Santa Fe Comedy Show

Well, about half of the posts on this blog thus far have been about New Mexico, but this is going to be the last one (for the time being).

This past Friday I went to a show in with my father and friend Alejandra, it was at Open Source Comedy in Albuquerque.

The headliner, Nat Towsen, was from New York but his two opening acts, Ann Gora and Curt Fletcher, seemed to both be from New Mexico, if not just currently living there.

Though this project, at its core, is about political ideology being conveyed through comedy, I learned far more about comedy and why people find certain things funny than politics itself.

There was a joke or two about the current healthcare bill currently being put through Congress but politics was hardly the focal point of any of the jokes that earned the heartiest guffaws.

One opener had a witty style, quickly adding humorous details to an otherwise common scenario, before calmly delivering a often-dirty punchline. This was just about his entire set.

The other opener seemed to be going for a more relatable approach, announcing a general fact about her life before putting a funny twist on the way things pan out situationally.

Note that these are not styles or tendencies or even jokes particular to Santa Fe, but tried and true ways of going about stand up comedy.

The headliner spoke to me, though.

And I'll tell you why.

Some comedians' bread and butter are dirty and/or offensive jokes (my father and I both got called out, at separate times, for the two Black jokes one opener made, solely because we were the only Black people in attendance), and, frankly, I've become less of a fan as I have grown up.

This is for a number of reasons:

-sometimes I just don't find it funny

-other times I feel like it promotes harmful stereotypes

-there is a moral dilemma in what my laughing at a joke says about my opinions towards that community

-I'm offended

Whatever the reason, I just prefer jokes that don't attack someone's identity one way or another.

But the headliner did the opposite of that. He focused totally on himself. His struggles and why he is the way he is, even taking jabs at his physical appearance. And the best part is this approach was like he was inviting the audience to laugh along with him, because he certain had his fair share of chuckles onstage.

This was great because his comedic style enabled me to laugh without feeling guilty, and laughing uninhibited is the best feeling, in my opinion.

I felt like he spoke to me because he mentioned similar, stronger tendencies to overthink life and situations and it put a light touch an personality trait of my own that often irritates me.

He was also a very socially aware comic. And this part of his set is where he really won me over. This project was born out of my view of comedians as societal commentators, and what he said about the struggles of people of marginalized identities in popular media was insightful and funny, but most importantly true.

Comedy for the sake of laughs is all fine and well, but using that platform, which is often accepted with open arms and a smile, to say something worthwhile is truly special.