#7

I love comics. Their use of language, their heart ... standing on stage.....alone. The connections they make. Denis Miller. Dennis Leary. Leno (before the Tonight Show when he was funny). Robin Willians. Chris Rock. Some comics are funny out of a nuerotic need....Eddie Murphy....that type doesn't do it for me. The best I probably ever saw was Pryor. Simply amazing in his ability to weave language with stereotypes that you recognized. The laughter wasn't AT some group the comic was singling out but rather at our common humanity. I could see myself in the people Miller, and Leary, and Pryor, and Rock were creating. But if they could use language.....make connections....I was willing to sit there. Richard Jeni committed suicide today. At least that's what the tickertape says. And that saddens me. I watched him often. And laughed. He wasn't in Pryors or Rocks class. But he was funny. He stood there....all alone....and tried to do what the very best comedians do -- find a funny connection that illustrates our common humanity. Pretty brave.