Stewart v. Cramer — Comedian v. Clown

A few thoughts on this: First, we saw John Stewart talk last fall at UB. I came away impressed not only by how funny he is, but how smart and incisive his analysis of current political issues is. I’ve been reading a lot of plays lately from the Renaissance-Romantic period, and one of the things that stands out is the central role of the clown. Part of his role is to point, with (black) humor, towards the failings and foibles of those in power. In fact, he’s often the only one in a position to do so. Having just read Macbeth, I was struck by the absence of this character — indeed, of any real comedy at all. It’s in many ways the bleakest of Shakespeare’s plays. No hope = no humor. Maybe, just maybe, the fact that we have someone in the MSM angry and funny enough to take some of these weasels on means there’s hope — even if it’s of the canary in a coalmine type.