The Comedy of Awkwardness
Last week I posted my video of my intentionally awkward Powerpoint presentation, “My Dog Cosmo.” My father in law wrote to me to say that he enjoyed it, and that it reminded him of a 1928 performance by humorist Robert Benchley, which was tantalizingly titled “The Treasurer’s Report.”
Watch the video of “The Treasurer’s Report,” below, and think of all the “comedy of awkward” in 2010, especially the comedy of the awkward nerd. And, of course, think back to Andy Kaufman, who made a career out of making you wonder what was real and what was an act.
I love performance art like this, that calls attention to the absurdity of a social ritual, and that’s playful and smart without being mean (see also: Improv Everywhere’s “Frozen Grand Central”).
Is “The Treasurer’s Report” truly “comedy”? I don’t know. I wasn’t laughing while I watched Benchley — but I was smiling.
P.S. In an interesting moment of synchronicity – right after my father in law told me about Benchley, I was reading E.B. White’s classic essay, “Here is New York” (which I highly recommend – very poetic and timeless impressions of NYC) and he talks about the thrill of living in the same city as… Robert Benchley.
I love it that the humor of shows like “The Office” was being done back in the 20s (and probably before!). He does “bad public speaker” so convincingly and with such a focus on the details (pretending that mixing up “bad head cold” and “pneumonia” is a big deal in a speech, etc.) that I found myself alternately squirming and laughing while I watched this. Perfect.
I love your Cosmo Powerpoint presentation because I hate Powerpoint and I used to have a greyhound named Cosmo. One of his nicknames was “Momo.” Thanks for the Benchley video too–simply brilliant.
I love that bit of synchronicity! Love it when that happens…all of a sudden you read that differently from the way you might have before…a new point of reference.