This article may be a bit more negative than usual, but hey, we all have our crosses to bear, and nobody’s perfect.

There used to be more comedy on TV. In fact there was a period when the main “must-see programs” on everyone’s schedule were the comedy shows. Through the last half of the previous century, there was a lot of good, healthy, humorous entertainment on TV. That’s when shows like Rowan and Martin’s “Laugh In” (I think that’s where Goldie Hawn got her start) or “The Show of Shows” with Sid Cesar and Imogene Coca, or “The Carol Burnett Show,” ruled the air waves. Those were the days when Johnny Carson owned every week night after the 11 o’clock news with the “Tonight Show.”

There were all kinds of stand-up comics in those days: Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, George Burns, and Jonathon Winters to mention a few. Some of my memories are a bit cloudy. Was Gracie Allen a partner of Fred Allen, or George Burns? I think it was George Burns. I didn’t mention Jerry Lewis, but I never thought that sticking a cigarette in your nose was funny. He was better for the kids.

Comedy has changed in recent years, and not for the better. The big difference between the aforementioned people and anything today, is that most of today’s comics really are not funny, unless you think that making fun of somebody else is funny. Many stand-up comics attempt at humor today is to make fun of other people. Some almost seem that they are on the party payroll to poke fun at political foes.

The first one with the mocking humor that I recall was David Letterman. It seemed to me that he did a lot of that, at least enough to get me to tune back to Jay Leno. Maybe it was because he was bitter after losing out to Leno who replaced Johnny Carson. There was a lot of competition for that replacement. In his later years I think Jay Leno got into more of that kind of thing also. I haven’t seen a good comedy or stand up in a long time. The old time comics only made fun of themselves.

I quit watching the situation comedy shows when it seemed that the only comedy they tried to use was sexual innuendo, to titter our imaginations as though we were juveniles. Perhaps they aimed their performance at a juvenile audience. I may be a bit off on the situation comedies, because I haven’t watched any in a long time. I may not be very sophisticated, but I’m not juvenile either. Perhaps they’ve changed.

When we take great pleasure in bolstering our egos by hiring comics to make fun of our adversaries, we are in trouble. If we truly thought our opponents were idiots they wouldn’t concern us. Are we afraid of them? Are we whistling in the dark while passing the cemetery of our own insecurities? When we cannot defeat our adversary with a reasonable argument, the only tactic we have left is to ridicule them, or make wild assertions about their character. Tactics such as this, however, are usually obvious desperation, or a lack of understanding the subject.

I wish they would show some reruns of the old “Laugh-In” shows. They were really great. I think one of the troubles we’re having in this country today is that everything is so serious, even our comedy. Perhaps when we had more comedy we weren’t in such a need for political correctness. We were more like the comics of the day, and weren’t afraid to laugh at ourselves.

By the way, did you hear the one about the travelling salesman who… Perhaps I’m getting a bit too serious and ought to sign off before I surprise you and ruin this article by saying something really funny? May God bless America.

Richard Westlund is a Collins resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com