Hi funny people,

I've been thinking about how my jokes are different in different comedy spaces. I notice that when I perform in rooms geared towards queer and BIPOC folks, I tend to lead with identity based jokes or longer personal stories. When I perform at home in Nanaimo or rooms in smaller cities or towns, I have less success with that material.

Part of this might be that less folks will relate to the jokes, but I think part of it is because I assume the jokes might not do as well. I have occasionally undermined myself if I assume folks won't like the joke. This generally goes poorly because I am then telling a story that less people will relate to, with low confidence. Not a great situation for comedy!

Assumptions about other folks who might think differently than us is a theme in a rad book I just finished by Monica Guzman called, I never thought of it that way. The book talks about how we can learn skills to have bridging questions in a polarized political time.

The topic is personal for the author. Monica is an accomplished journalist based out of Seattle. She is a blue Democrat in a city that votes blue. Her parents are middle class Mexican immigrants. They are also Republicans, they vote red. They voted for Trump.

Monica and her folks have had many heated conversations about their political differences, but never want their ideology to come between their family. Building from this foundation, and throughout her journalism career, Monica has worked to learn how to listen to people she disagrees with, and build the capacity to have what she calls bridging conversations. These are talks where the people involved can meet each other and find some common ground, even if it is very small.

The book is packed with practical tips and with references to organizations in the US like Braver Angels, who intentionally bring people together to bridge ideological gaps.

The part in the book about assumptions spoke to me. In one example a Seattle Democrat who was initially anxious about connecting to talk with Republicans explained that, in hindsight, she assumed that her party was trying to protect some values that she held dear, and she assumed a vote for the other side was a vote against those values. She then assumed that people who hold those values must be bad people who actively wanted to undermine her values. Sound a bit familiar? Many of us do some version of this without thinking.

When she was face to face engaged with folks from a rural county to talk politics, they explained that they thought the Republican party would be more likely to support and protect their right to use the water in the ponds and furrows on their farmlands.

To bring it back to comedy, it might be a useful check in to ask yourself about assumptions you might have about the audience you are performing to. Are you able to get curious about them?

I'll get to test this out April 16th at a comedy show I am hosting in Langley called Brewhaha at Farm Country Brewing. Langley has a higher percentage of of conservative leaning folks than the queer rooms I'm often in, but that's part of the reason I want to do a show there. It's an opportunity to test my assumptions and hopefully bridge to folks with some laughs.

The show features Sasha Mark, Alain Williams and our headliner is the wonderful Syd Bosel, who is a Cathartic Laughs workshop regular amongst many credits.

Our workshop is tomorrow, so hope to see you there!

Cheers,

Em

Next Workshop

We will see you tomorrow, Saturday April 1st at 10:00 AM PST, on Zoom for our informal joke writing meetup. You can come even if you don't have goals or jokes you are actively working on, you can join in and give feedback to others. Can't make this one? Next one is on April 15th, so mark your calendar.

Stay funny and see you tomorrow!

Em

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