Lewd, Crude...and Funny?

Here we go again! Joan Rivers compared her living arrangements with her daughter to the women held captive in a Cleveland basement. Uproar. Apology demanded, but Rivers isn’t caving. “I’m a comedienne,” she says.

This kind of joke should not be a complete surprise to those who know her work. Most of her TV appearances are mild dilutions of her stage shows. The material is pretty crude.

But this is her product. This is what she serves, and with the statement, “I’m a comedieene,” she has hit the ball firmly back to our side of the court. If she were to offer an apology, what would it accomplish? Would it change her shtick?  I think we know the answer.

You place an order in a Chinese restaurant. The waiter may not speak much English, but usually he knows when to say, “Spicy!” So if you order that dish, it’s too late to complain. Maybe you think a restaurant serving that kin d of food should stop serving the dish in question or even go out of business. It won’t, because there are enough people who like “spicy.”

Sometimes, the chef puts too much spice in that dish, even for those of us who may like his cooking. But if we frequent the place, we’ll probably suck it up and return on another day.

In the sport of boxing, the competitors are often warned about low blows, in which punches are thrown to the crotch. Most of the time, it’s an accident, but sometimes, it’s deliberate. In such a case, the referee can deduct a point from the offender’s score, and the victim gets a full five minutes to recover (which victims rarely take). And then the match continues. Those things don’t usually end a boxer’s career.

Many psychologists – and lay people – have tried to analyze humor. We’ve heard “Tragedy plus time equals funny,” or, courtesy of Woody Allen, “If it bends, it’s funny; if it breaks, it’s not funny.” The shrinks will tell you that surprise is necessary to humor, but the surprise is not complete: there has to be something in our soul that knew the punch line all along; the joke simply brings it to consciousness. If it’s a total surprise, well, it’s not funny, it’s simply shock. But some of us develop a taste for it, or at least expect it.

In Joan’s case, “I’m a comedienne” is an honest response to her critics. In the Chinese restaurant, if Chef Wong overdoes it with the MSG and a diner complains, is he going to change what’s on the menu? Probably not, especially if he knows the tables are still filled each night.

Are we going to deduct a point from Joan and let the match continue? Joan is leaving that decision up to us, which seems entirely appropriate to me.