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Why is laughing at theatre jokes "smug"?

Posted by:	portenopete 09:42 am EDT 05/10/15
In reply to:	not ROTTEN..Just TIRED. - Draeigon 03:42 am EDT 05/10/15

I won't spend more than a sentence on the challenge that your writing "style" poses, although it certainly is bracing and gives me a sense of having accomplished something before I've finished my cup of morning joe. But I'm curious why you- and others, admittedly- label theater jokes as "smug". Are parents who laugh at jokes about the perils of raising children smug? Or brides-to-be when confronted with gags about the difficulties of planning a wedding? They seem to me about a shared understanding and recognition, yes, but why is that "smug"? I laughed a lot at the many references in SOMETHING ROTTEN, but I wasn't looking around me to check if the punters around me were looking clueless in order to feel even more satisfied at my "smarts". Do you feel the same way about THE SIMPSONS? (The number of large and small references to pop culture in that show can be breathtaking.) I don't give a toss if you find theater jokes funny or not, and I'm not saying they are the highest form of comedy we have, but to label the people who write and laugh at them as "smug" seems both mean and wrong. And your assertion that there have been "umpteen hundred musicals that tried this wink wink at the theater and flopped", the ones that come to my mind are shows that performed quite well, thank you: BAT BOY, AVENUE Q, SPAMALOT, THE PRODUCERS and a little flopperoo called THE BOOK OF MORMON. Again, no pressure to like it and I can get sick of the same dish if it's served every night, but in a year when FUN HOME, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS and THE VISIT are the other nominees, I'm glad for the "amuse-bouche" quality that SOMETHING ROTTEN brings to Broadway.

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