Hope vs. Cynicism: Lessons from Nick Cave and Patton Oswalt
"Push the things that delight you."
Musician Nick Cave says, “Hopefulness is not a neutral position.”
“Much of my early life was spent holding the world and the people in it in contempt,” he said. “It was a position both seductive and indulgent. The truth is, I was young and had no idea what was coming down the line. It took a devastation to teach me the preciousness of life and the essential goodness of people. It took a devastation to reveal the precariousness of the world, of its very soul, and to understand that the world was crying out for help. It took a devastation to understand the idea of mortal value, and it took a devastation to find hope.
“Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth,” he continued. “Hopefulness is not a neutral position — it is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like — such as reading to your little boy, showing him something you love, singing him a song, or putting on his shoes — keeps the devil down in the hole.”
Similarly, Patton Oswalt has preached love instead of hate in standup: “Pointing out that stuff sucks is not edgy or dangerous anymore. Everyone knows what sucks. What’s better is to find the stuff that’s amazing and hold it up.” He describes a similar transformation to Cave’s…
“Actually, I think when you’re younger, anger and comedy mesh together very, very well,” Oswalt answers, “because there are things that you feel like, ‘Am I the only person seeing this?’ But then, as you get older, I don’t think anger and comedy mesh at all. I remember Chris Rock telling me, ‘Don’t get mad, get funnier.’ Getting mad doesn’t help you as a comedian. Anger eventually cancels out comedy. I think what you have to do is find the things that delight you, and if you really push the things that delight you, then the things or people that piss you off, it just makes them angry. If people you don’t like or people that you disagree with, if they see you on stage pissed off and angry, that’s actually kind of reassuring. Because they’re like, ‘I’m getting to that guy.’ But if you’re on stage, and instead of cursing what you hate, you’re celebrating the alternative and making that seem better, that’s what drives your enemies bugfuck. That’s what just drives them into the red.”
“Pointing out that stuff sucks is not edgy or dangerous anymore,” he says. “Everyone knows what sucks. What’s better is to find the stuff that’s amazing and hold it up. Even something like the KFC bowl, in a weird way, I love it. I love that we’ve gotten to the point where [there’s] an actual manifestation of the problem and we actually have it in bowl form. Before, it was scattered amongst 50 different fast-food chains, and it was so hard to make your argument. People would go, ‘Yeah, but there’s salads, and…’ Now I’m just like, ‘Here is the top-selling fast food item.’ Thank you, KFC!”
“[The KFC Famous Bowl bit] was also from sheer exasperation,” he says. “Like, finally, what I’ve been talking about all along about what is wrong with us. And also, ultimately, what’s wrong with me, you know? I need to lose weight because I eat a lot of crappy food. I think the best anger is the stuff that you are pointing at yourself, rather than, ‘Everything sucks and I’m here to point out why.’“
Posted that Oswalt quote years ago at Sandpaper Suit and Harrison left this mindful comment:
I think there are a couple points to be made in regards to what Patton is taling about:
(1) Part of being "positive" is making sure you suggest SOLUTIONS and not just point out PROBLEMS. It's easy to rip on things; it's much harder to show an audience what's wrong and then tell them how to fix it. You don't have to do explicitly, but there should be at least an implication of how you're suggesting we change.
I'd like to think that, as comics, we have the opportunity to make the world better. We can't do that by only showing what's shitty with the world; we need to at least point the way a bit towards making it less shitty.
(2) One of the barometers I use in measuring how good a joke is is whether or not it pops in my head every time I encounter the subject of the joke. Everytime I use an escalator, I think of Mitch Hedberg's joke. Everytime it's really cold and I can think of nothing else, I think of Lewis Black's joke. If that's your goal - to make your interpretation of something the thing people think of first when they encounter that something - I hope it's at least somewhat positive. Would you rather people geta little extra joy out of their day when they think of your joke or get frustrated that things are still shitty?
Bottom line: be true to your character and your voice on stage above all, but think about the effect you have on your audience and the world. We are so lucky to be comics and to actually have the chance to change how people think - let's make sure the changes we make are always for the better.
And here’s a clip from me…