This post is for comedians: I meet regularly with you fellow comedians. We spend hours hanging out and working on new material. We share ideas and tell each other things that we can’t share with non-comedians. Nothing is off limits.
We respect each other and we know that our dialogue is for the purpose of making ourselves better as performers. We share true, unfiltered thoughts about family and relationships. We ask direct-questions of comics who are different that ourselves in hopes of understanding how to relate to diverse audiences.
Sometimes we discover that we don’t really know the cultures of others. Sometimes we can’t communicate with an understanding of how they feel. This barrier should not affect the process. If I want to discuss a sensitive subject, it should be understood that my curiosity comes from a genuine place. I’m a “comedy-scientist”. I strive to learn what makes people laugh, what makes them think, and what makes them react. Outside of becoming a better comedian, I don’t have an agenda!
If we lose that free-dialogue, we also lose that special-sanctum. We become another politically-correct, dishonest, agenda-driven group of assholes!
I don’t know how to express it except: I need to be able to say anything to any comic that I associate with without their taking offense! I promise I’m just a “Loving, Hard-Working, Curious, Caring, Honest, Fellow-Comic that’s just trying to figure it out!