Not only are we in the midst of a horror renaissance, we are at the end of the revitalization of stand up comedy. Saturday Night Live was there at the first great wave of stand up in the mid-20th century, and it’s been there with the revival of it through the investment by Netflix and other streaming platforms over the past decade.
Which brings me to Saturday, March 7 and the episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Ryan Gosling. If you haven’t seen this one, go watch it. There are any number of sketches you could start with, but this is the one the internet is talking about right now:
What this highlights is the genuine sense of humor everyone in this show has. (And leaving aside the “roasting is bullying that is really funny line.”) Obviously this is not always the case with guest hosts, but Gosling shows here, in his monologue, and throughout that he genuinely has a sense of humor and is loving poking good-natured fun at himself, his work, and the world in general.
As further evidence:
We obviously need more people willing to engage life with a sense of humor. The world God has made is heroic and tragic–there is good and sin in the world. We live in a world in need of the redemption offered on the cross. All of this is true. But we also live in a world that is funny. We need people who can point this out and engage with us in a good laugh. Saturday Night Live has of course been hit or miss at providing this, but for the past couple of years it has been far more on the “laugh” side of things than on the “flop” side.
And it’s nice to see Gorillaz out and about again. So that’s fun too 🙂
Dr. Coyle Neal co-hosts the City of Man Podcast and is an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog). He teaches Political Science, Philosophy, and History in Southwest Missouri.
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