Introduction to Stand Up Comedy Part VIII: Historical Ranting

Content: Robin Williams stand-up comedy, particularly Live at the Met

Introduction: After getting some crap from a longtime friend who remembers sitting in my parents’ den, listening to Live at the Met instead of doing a chemistry lab, I decided to add some material to Dream’s extensive introduction to stand-up comedy. (Happy, Mike?) When we were 15, nothing cracked us up more than Robin Williams. We were in tears listening to his rants. In theory, they’re similar to Chris Rock’s or Dennis Leary’s. But Rock and Leary base their scathing rhetoric in anger, in a sense of injustice and hypocrisy. Williams’ rants are less based than they are fueled. Fueled by knowing that he’s got something funny to say and he’s really excited about it. Fueled by an internal comedic energy that threatens to him apart if he doesn’t get it out fast. And of course, fueled by coke. (Williams was never as funny after he kicked the Peruvian marching powder.) He was visceral and hysterical and so referential that we could hardly keep up. He spoke in such a way that he gave the impression of someone speaking off the top of his head, and I think to a certain extent he was. Live at the Met was recorded in 1986, so by the time we listened to in 1995, it was already a decade old. But with Williams’ energy it felt like current events. By the time Dream listens to it, it will be ancient history, which excites me: a history lesson in the visceral and spontaneous comedic style of Robin Williams.

Dream’s Age at Introduction: 15

Reason for That Age: I know I said that I would stop giving Dream media and content after age 14 because he or she wouldn’t want or need me leading the way to culture, but I like the idea of Dream discovering Williams at the same age that I did. Plus, for some of the historical references, he or she will need to be older than 14.

What I Want Dream to Get Out of It: I want Dream to shake with the same laughter my friends and I felt at that age when we listened to Live at the Met for the first time. I want Dream to feel the energy that Williams exudes on stage that makes his audience off balanced, not knowing what to expect next. Listening to this album, Dream should understand that part of comedy is the unexpected and that that is what makes riffing in comedy, when done well, so potent. And as a bonus, Dream will get a primer into the history of the 1980s.

Be content,
John

Great Scott, This is Heavy

Content: Back to the Future trilogy

Introduction: My parents got our first VCR when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. After some experimentation in recording sitcoms and cartoons, I started to record and catalogue just about every movie that came on network television. (We didn’t have cable yet.) When I noticed that a movie was coming up in prime time (usually past my bedtime), I’d set the VCR, watch it later, and then label and number the tape. I kept a catalogue. In retrospect, I don’t know the point of the exercise: Collect every movie ever made? Get up to #100 in my catalogue? Regardless, as a kid I liked projects and lists, so I started recording movies and cataloguing them. And that was how I discovered Back to the Future in the 2nd grade.

No movie inspired or captivated me more growing up than that copy of Back to the Future edited for NBC that I watched 27 times during the summer between 2nd and 3rd grades. I wanted to time travel. I wanted a flux capacitor. And above all else, I wanted a DeLorean. Nine years later, I considered forgoing my freshman year at Georgetown to fund the purchase of a used (obviously) DeLorean that a local car shop had on its front lot.

Most people think that only the first Back to the Future was worthwhile – that the second and third movies were odd or badly made – but I disagree. Each is different, but each is wonderful. The first is the best film. The second is a theoretically complicated and interesting time travel story. And the third is a western. I love them all, never failing to be sucked in for at least a little while when the trilogy is the Hangover Special on TBS. And I want Dream to love them too.

Dream’s Age at Introduction: 10

Reason for That Age: I was first exposed to Back to the Future at age 8, but it was all NBCed up to remove references to vaginas, or something like that. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing too objectionable, but just in case I’ll bump it up a couple years for Dream. Plus, when the second and third movies came out in theaters, I was about 10. It’s a good age to become obsessed with a movie.

What I Want Dream to Get Out of It: Oh, where to begin! I want Dream to love DeLoreans and Doc Brown and Marty McFly and Hill Valley, California. I want Dream to hate Biff Tannen and feel overwhelming pity for wimpy original timeline George McFly. I hope Dream starts to wonder about the 4th dimension and dream (hey – a pun!) that centuries are doors and decades windows. This movie sent my head spinning around what could be possible if we expanded how and when we travel. I hope the same thing happens to Dream.

Be content,
John

Turn of the Century Canada as Gender Neutral Literature

Content: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Introduction: I can hear fathers of little boys across the southeast crying in disgust, “That’s a girl book! I’ll ruin my son reading about some crazing Canadian chick!” Ah, but I beg to disagree, my gender-role-enforcing friends. This story isn’t just for girls. I didn’t read it read this growing up, rather I discovered the PBS movie while sick in college. I enjoyed it so much that I went back and read the books. Anne of Green Gables is a wonderful, bucolic story about the importance of learning, imagination, and making family among people you care about. This is a great book (and movie) for Richard and Ella.

Dream’s Age at Introduction: 9

Reason for That Age: Anne Shirley is 11 at the beginning of the story, which means her life will seem mature and large to a younger kid. Something daydream about. I think that reading about her life on Prince Edward Island will make 9-year old Dream want to spend more time outside in the woods, beaches and fields of New Hampshire’s seacoast. Any younger, though, and Dream won’t be old enough to really understand what he or she is reading.

What I Want Dream to Get Out of It: Anne’s life is something to aspire to. She has a loving family that works to assemble itself. She reads and has an active imagination. She’s bright and enjoys school. Her life is full of caring friends. I would love for Dream – boy or girl – to gain an appreciation and inspiration for all those things

Be content,
John

Nobody Writes Stories Like This About Cats

Content: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Introduction: Where the Red Fern Grows is the incredibly touching story of a boy and his hunting dogs. One of the reasons I cried as hard I did when my dog died - which is as hard as I’ve cried over anything - was that I had a great deal of displaced dog-related emotion stemming from this novel. This book is arguably the most effecting story young adults read that stays with them through adulthood. I was working at a DC law firm shortly after college, and my coworkers and I started talking about the dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann. A mid-twentysomething guy walks in, hears those names, and says “Oh no, are you guys talking about Where the Red Fern Grows? I can’t be here for this. I’m gonna cry.”

Dream’s Age at Introduction: 10

Reason for That Age: I can’t describe how devastating it is for a reader to get to the end. I don’t think that I’m giving anything away by saying that the story’s beloved dogs don’t not die, if only because that knowledge removes none of the agony. A 10-year old is about the right balance between being emotionally capable of handling the sense of loss and young enough to be moved in a way unique to young children.

What I Want Dream to Get Out of It: After reading Where the Red Fern Grows, I want Dream to have an appreciation – woven into his or her genetic fabric – that reading can move you. That books are capable of producing an emotional reaction in you that you almost didn’t know you were capable of. For a lot of people, those emotions exist between book covers before they exist between people. I don’t want Dream to rely on books as a sort of emotional coming attraction, but I do want him or her to appreciate that well-written words can evoke incredibly powerful feelings.

Be content,
John

Dream’s Dreams of Real Life Adventures

Content: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen and My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Introduction: Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain were two of my favorite books around the fourth or fifth grade. Hatchet tells the story of a boy who survives a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness and has to survive on his own with only the titular cutting implement for protection. My Side of the Mountain, somewhat similarly, tells the story of a boy who runs away from his life in the city to survive in the woods with nothing but a flint and steel set and a pet falcon (seriously – a freaking falcon). These are great coming of age stories – recommended by none other than Gram Weaver (formerly Ma Weaver in my previous writings), a learned school librarian. Although they are likely more geared for boys than girls, I think Ella will enjoy them as much as Richard.

Dream’s Age at Introduction: 10 or 11

Reason for That Age: I read My Side of the Mountain and then Hatchet when I was 10 or 11, and I think that is the proper order. Hatchet is scary: plane crash, tornado, animal attacks. This is not a book for really young kids, particularly since this is a realistic story with no fantasy elements. My Side of the Mountain, on the other hand, plays out more as a “Dick and Jane play Thoreau” story, with the parallel drawn fairly explicitly by one of the characters (although obviously, 10-year olds won’t get it). It comes across as a “fun” adventure, whereas Hatchet comes across as a “scary” adventure. But the style and syntax of both are clearly written for kids. So an older elementary schooler, one with a sense of adventure and who likes a little scare, is a good fit for these books.

What I Want Dream to Get Out of It: As is true with all of the reading material on this blog, I want Dream to gain an appreciation of the written word and reading. Regarding these books in particular, I want Dream to get a little taste of real adventure. Not Tolkien, Rowling, or Lewis adventure (although all of those are on this list too), but actual “This could be your life” adventure. After reading these books, I wanted to live in the woods and recast myself as a modern day Thoreau, even if I had no way of describing myself as such at the time. I hope the same inspiration seizes Dream.

Be content,
John