Courier-Post

With retaliation under way, we're doing our best to live our lives

One month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and days into the U.S. counterattacks on Afghanistan, Americans are still seeking ways to cope and trying to understand the present and long-term effects of both on their lives...

...And the entertainment industry is still wrestling with its role while the country's mood is less than upbeat.

Entertainers by Chuck Darrow

Pennsauken's Brian McKim, a veteran stand-up comic who, with his comedian wife, Traci Skene, runs www.sheckymagazine.com, a web site for the stand-up trade, believes it's far too early for comedians to joke about the subject.

Immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, he e-mailed to subscribers some thought on the subject.

"If someone goes to the trouble and expense of leaving his house and going to a comedy club, he wants comedy," wrote McKim, "But the last thing he wants is a comic talking about this disaster."

"If he went to see live music he might let a musician get a way with talking about it, but we are expected to be funny. We are expected to make light of the world (not the disaster itself, everything but the disaster)."

A month later, McKim still questions the propriety of joking about the topic.

"The old saying about tragedy plus time equals comedy applies here," he says, "but there are some who've forged ahead without waiting for the passage of time."

"Myself, I am not addressing (Sept. 11) at all onstage, but that's my choice and I don't think I or my (audiences) are any worse off for that.

"In time, something about this may strike me as funny, but even if it does, it probably won't fit into my act, as I do very little topical material."

Noting the war has been topic of conversation among all comics," McKim suggests. "We are interfacing with the public all the time and we must be aware of their mood if we're goin to execute our jobs properly."