Inclusion
[I’ve added this to my piece on “hot” funny women as the problem of inclusion is felt by People of Color and the differently-abled as well.] In an interview with Michael Stahl of Narratively.com (6/29/2017), Chris Crespo, a differently-abled comic, expressed worry about this:
When I started, I didn’t want to talk about my disability. I want to be on a lineup because I’ve proved my worth. I always feared that I’d be booked on a show to fulfill some diversity bullshit. I don’t want to be on a show because they need a cripple; I want to be there because people want to see me perform.
Crespo also says he didn’t want to talk about it “for fear of being perceived as merely a sympathy case by the audience.”
It probably wouldn’t be a concern if it weren’t happening.
On laughing with versus at
When discussing writing, Crespo says,
I always write five jokes a day, minimally. Whenever I can’t think of anything new to write, I always go back to making fun of myself, and usually that’s the best source.
It’s this idea of “making fun of oneself” or “poking fun at his condition” that I have a problem with, wondering if it does more harm than good. This is what I’m getting at with the Unforeseen Consequences of a Marginalized Persona, where I use the example of Josh Blue. It is a concern, as Crespo admits later in the interview:
High school was a little weird for me. My disability was always used as a punch line, and it kind of made me uncomfortable when other people did it. I started to think, “If they’re going to use it, I have to use it [more] quickly. I have to beat them to the punch.”
He knew they were going to laugh at him, out of Superiority, so he became a class clown as a defense mechanism. Further, now he’s acknowledged that he has to talk about his disability on-stage, which begs the question: Can you ever really be laughing with him, once you know that he’s only laughing to preempt the laughing at he expected from you? Does the fact that he’s allowing it- even writing the jokes – change the fact that it still might be, at base, ridicule?
The rub
Crespo states,
The drive comes from knowing that I’m good, knowing that on a basic level I can make a person laugh. In a very crazy way, I have to prove to people that I can be fucking hilarious. That’s the goal for me.
However, his difference makes any speculation moot. He’s not a stereotypical comic, so why posit what it would be like if he were? In the end, the only thing we can return to is, “Did the audience laugh?” and we can’t discern the “why?” in any meaningful way.
As long as they laugh, he gains bookings, and makes money, so some ask, “Where’s the harm?”
Summary
I admit, I haven’t seen Crespo’s show, I’m just going off the way he, himself describes it. He also talks about doing “observations of others who don’t know how to handle interactions with him,” and all the examples are generic or in this vein. However, the potential harm still bothers me.
Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Additions?
