Passive

Take a moment to consider stand-up comedy as a concept. You turn up or tune in and wait while someone who has no reference point to your sense of humour attempts to make you laugh. In return for your money or attention, you relieve control and expect entertainment.

Our transactional attitude to amusement, passively putting our enjoyment into the hands of others, has come to define how we approach our downtime. Since I, and most likely you, have been sat in front of screens since childhood, our behaviour is almost innate. We watch silently, hanging on to every word, only to pause the television when others speak, as if they were interrupting. Relaxation is in session.

Now, at a restaurant, you expect to pay for good food, but the company you keep and your engagement define the quality of the conversation. You have a part to play in your enjoyment of the experience. Meanwhile, with visual entertainment, you’re a passenger, not a copilot, therfore it’s best appreciated in scarcity. There’s a reason some series still release weekly episodes, to prevent you from binging until your senses become numb.

Going for food is a halfway house, but simply leaving your home is a good start to activating amusement.

Yesterday morning, I walked out into a thunderstorm to get croissants. I didn’t need them; I quite wanted them. Yet I yearned to feel the raindrops splashing under each footstep, to hear them sprinkle over my hood like a tin roof, and beam a smile back at the world as everyone around me ran for cover.  

I’d be wary if anyone tells you their favourite thing to do is watch stand-up. Life is about feeling for yourself, second-hand stories could never quite do it justice.