Satire: The Subversive Comedy

The reward is long overdue.

Established in 1998, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour, honours comedians and satirists in the tradition of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Past honorees include Carol Burnett, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, George Carlin and Ellen DeGeneres.

Comedians, at least those who don’t rely on over-the-top profanity or sexuality but those who study comedy, practice it and perform it well, ought to be honoured. What would this sad world be without them? 

Take Monty Python. The movie Life of Brian is the tale of an accidental messiah, Brian Cohen, who is born in the manger next to Jesus. Despite an overbearing Jewish mother,  Brian leads a fairly normal life working as a vendor of snacks at the local coliseum. He joins the radical People's Front of Judea, (not to be confused with the one-man splinter group, the Judean People's Front) but is aghast at pompous committee meetings and rivalry among those with a common cause, in this case overthrowing the Roman oppressors. He is equally annoyed by the mob's lack of discernment and their petty supplications. ("Messiah, I'm afflicted with a bald patch!")

A throng of locals, however, decide that he's the messiah and begin worshipping him with devotion that verges on the violent. Brian is arrested, brought before a bug-eyed Pontius Pilate and sentenced to die in the open air with other ne'er-do-wells who sing and whistle their optimism en route to paradise.

The Pythons are erudite satirists whose scorn is reserved for the intolerant and gullible.

The film was initially panned and banned; a reminder that satire is risky business.  It is subversive comedy. Which brings me to Mel Brooks and Adolph Hitler.

I recently watched the PBS American Masters documentary “Mel Brooks: Make a Noise”. While Brooks is known for his farce and parody, he is most celebrated for his fearless satire. Take The Producers. Legendary Broadway producer Max Bialystock and his milquetoast accountant, Leo Bloom, conspire to create a sure fire Broadway flop and make money off the invested capital of old ladies wooed by Max. Their play, "Springtime for Hitler" is appalling but much to the chagrin of the producers,  the audience loves it. Leo and Max are unable to extricate themselves from their surprise success but continue their choreographic ways in prison.

In the PBS interview, I was struck by Brooks’ philosophical take on Hitler. He said, “The great thing about dictators is, you have to know, if you get on a soapbox with them, you’re gonna lose, because they have a way of spellbinding with their oratory. But if you can reduce them to ridicule, then you’re way ahead.”

The Final Solution defies comprehension and explanation. What can a Brooklyn-born octogenarian (he turns 98 at the end June), descendant of immigrant Jews, World War II enlistee and comic genius do? Easy. Make Hitler the punchline for relentless acts of satire.

Whether faced with a genocidal dictator, the pretentions of the pompous or the gullibility of the masses, satire is the ultimate weapon. As Mark Twain once said, against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.