EXHILARATING’’

CONTENDERS CREATIVE ARTS EMMYS
COMEDY
Finding Gags
That Make
Viewers Sweat
Comedies dare viewers to laugh
while pondering serious issues
Laughs Matter
“Black-ish”
episode
“Hope” found
humor in
issues of police
brutality.
By CARITA RIZZO
ADDICTION, POLICE
BRUTALITY, gender
discrimination,
and racism are hardly
issues that, on their
surface, are particularly
amusing for
those facing them.
And yet, some of
this year’s funniest TV
comedies are making
topical issues exactly
that — a laughing
matter.
“I really believe
that comedy allows
a lot of entry points
for conversation,” says
“Black-ish” creator
Kenya Barris, who frequently
tackles race
and cultural issues
on his ABC sitcom. “If
you get people laughing,
you can talk about
almost anything.”
Jill Soloway, creator
of “Transparent,”
which continues
to explore sexual
identity and gender
in a changing world,
agrees. In fact, mining
humor out of
uncomfortable situations
is something
they delve into so frequently
in the writers
room that Soloway
even has a term for it:
“funcomfortable.”
To Soloway, whose
show is based on her
own family’s experience
of her father’s
transition from male
to female, being able
to address serious,
sometimes controversial
topics is as important
as the story itself.
“I can’t imagine making
art any other way,”
she says. “I love comedy
and I love filmmaking,
but I don’t
think I would be able
to enjoy myself if I
didn’t feel like I was
doing something to
change the world.”
Soloway says she
likes using humor
in uneasy situations
because in her experience,
that is usually
how life unfolds.
“The silly and the
sad always seem to be
wrapped up in each
other,” she says. “There
is a space where something
deep or sad is
happening and it just
fills and expands and
then finally bursts
because of something
shared and funny.”
But it is challenging
to try to mine humor
out of a controversial
topic. Barris was nervous
as he set out to
write “Hope,” the episode
dealing with
I don’t think I
would be able
to enjoy myself
if I didn’t feel
like I was doing
something to
change the
world.”
Jill Soloway
FOR YOUR EMMY
“…visually and emotionally striking.”
– IGN
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miniseries…”
– TV Guide Magazine
“…unique and highly
satisfying.”
– Collider.com
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about 11.22.63 is
intriguing…”
– The Wall Street Journal
®
police brutality in the
aftermath of the Ferguson
indictment.
“I did not want
to trivialize the conversation
and the
situation, and this
aspect of the world
that we’re living in
today,” he says. “At
the same time, we’re
doing a comedy, and
so I felt like it was
really important to
make sure there was
a balance between
the comedy and the
seriousness.”
To his relief, his
script had the desired
effect, evoking a range
of emotions in his cast
and crew. “The table
read was really heavy
and light and cathartic
for all of us. People
were laughing. People
were crying. At
CONSIDERATION
the end, people stood
up and applauded. I
wanted to cry.”
While some shows
look for balance, the
writers of “Veep” rarely
hold back when making
fun of a broken
political system and
addressing issues that
make some Americans’
blood boil. Showrunner
David Mandel
believes one of
the reasons they can
evoke more laughter
than wrath is because
Selina Meyer (Julia
Louis-Dreyfus) and her
staff aren’t defined by
a particular political
party.
“They are based
on the real world, but
they’re never the real
world,” Mandel says.
“We are an equalopportunity
offender.”
Mandel has no
problem exploring sexism,
or centering an
entire episode around
the worst word one
can use to describe a
woman.
“Our job is to find
the comedy in these
difficult issues,” he
says. “My own personal
feeling is there’s
nothing that shouldn’t
be laughed at. [The
ability to laugh] is the
most important thing
in the world.”
JUNE 14, 2016 VARIETY.COM
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