Just a reminder, don’t confuse funny with nice

counterpoint: people are funny in social situations because they want other people to like them, and "revealing your trauma" when someone asks you how work is going is a surefire way to achieve the opposite of that

the background music for this tiktok is NOT beating the "every comedian or every comedy writer is evil or immoral" allegations

I know John Mulaney has issues around addiction and relationships, and that’s fair criticism And there’s a difference between short and long term interactions But I’ll still say that I spent a night hanging out with him once and he was genuinely extremely nice in my experience

Very interesting! But I definitely disagree. I like being funny because it makes people around me happy and seems like a nice thing to do. A joke can help people relax and open up, turn a tense situation into a joyful one. Maybe some people are just not nice regardless of humor.

Hell, that actually explains a lot about how I interact with people.

Telling stories about work, laughing with someone and then having them tell you a funny that happened at their work is great for bonding, having good experiences, and building friendships. It can break tension too, laughing together is a universal human experience.

Even with your caveats, this seems pretty far off-base to me. First, it implies that responses with a performative element are generally inauthentic. Instead, I find humor to be a particular effective way to express the truth, and honesty, and even vulnerability. (1/2)

As someone who is spending time on the phone or in person every day with my fellow comedians, my experience is the exact opposite. Some of the most awesome humans I have known are comics. The dude on TikTok might be nice, but he’s not funny and not telling the truth.

Being “nice” should not be anyone’s ultimate goal in life but cracking jokes can absolutely be a form of being nice, you’re entirely wrong, I can think of many examples immediately where cracking a joke is nicer than an earnest response.