No World Order

Wednesday May 25th, 2011 - Fox Lake, IL

   Will ANYBODY in the real world as we know it who’s doing well, please stand up? I’d be glad to hear some happy stories for a while, as it sure isn’t anyone in my inner circle of contacts. Everyone I talk to lately seems to be taking it in the shorts, with no hope ahead.

   Why is this? I can’t figure it out, but I do see it happening all around me and it’s getting to be very depressing. Everyone is in a panic, and whatever was ‘normal’ just a short time ago is now ancient history. All things are getting shaken up in every field in every way.

   Comedy is no exception. I see the handwriting on the wall, and if I don’t find the way to reinvent myself in a hurry, I’ll be standing behind a deep fryer with a paper hat wondering whether to dive into the grease pit to end my suffering. It’s getting tougher to survive in a world that’s getting colder by the day. It’s trickling down to the masses, and I’m worried.

   I know it’s not good to worry, but I can’t help it. I feel insignificant and powerless in an insane world that isn’t trying to better itself as a whole any time soon. Watching the news is pure torture. If it isn’t sadness and disaster, it’s stupidity and mankind’s foibles shown.

   Some happy news would really be nice. How about instead of a 20 or 30 something cop getting shot and leaving a wife and young kids, one wins the lottery and is able to provide a great life for a family who in turn all grow up and use that example to perpetuate it into the next generation. Society is rotting at the core, and it seems to be too far gone to fix it.

   My little Pollyanna hopes and dreams seem very unimportant compared to what I see all around me every day. I talk to people in all walks of life who have had to take hits in their professional lives which in turn turns up the stress in their personal ones. It’s not pleasant.

   I’m just not finding things very funny these days, even though that’s allegedly what I’m supposed to be doing for a living. I want people to be happy, even if it would cause me to lose my job. If people were happy and laughing by themselves, they wouldn’t need me or all the others who have sacrificed our own happiness in order to hopefully build a career.

   That’s another part of the problem - there are WAY too many horrible comedians in the way of those precious few that are truly gifted. I’m sure it’s that way with any creative art, but it sure makes it tougher to survive when incompetent mooks smell an easy buck in it.

   Everyone stinks at the start of any creative endeavor, but a process begins where we all build our level of skills through constant working on them and like a flower, it eventually blooms and can be enjoyed by everyone until its run is over. I want my run to be noticed.

   Right now, I’m not sure what to do. I know I have a gift of making audiences laugh, but I’m not exactly sure how to use it to the fullest. What used to be is no more, and clubs are no longer the prime venue for what I do. But, with all these people suffering who has time to come out and see live entertainment? They’re all too busy trying to stay above water.

Posted via email from Dobie Maxwell's "Dented Can" Diary