WHAT’S SO FUNNY?
January 14-17, 20-24, and 27-31
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Such a substantive, self-critical approach is not only unusual given the smug, escapist mockery that dominates stand-up comedy–it’s unwelcome. That’s probably why Tingle is trying to move into the more receptive arena of theatrical performance with this work in progress (directed by Larry Arrick, a Broadway and TV veteran with roots in Second City’s predecessor, the Compass Players). Though I enjoyed Tingle’s barroom act four years ago, he’s much better now–less strident and more thoughtful, less angry at “them” and more aware of himself. Part of his growth must be due to age and experience, of course; but just as important–perhaps more important–his audience now is sober. And so is he.
I mean sober in two senses. Tingle acknowledges onstage that he’s an on-the-wagon alcoholic and seems delighted to be addressing listeners without having to cut through a liquored fog in their brains or his own. But his humor also seems attuned to a more serious, introspective national mood. Just as Will Rogers used homespun (but by no means corny) witticisms to reinforce President Roosevelt’s emphasis on hope in the Depression, Tingle’s concern with renewal and reconciliation seems right in tune with the tone set by Bill Clinton–though Tingle’s also aware of the humor inherent in the earnest language of recovery. (Asked by the New York Times how he feels about leaving Arkansas for Washington, Clinton responded: “I’ve worked through it.”)
Where most prochoice performers who discuss abortion do so in highly charged terms, asserting women’s right to choose or bludgeoning the audience with accounts of back-alley butchery, Tingle’s position is more pragmatic: Roe v. Wade came along just in time to keep him from having to get married when he was 17. He was willing to keep the baby–but his girlfriend, at age 16, had more sense.
