One of my recurring themes here is how I don't like stand up comedy much as an art form, even if it is by someone who I find funny and likeable in other formats.
So, I was not at all sure that I would like the Wil Anderson stage show on the ABC last night - Wilogical. I think I have seen bits of some of his previous shows and not liked it much.
But I actually sat through all of this one, and thought it was pretty good. The reason has a lot to do with the fact that a major theme was his adventures as a science believer living during Covid on the New South Wales North Coast in one of the nation's biggest anti-vaccination, alternative medicine regions.
His jokes were therefore often about people who "do their own research" and believing ridiculous things. This is a rich source of material on which I could feel I was definitely on his ideological side (not something that is all that common for me with stand up material, especially if it is "edgy".)
Not only that, though, but Anderson comes across as not spiteful in his humour - there was actually a genuine plea at the end that we need people who believe nonsense to come back into the fold of reason, not be cast out forever. Again, this is not the sort of theme you seem to get in stand up very often.
So, yeah, good on you Wil.
??? Thought I left a comment grumbling about Wil's latest show on TV on your blog on a recent post but I can't find it now.
ReplyDeleteI complained that I don't like the way he laughs too much on "Question Everything". But he is usually funny on Gruen.
ReplyDeleteBut really, the jokes in this stand up about the anti vaxxers and alternative medicine types were right up my ideological alley. I mean, if anyone from Catallaxy saw it, they would have recognised that most of his jokes could have been applied to them as climate change deniers, too.