Will Berard is a stand-up comedian who lives with MS. In his latest blog for the MS Trust, he reflects on the impact the pandemic has had not just on comedy, but society as a whole and sends out a shout-out for stand-up worthy subjects in a time of COVID-19.
It's heart-warming to see humankind coming together in this time of crisis. Divides are being, if not healed, at least temporarily set aside, and replaced by the kind of altruism I, for one, thought that modern life had all but stripped out of us.
Whatever the rift*, people are reaching out across it, and sealing a temporary truce with a firm... elbow bump. Although only a couple of weeks old, this joke is already out of date, the current greeting of choice under the two meter rule being, presumably, the air-five or even better a virtual wave via a video streaming app. It's time to, if not kiss (obviously not kiss) at least make up. Even the generational divide is healing. If 2019 was the year of ‘OK, Boomer', 2020 is that of the ‘Are you OK, Boomer?'
Needless to say, this is all a tremendous inconvenience to me, as the market for gallows humour has completely collapsed. I'm down to harmless puns and jokes about stockpiling toilet rolls. I think we need comedy now more than ever, but then I think this whatever happens. It's a practical disclaimer before moving into “too soon” territory. But under social distancing rules, a couple of changes are necessary.