We need to learn to laugh at our own tragic moments
Comedy is the hardest of the arts to master, but it is also the most healthy art form for both audience and actor to partake in. Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone. Many of us I fear, deep down, are crying alone in secret. The easiest kind of comedy is that which pokes fun of others, public figures or particular stereotypes. Exaggeration here is key, whether in appearance or mannerisms. This is the most prevalent type of comedy in Lebanon. The toughest kind of comedy is also the most human kind, the one that derives a comic moment from the everyday, the mundane and the tragic, especially the tragic flaws in us all. This type of comedy requires a comic artist to hone his or her craft to a very high degree and to give of themselves generously and suppress their own egos and even sacrifice those egos on the Alter of the comic moment. I doubt that the Lebanese, who are essentially all about ego, can do that. The greatest comics have suffered greatly for