"The lone wolves who know no peace, these victims of unceasing pain to whom the urge for tragedy has been denied and who can never break through the starry space, who feel themselves summoned thither and yet cannot survive in its atmosphere--for them is reserved, provided suffering has made their spirits tough and elastic enough, a way of reconcilement and an escape into humor... Humor alone, that magnificent discovery of those who are cut short in their calling to highest endeavor, those who falling short of tragedy are yet as rich in gifts as in affliction, humor alone (perhaps the most inborn and brilliant achievement of the spirit) attains to the impossible and brings every aspect of human existence within the rays of its prism. To live in the world as though it were not the world, to respect the law and yet to stand above it, to have possessions as though 'one possessed nothing,' to renounce as though it were no renunciation, all these favorite and often formulated propositions of an exalted worldy wisdom, it is in the power of humor alone to make efficacious."

- Herman Hesse Steppenwolf

In my journey through the imaginary time and space of literature, the archetypal comedian appears everywhere. However, it is a rarity when one of these comedians (or clowns) hints at a darker understanding of existence. So when it happens I am always struck by the intertextuality of the character. For instance, Yorick from Hamlet immediately comes to mind, whose lines about Infinit Jest inspired the David Foster Wallace book , which speaks to the comedian in the Watchmen.


It is an interesting theme that merits discussion. Hesse captures comedy quite brilliantly in the above passage. He's made it tragic just as Yorick and the Comedian are. There's an essential paradox here, that deep in the shadow of a laugh exists such tragic emptiness, an understanding of death. That Yorick was  a "man of infinit jest" who we only knew as a skull speaks to this paradox. That such a man who embodied life and humor is presented to us as the embodiment of death.

Humor and Comedy is the sublime understanding of the human existence. The best comedians play to this, they point out the little absurdities and remind their audience that truth only exists in the mind. Comedians shape the world around them to their own reality. As Hesse said, "to live in the world as though it were not the world." The true comedians know this and subtly speak to it in making you laugh. Is it any wonder Woody Allen is so fascinated by death?

Hesse surmises that the best humorists are just as entangled in personal affliction as the great tragedians. Though I won't say this is true of all great comedians, a lot come to mind: Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, Mitch Hedberg, John Kennedy Toole, John Belushi, all tragic figures.

It's the comedians who know that the only way to survive in a meaningless universe is to laugh at it.

"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense." -Watchmen

I invite your thoughts.