THE ORIGINAL "DARK NIGHT" WAS THE JOKER

Lots of public blather -- in the disguise of public discourse -- about the latest mass shooting. However, let the record show lone killers are not a problem for Sociology as much as for Psychology. It's not the guns but the human heart that needs change. Or as the original Dark Knight, joker Lenny Bruce, explained it in his often banned nightclub act of the 60s: "Pain plus time is what equals humor."

His comedy was especially dark for those times. Deeply rooted in the pain and anger of the human heart. Now of course comedy has to not only deal with human pain and anger, it must be fiercely scatological. Just a couple steps up from the high school bathroom wall!  Catch any comedy club or cable standup today, and Lenny Bruce sounds like a PTA president. The last of the "clean comics" include Bill Cosby, Woody Allen and Bob Newhart. After them, not many you want to bring your kids or grandma to see.

Many reasons are offered for this darkening of our national humor. Some say the times are so dark, our humor has to reflect this reality to be real. Just as our movies and music have. The box office rule is civility in love. Moon-in-June lyrics,  and happy endings simply don't sell! 

But here's a question for the studios, the recording companies, and the comedians: If you step into a dark room, isn't your first inclination to reach for the lights? I've worked with Bill and Woody, and grew up with Bob. They were never especially angry men. Somehow they seem to find their humor in the frailties of the human heart more than its fears, in our eccentricities more than our evil, in still hoping our dark side is something to outgrow rather than to enjoy.

What's really funny is that so many of us today feel clean-comedy isn't funny anymore.