Low-Hanging Fruit (Caturday)

Big Cat, Little Cat: Low-Hanging Fruit

Low-Hanging Fruit and Comedy

I grant you that size isn’t a funny issue for everyone. There are people who are bullied for their size; made to feel less-than, etc. Telling jokes about these kinds of traditional topics is an art that presents interesting challenges.

What I was trying to convey in the comic was: sometimes when people are sufficiently close, taboo subjects stop being taboo. No, that’s not it. The subject still has its taboos. But you learn where the firm boundaries are for your friend. Those may be different from the boundaries society has dictated. After all, friends can be more flexible. And there’s something pleasant about that. But then: the moment another person overhears you making that joke, you sound like a monster.

That’s the Thing about Low-Hanging Fruit

A lot of “easy” jokes are actually quite difficult because they rely on stereotypes. And those stereotypes are hurtful. We could go into dozens of examples–jokes that play on race, body-type, height… But let’s talk about the Gay Best Friend. The GBF used to be a staple of the romantic comedy scene. But he’s started to find himself phased out because… as easy as those jokes were, they stopped being funny. This is not to say that studios no longer make movies with a GBF. I don’t see a lot of movies, but the ones I do see are more likely to have a fully-realized gay main character than a flat one-joke GBF. Even if that requires (gasp) a competent screenwriter.

And yet movies and shows that have done that concept well (Kevin Kline as Howard Brackett in In and Out, Hank Azaria as Agador Spartacus in The Birdcage, Bill Hader as Stefon on Saturday Night Live) will never stop making me laugh. What to do?

Description

Twa cats ur sittin oan a cushion: a lairge orange wi darker orange stripes an a wee grey wi darker grey stripes. Th orange is luikin at th grey. Th grey is luikin intae th distance.

Panel 1

Little Cat: I wish I was taller.

Panel 2

Big Cat: Where is this coming from?
Little Cat: Oh. Just being insecure.

Panel 3

Big Cat: No I mean literally: you’re so short I can’t see where your voice is coming from.
Little Cat: Okay… very funny.

Panel 4

Big Cat: Sorry. Low blow?
Little Cat: Hah! Not to mention punching down…