Nick Swardson and Shakespeare: Having v. Being

“…and then he shot himself!” The audience was shrieking and whistling as the man onstage chuckled lightly into the microphone. I was unimpressed. After an hour and a half of holding my stomach and massaging my cheeks because they hurt so bad, Reno 911’s “Terry” finally told a joke that cut my laughter short.

On Thursday, May 1^st, 7:30 p.m. at the Crest Theater in Sacramento, comedian Nick Swardson performed a provocative stand-up routine. After listening to his story about filming Grandma’s Boy with experienced television star Shirley Jones, who suggested amending a scene to be more sexual, I figured if that didn’t throw me off, nothing he said could. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

I don’t remember the joke, but it centered around suicide - a topic I find even less entertaining after having a friend so fatally give in to his grief a little over a month ago. As my roommate and I sat rigidly in our seats, waiting for the segue to a new joke (any joke), I wondered how it could be that we were the only people who were not amused by this “punchline.” What is wrong with these people? Since when is suicide a laughable subject? On Tuesday morning, in my Shakespeare class, I reached an understanding of what had taken place.

In our reading of King Lear, professor Lynn Elliott initiated a conversation about defining oneself through “having vs. being.” King Lear, as a character, defined himself by the love his daughters held for him, which he viewed as a commodity; this was a mode of having. Professor Elliott explained that a person is most vulnerable when in this state, because anything we have can be taken away. In contrast, something in our way of being, something ingrained in the person we are, can never be taken from us. When he brought up sense of humor as an example, I flashed back to that moment in the theater.

Once I got over the initial shock that Nick Swardson fits into a category that was approached by Shakespeare centuries ago, I began ruminating over the mystery that is comedy. I included my roommate in my ponderings, as she was present at the time of the offense and also because we find humor in the same things. As we talked about it, we admitted to ourselves that some of the things she and I joke about are not necessarily funny to other people, and might actually be considered offensive; this does not stop whatever it is from being absolutely hilarious. I don’t feel that “justification” is the right term to apply to the conclusion I reached about the audience; I have simply accepted it’s not their fault that this is what sparks a positive emotion in them.

I had a great time at this show; luckily, my above reactions did very little to dampen my overall impression of the event.