Episode 55: Know Your Audience

"Do you know the enemy?/Do you know your enemy?/Well, gotta know the enemy/wah-hey."

                                    -Green Day, "Know Your Enemy"

   Just pretend that Billie Joe Armstrong is singing "audience" instead of "enemy". 

    In a previous episode, episode 15, titled "You're Not Funny, You're Just A Jerk", I touched on making jokes and when and where you should do so. This episode is gonna be a sort of spiritual successor to that one. 

   I've been told by many people that not only do I have a great sense of humor, I also have impeccable timing. That I have a great ability to differentiate when to make a joke to ease tension and make someone feel better and when to stay silent so someone who's talking to me just has someone listening so they can air out their emotions and blow off steam.

     Part of knowing when and when not to make a joke, of course, is knowing your audience. The person you're talking to is perhaps the biggest factor in whether or not a joke should be made. Don't make a 9/11 joke to someone who lost a loved one there or someone who fought in the Iraq War. Don't make a racist joke to someone who is a person of color. Of course, you probably shouldn't make those jokes period, but you really shouldn't make them if those are the people who would be hearing it.

     But, there is a reverse to this thought process. A person who's complaining, airing out their stresses must be mindful of who it is they're talking to. In the words of Rick Grimes,

  "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

   I would be careful not to complain about my struggles to someone who has it solidly worse than me. Time and time again throughout my life, I've been a confidant for people who are having issues with their love lives. I'm glad, truly, that I am someone people know they can come to. But, at the same time - please don't complain about your love life to someone who doesn't have one. I don't wanna hear about how hard dating and marriage is when, in the words of Chandler Bing, I am "hopeless and awkward and desperate for love".

    Now, as of now there are only a few people who consistently read this blog, and most of them are people I love. People I love enough that I will allow them to complain about whatever to me. People that I will give a free pass. But nonetheless I think it needs to be said. I will be there for you (when the rain starts to pour) even when I can't relate to what's troubling you. I just hope I do a good enough job making you feel better, and that you understand that I'm doing the best I can with the little I have to go off of.

    It's like being a stand-up comedian. Not everyone is going to laugh at every joke. Some jokes may not be funny for anyone. But, as a comic, you have to shoot. You can't make someone feel better if you aren't there for them just like you can't make someone laugh if you don't present anything funny.

In Conclusion

   I guess the moral of the story is that you should read episode 15 again. Just kidding. But you can if you want.

   In actuality, I guess it's that you should just be careful of who you make a joke to and when you do it, as well as be careful of who you complain to and when you do it. Anyways,

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!