America loves a hack, it's absolutely true. In every facet of our society and culture, hacks succeed where original thought fails. This can probably be traced back to the Industrial Revolution, when hand crafted original work was replaced by assembly line, mass produced, identical, pre-fabricated, off-the-rack STUFF.

It's the reason why you can make a cake from a box. It's the reason why Britney Spears has more money than God. It's the reason why Hulk Hogan became the most recognizable professional wrestler of all time despite having absolutely no real talent. It's the reason why the cast of Friends get a million dollars a week to say 14 lines each about absolutely nothing. And it's the reason why the American comedy scene is dominated by hacks. It's why when you say comedy, an alarmingly large number of people think JEFF FOXWORTHY.

As with anything, when we find something that works, we go at it like gangbusters. Fat jokes? Jokes about the differences between white people and black people? Southern jokes? PMS jokes? Jokes about Asians eating family pets? THAT'S RIGHT I SAID IT. All are cash money in our society. It's like creating a sitcom around a fogedy dad, a hot mom, and their crazy 2.2 kids. It's like creating a sitcom around a sassy fat black woman and the crazy white people in her life.

There is absolutely no art there. There is no creation. There is no originality. And our culture eats it up.

Most people don't want to be challenged. They want to hear the same thing over and over. They want to see the same love story play out in every Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks movie ever made. They go to the theatre knowing exactly whatís going to happen and they get it. And that makes them happy.

People go to a comedy club KNOWING what is funny and that's what they want to hear. They don't want to hear the comics featured at cringe humor because they aren't conditioned to believe that is funny.

Because people, as cruel and cynical as this might sound, are complete sheep. They buy what they are told, they think what they are told and they like what they are told they should like. They have a world-view of what is acceptable that is dictated by those around them, and to say something that confronts that makes them uncomfortable.

So what results is a industry full of comics that are carbon copies of each other. They are telling the same jokes, with the same mock angst/anger/enthusiasm and they are all praying for the same big break that just MIGHT come if they hone their hack material to a razor sharp point of time tested wit that always works.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is don't hate the player, hate the game. Don't hate Bruce Bruce because his best joke is about how fat people hum when they eat. Hate the sheep that think that is the funniest thing they could ever hear.

Most people are dumb. I imagine the masses as big furry cows. You can look into their eyes and see the dimness. They just want to go to their spot in the field, chew their grass, take a piss and fall asleep.

Crap, now I'm mixing my farm animal analogies. In any case, you get the point. A lot of comics and cringe humor fans might rant on hacks (and I'm certainly no exception) but I think we need to remember a very important fact. And that is: save some of that hate for the dumb sheep that made Gallagher one of the most recognizable faces of comedy.

Because there is enough hate to go around, and that's the most valuable lesson that you will learn today.

Charlie