As I do every morning I wake up just before noon and either watch Newsradio or Wings repeats on USA or A&E or whatever they are on. I am a scavenger for 90’s comedies. They are most of the time enjoyable to say the least, but when there is a crappy episode of Newsradio, most likely any of them featuring Jon Lovitz (I don’t hate him, I hate what the show was with him on it), I venture elsewhere. To a station called Comedy Central and watch whatever is on there.

Why? because I am lonely in New Jersey. Come visit.

Anyway, yesterday morning appeared a shimmering image of comic greatness. His name for those who didn’t read the title of this blog entry is Steven Wright.

He is a master at the one-liner. He is always comic gold.

He for all people who don’t know is the man who came up with great comic lines as:

“I used spot remover on my dog… he dissapeared.” and who could forget…

“If it’s a penny for your thoughts, and you put your two cents in, someone’s making a penny.”

Brilliant. Now here’s my thought: he’s underrated. He is one in the comic community who doesn’t fit into a box.

Comedy these days involves Dane Cook being a jackass, or his minions who follow in his footsteps, political pandering tyo get cheap applause, or just poop, dick and fart jokes in excess.

There is something beyond that in Mr. Wright that makes everyone else wrong. He just goes for the small witticisms of life and turns them around to be in your face. Jerry Seinfeldish in a way, but not quite.

Whereas Seinfeld would say, “have you ever noticed…etc.”

Steven Wright would come out and just say it bluntly and then move on rambling as if to not give you anytime to really think about it. It hits you so fast that there is no time to stop and process until it’s too late.

“I was buying Yogurt and I went to the cashier, she said, ‘is that all?’ and I said no, I would like to buy this too.”

Pure genius.

Now I was talking to Fernando about this before I posted, and he came to the conclusion which I believe as well: he is NOT UNDERRATED IN COMEDIC CIRCLES.

But then he brought out this point: “i wouldnt say he’s underrated, i would say he has his niche and his style isnt really built for the masses”

But why isn’t it built for the masses? Dane Cook is built for the masses? Really? He is a one idea comedian. He has to be loud and exaggerating to be funny.

Is it wrong for a comedian like Wright to have a smaller following because of the fact that you think a little harder with his jokes?

YES. It is. We need to use our brains. One day kicking someone in the balls will play for a half hour and people will make it the highest rated show on television. Why? Because of comedians these days. We need more thinkers not more stinkers. We are dumbing down our comedy. We need to think outside the box. Let’s all learn from Wright.