be honest, we have to realize that there is always some truth behind an “innocent joke”.
“I was only joking”
This phrase has been the excuse of the century when it comes to us saying something that may have been potentially offensive, hurtful, or even incriminating. This phrase has been the scapegoat for weaseling our way out of a sticky situation by simply adding “humor” to the dialogue.
