In the classic movie \u201cThe Caine Mutiny\u201d the petty tyrant Captain Queeg assigns the deceptive title of morale officer to one of his unfortunate junior officers.\u00a0 His responsibility in this position was to ruthlessly enforce the dress code down to the buttoning of shirts and the length of hair on the enlisted men.\u00a0 Whereas this was a mockery of the concept of morale I believe that a morale officer is exactly what the country needs right now.\u00a0 And to a large extent that is what President Trump has been attempting to do with his COVID-19 press conferences.\u00a0 He\u2019s trying to provide helpful information and an optimistic assessment of the progress we\u2019re making in the dreary business of navigating through the pandemic swamp.\u00a0 But we need more than that.\u00a0 Trapped in our homes and deprived of even the opportunity to work we need some distractions.\u00a0 We need some entertainment.<\/p>\n
In a happier time, even just a short generation ago we could turn on the television and we would find on every network at least one show that was funny enough to distract us.\u00a0 Back in the early 1990s you could watch Home Improvement with Tim Allen as a tv dad with his wife and three boys stumbling through the foibles of American family life with gentle humor and a very muted take on the battle of the sexes and the revolt of the young against their parents.\u00a0 Later on, you could still laugh at the misanthropic but relatively harmless antics of Seinfeld and his neurotic associates.\u00a0 Even during the 2000s you could see a show like King of Queens where the humor was more like a pitched battle between the husband and wife and the dysfunctionality of the older generation was on full display with Jerry Stiller\u2019s portrayal of Arthur Spooner more resembling a mental patient than a normal adult.\u00a0 But it was funny and the characters somewhat resembled real people.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t seem to be the case anymore.\u00a0 The loss of any originality on network television seems to have killed off the sitcom.\u00a0 The stupidity of the writing and the restrictions on the plot dictated by political correctness have rendered these shows unwatchable.\u00a0 Maybe the better writers have moved over to cable stations like HBO and Netflix but the darkness of most of what passes for comedy on cable is pretty extreme.<\/p>\n
And that is where we are.\u00a0 As a society we are surrounded by joyless dysfunctional productions that are supposed to be entertainment.\u00a0 The action shows aren\u2019t good but they\u2019re just supposed to tell a simple story of good versus evil.\u00a0 That\u2019s easy enough to do.\u00a0 Comedy is harder.\u00a0 It takes intelligence and an actual sense of humor.\u00a0 Those two things are mostly absent now.\u00a0 But that\u2019s what we need.\u00a0 A good laugh.<\/p>\n
Luckily, there is a lot of old comedy available.\u00a0 And there is probably something there for all tastes.\u00a0 Everything from the tame antics of the Marx Brothers and Abbott and Costello and the screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s, to the early modern comedy of George Carlin, Mel Brooks and Rodney Dangerfield, to the outrageous Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy, right up to the current rants of Dave Chappelle.\u00a0 Of course, the definition of funny varies enormously depending on the audience.\u00a0 It\u2019s probably safe to say that generational tastes will divide the audience into several camps.\u00a0 But what is undeniable is that the modern entertainment industry has destroyed comedy.<\/p>\n
But we still need a laugh.\u00a0 So, go looking for something that is funny and put it on and have a good laugh.\u00a0 You need it and the rest of us do too.<\/p>\n
What I would recommend is do a search online for what movies, tv shows and comedy recordings are considered the funniest for the time periods when your concept of comedy was formed and see if you agree with the opinion.\u00a0 Look at general lists of comedies for these time periods and make a list of your own favorites.\u00a0 Then rent or buy or stream a few of these comedies together in your own film festival.\u00a0 Make sure you have your favorite popcorn or other snacks and enjoy.\u00a0 Maybe tell a friend or two and have a virtual movie festival in separate homes.\u00a0 You can make a deal to swap favorites and compare notes after the fact.<\/p>\n
Just to show that my heart is in the right place I\u2019ll throw a few out.\u00a0 Now mind you, I\u2019ll start off by saying my tastes are peculiar.\u00a0 But there they are.\u00a0 I\u2019ll go with two W. C. Fields movies, \u201cIt\u2019s a Gift\u201d and \u201cThe Man on the Flying Trapeze.\u201d\u00a0 I always enjoy his henpecked husband routine and the melodramatic actress who plays his wife in both these movies is perfect.\u00a0 I love telling Camera Girl that she treats me just as badly as Field\u2019s wife in the movies.<\/p>\n
Add in the first installment of the \u201cThin Man\u201d series.\u00a0 And finish off the early movies with the Marx Brother\u2019s \u201cA Night at the Opera.\u201d\u00a0 For the later decades we could take a couple of Bill Murray movies, say \u201cGhostbusters\u201d and \u201cGroundhog Day.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe add a Jim Carrey movie, say the \u201cMask.\u201d\u00a0 And finish off with a cartoon that\u2019s mostly a comedy like \u201cThe Incredibles.\u201d\u00a0 For a classic tv series I\u2019d go with Jackie Gleason\u2019s, \u201cThe Honeymooners.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you have any picks you\u2019d like to volunteer leave them in the comments and share the wealth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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