Brecht - The Exposure

At this level of distance, we can start to see the systems that shape our lives more clearly. When comedy creates distance between us and our lived conditions, it gives us the ability to see the structures of our society. The line we must walk, when practicing comedy from this framework, is between reality and nihilism.

When the comic tells a story about themselves, they find the humor in their experience. This can alienate them from their own experience and allow the audience to build a connection with it. This gives the comic complete control over the fate of their story and how the audience perceives it. They can make their experience work for them no matter how enjoyable or painful it was initially. By creating this layer of detachment, they can also deconstruct not just the story, but the systems around their story. They get to expose the construction.

This is what Brecht calls the Alienation Effect, and is what I believe is one of the most effective tools in comedy. It allows the audience and comic to examine, instead of just experience.

My drive for doing comedy is through the lens of questioning everything. This might stem from what I interpret as our collective responsibility to create social change. The exposure we have to the world informs the art we make. If art is not meant to act as a hammer through the lens of the artist, it can be interpreted as a hammer to the audience.