Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Making the funny

You know how Bongolanders will make fun of anything at all, appropriate or not (and there are some really inappropriate jokes out there)? Well, for some reason we don't do satire too good. Ze Comedy crew were doing well, and then got derailed when Channel Five lost them to TeeBeeCee one. People, there is something ill going on in a country where the state broadcaster can steal the hottest show on air from the hippest, youngest urban station.

This morning as I was recovering from some serious brain leakage caused by reading too many newspapers for a client report I realized something: We just don't make the funny enough. This post cropped up on JamiiForums (that heaving nest of political intrigue) this morning: http://carbolicsmokeblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/tanzania-crashes-g-8-summit-furious.html

Good, eh? It was followed by a couple of terribly earnest and completely misguided passionate defenses of our President, our Country, our Sovereignty, our Dignity against the Evil Western World. The joke blew past them at the speed of light. What sad state of affairs is this? The most successful and popular comedic people we have all do satire: in cartoons, on TV, radio. But in print things get very wobbly.

The hazards of my nine-to-five include an acute loss of sense of humor, a penchant for conspiracy theory and gradual break-down in grammatical skills not to mention aformentioned brain-melt. Our papers take themselves so seriously it is all I can do on a post-deadline day not to run for office and save the country/start drinking scotch in the mid-morning. There is a columnist in particular whom I had to stop reading because I couldn't tell if his political analysis was brilliant or fuelled by crack even after months of careful study.

For solace I have to turn to Adam Lusekelo's writings- irreverent, occasionally rude, always niggly-giggly. Thing is, he gets published both in the state paper and in their fiercest enemy, This Day. Ze Comedians, you could learn something here...

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