With 'Russian Doll' and 'Weird City' featuring a different genre, is 2019 the year for absurd comedy?
Comedy, let it be new or old has always been a variation between being either straightforward or absurd. Take comedians Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as examples, the comedy Chaplin did was more straightforward while Buster Keaton's comedy was more absurd.
Over the years we have seen comedy evolve from one level of humor to another, and one among that includes absurd comedy. Absurd comedy is based on bizarre and hilarious situations. It does not necessarily depend on logic but makes people laugh and catches them when they least expect it. Absurd comedy first started in the 19th century and ever since has become a popular genre that people love to see.
Eventually, as people lost faith in the government and church, the public welcomed this particular genre of comedy since they weren't afraid of anything and that's when the genre grew more making it the Golden Age of absurd comedy.
Over the years we've seen absurd comedies like 'The Simpsons', 'Alice in Wonderland', 'The Hangover', etc. But lately, we tend to see more of that being created in the present year. Like 'Russian Doll', 'Weird City', etc... with this genre of comedy being popular among movies and series this year, could it be that 2019 is the year for absurd comedy?
Wanting to know what celebrities have to say about this, MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) asked them if they think the same and this is what they said.
Starting off, Rebecca Henderson, who played the role of Lizzy on 'Russian Doll', revealed maybe it is because this might be the way people would cope. "I didn’t think that but given what’s happening in the White House which is absurd in a different way, maybe this will be how we cope. I do think that sometimes the more absurd something seems the more universal and touching it actually is."
Adding to that, Greta Lee, who played the role of Kai on 'New Girl', said, "I'm not sure. I feel I think that there's an absurd comedy. It's certainly a dark comedy, and life is absurd. So I if that's what it means then yeah, I mean I could see that being certainly being a type of Comedy that we see more of."
Though Lee and Henderson revealed that they think 2019 might be the year for absurd comedy, Yul Vazquez, who played the role of John Gavin in 'Narcos: Mexico', revealed that absurd comedies are great but he is not yet sure if 2019 is the year for it. "I think absurdist comedies are really good. I think that fans have always been here for a good absurd comedy. I don't know if 2019 specifically would be the best year for it. But when absurdist situations are done it's always great."
Leslye Headland, the director, and writer of 'Sleeping With Other People', agreed with Yul Vazquez revealing that though absurd comedy is a new trend, it has always been there and not necessarily only in 2019. "I'm glad that there is definitely a trend toward comedy becoming a little bit longer and a little bit more absurd like you said, but I don't think that it's necessarily a trend that hasn't existed before. I think that a lot of the artistes that were brought up on that type of comedy are maybe reaching their fruition now."
Adding to that, she said, "I would consider myself as one of those people and that it's like a generational thing like the people that were brought up during that Renaissance of the 90s film, and who were brought up on the kind of bad 70s feeling of filmmaking and now we're kind of coming of age and making our own content."
Continuing, Headland said that we can find more absurd comedies on streaming giants because they do not depend on ads which helps people color outside the lines as well. That's because the audience platform can take risks, unlike the one we find on cable where the feedback what they get from advertisers, she pointed out. She said it's based on the type of demographic that they believe will watch during a certain time so that they can sell certain things. And since the audience platform is now more open to things, that has given the rise to absurd comedy being made quite often these days.
