Growing Up Laughing_ My Story and the Story of Funny - Marlo Thomas [105]
Marlo: Hadn’t you ever heard that?
Jon: No.
Marlo: I think if those old comics were alive today, they’d be astounded that satire is actually making it on TV.
Jon: People are so sophisticated now that you have to win them over with volume, and I think that’s the secret to it. If you can make satire part of the language, part of the culture, then it becomes a regular part of their diet. That’s how Saturday Night Live has been able to do it. That’s how we’ve been able to do it. It’s a volume game. You become a part of people’s digestive process.
Marlo: But you’re also steering them. You’re educating them to understand—and appreciate—satire. I was once in a play that I thought was really funny, but then it got bad reviews. I said to a screenwriter friend of mine, “Why did the critics pan it?” And she said, “Because they weren’t clear that it was supposed to be funny.” It’s almost like you have to announce it to people.
Jon: I think that’s absolutely true. We spend so much time on our show trying not to be explicit—but to be clear. We try hard to process the material and put it back out there as comedy. But intent is really an important part of it.
Marlo: And you’re obviously succeeding. Time magazine named you one of the most influential people in the country. That had to surprise you.
Jon: Listen, we do a show that’s about media culture. So I’m never surprised when the media responds that way. It’s like they’re saying, “This man is making fun of us. He’s chosen a very good subject to make fun of. He must be very important.” By considering it as flattery, they elevate themselves. I think that’s what the media does. And in the process, we sort of become outsized in whatever they think our influence is.
Marlo: Still, did you ever imagine that you would have this kind of impact?
Jon: No, none of this ever seemed possible to me. Even when I told my family what I was doing, there was this sense of “For what?”
Marlo: So what was the lure?
Jon: It was a language and a rhythm that I thought I understood. It’s like music, you know? You hear it and you feel like, “Yeah, man, that makes sense to me.” You know how some musicians can play by ear? I felt like I had that—like there was a certain “comedy by ear” that I knew how to do. And producing our show is somewhat of a musical process. The most important time for us is between rehearsal and the show, when the song is rewritten to sound a little bit better.
Marlo: It’s such a kick to watch you on your show, especially when the camera catches you trying not to crack up at something that’s going on. Which makes me want to know: What do you find uncontrollably funny? What gets to your funny bone?
Jon: Sadly, what I love most is when something bombs. Watching the bomb. Loving the bomb.
Marlo: I love bombs, too. Why is that?
Jon: Having worked in the clubs for so long is sort of like being a magician for a lot of years—you know all the tricks. So I always found it funny when I was bombing, or one of my friends was bombing. It’s something that’s different—like being caught in a sudden snowstorm.
Marlo: And if it happens on your show?
Jon: I enjoy it the most when things go wrong on the show. I relish it. It’s reminds me that “Oh, right, this isn’t neurosurgery.” Like, we’re making jokes about, you know, the Elmo puppet that we re-jiggered to be a Guantánamo detainee, and the beard accidentally comes off. Now, that’s funny.
Because, inherently, we’re like the Little Rascals: We’re just a bunch of idiots in the backyard putting on a show.
Chapter 52
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
It is not possible to think about my childhood without thinking about St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Although, like any hospital, it shoulders its share of sadness, St. Jude is also about laughter. Laughter built the place.
Getting ready to go on, backstage at “The Shower of Stars”
—with Dad, Frank Sinatra and Jerry Lewis.
Dad raised the early funds to build St. Jude from benefit concerts he gave, both on his own and with his pals from the world he knew best—nightclubs.