You often hear musicians tell stories in interviews about how they have fans approach them, and send them letters, saying that their music helped inspire and uplift them. You hear about fans battling depression and getting through it thanks to music that touched them. I have had a similar experience in my life, except it was comedy, not music, which got me through my troubled times. It was because of the comedy of people like Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, and a few others that I am here today.
I didn't have the best childhood; and because of that, I was full of anger and always getting myself into trouble. I started receiving suspensions from school on a regular basis starting when I was in Grade 4. It was during this time when I discovered my dad's old LP collection in the basement. I started going through the records to see what was there; there was a bunch of great stuff from the 50's and 60's, but what I became interested in was the collection of comedy albums which he had. He had plenty to choose from, and I wasn't sure which one to listen to first. I was somewhat familiar with Cosby's standup (though I mostly knew him from television), so I wanted to try something different.
The first album I put on was Don Rickles Speaks! I didn't get a lot of the references at the time, but that didn't matter, it still made me laugh. I enjoyed how effortlessly Don delivered insulting, yet humorous comments, towards the celebrities and politicians of the day. After listening to that record, and quickly becoming a fan of Don's, I put on Hello Dummy. I laughed harder at the second album than I did at the first, probably because it was more of a stand-up act than talking about references I didn't understand. I became overjoyed and inspired. THIS is what I wanted to do; to be able to release my frustration in a way which would generate laughter instead of repercussions.
After listening to - and enjoying - Don's records, I decided to give Bob Newhart a try. He made me laugh just as much as Rickles, but in a different way. While Don had a sharp wit - and even sharper tongue - which just rattled off jokes rapid-fire, Bob built up a story in his joke telling. Bob was also a master at pausing to let the story of the joke build; something which he needed to do because a lot of jokes consisted of him having a conversation with another character who wasn't there. From this, I really learned the art of timing in joke telling. Although my youthful rebellious side still favoured Don due to his sarcastic insults, I appreciated the comedy style of both men.
Although it would still take me some years to deal with my anger and trouble issues, discovering these men helped me when I needed it most. A lot of the time when my anger got me in trouble it also led to me being depressing, which caused me to make a lot of stupid decisions that could have ended very badly for me. Thankfully, after discovering these men, whenever I would get in trouble I now had an outlet for my frustration; I was still angry and in trouble, but I wasn't making stupid - possibly harmful - decisions. Their comedy, along with the comedy of others, helped to calm me. As I've grown older, and learned how to harness my anger and frustration about things in a positive way, I still look to these men as inspirations. I still watch and listen to their old routines when I'm having a bad day. I still aspire to try and make people laugh and forget about their worries the way Bob and Don helped me.
I've been fortunate enough to see both of these men perform live, although I haven't been fortunate enough to meet them. I would love to meet both men, but i doubt that I ever will. I also doubt that they'll ever see this little blog of thanks, and therefore they'll never know how much their comedy meant to me. But if either of them ever do stumble across this, I want to say thank you. You guys helped pull me through some very rough times that you'll never know about, so thank you for giving me joy in my life at times when I thought there wasn't any to be had.
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