On Being Earnest
A Trivial First Essay by Serious-ish Me
I’m still working out my tone (here on Substack, for my book1, and in my stand-up).
In-person, my fluency in sarcasm is often detectable in my accent but I’m also a recovering cynic—and I make a conscious effort in my day-to-day interactions to avoid relapsing into the nihilistic void of lazy negativity. I have the intention to do the same here… and, when I feel so inclined, to be unapologetically, brashly, even irresponsibly positive.
So to kick off my Substack I hereby declare:
I reserve the right to attempt (occasional) heartfelt earnestness.
A popular comic (oh fine, it’s Bill Maher) boasts at the beginning of his book that he has intentionally avoided being earnest throughout his career—and instructs the writers on his show to do the same. (“You can be bad. I can always edit that out. Just don’t be earnest.”) On one level I get it. Who wants to watch serious comedy? Seriously funny comedy, yes… but serious comedy? Ew. Be serious.
But the Nanette-ization of stand-up specials has opened the floodgates to the deeply personal stand-up special (#teamgoals), which only work if they ring true—and you don’t get authenticity without offering up a little earnestness.2
To be clear: I intend to be funny(!) But it would be a cop-out to say it’s my primary intention—almost as bad as saying, I’m just here “asking questions”—but it’s high on the list.
Which begs the question, what is my primary intention? I didn’t plan on articulating it, but a first post seems like a fair place to try. So here goes:
My primary intention is to share my story in a compelling way.
That’s it (for now).
Given my values, I will inevitably prioritize humor over profundity. But (brace for earnestness:) my sincere wish is that sharing my story in words may invoke an experience of the events I describe—increasing awareness, decreasing suffering, and *maybe* creating space for glimmers of awakening/consciousness to arise.
As one of my teachers told me recently, “There’s an on-ramp for everyone.” You may already be on the highway, be further down the path, or not know there’s a road dislike metaphors… but we’re all speeding towards the same destination. This is my on-ramp.
Thanks for meeting me here!
💖🚀
More on that soon. Hmm… what a useless footnote. Not off to a great start here.
Of course there’s been a backlash—it’s a fine line between an “earnest hour” and a sermon—best encapsulated by Dave Chappelle’s bit that “wokes” have replaced jokes. (At the “intersectional feminist comedy space”(!) where I took my first comedy class, Chappelle is seen as one of the grumpy old men on the front porch of comedy complaining about the younger generation. (Even mentioning his name elicits boos. (NB: I love doing multiple parentheticals in emails but I’ve never tried it “in public.” (Alas, I’m also tryin’ to make a good first impression here, so imma limit myself to four. (No, five!)))))
Love.