Screen-Based Industry Coordinator Aeja Goldsmith on clean comedy

I want to talk about the concept of ‘clean comedy’. I personally enjoy clean comedy because it makes me laugh and forget about all my current troubles. A movie I really enjoy is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. John Hughes really makes an effort to imbue his characters, storyline, and film’s sensibilities with a gentle humanity that genuinely permeates the internal and external tonal elements.

I also appreciate clean comedy’s compassion. It allows for a reverence of life in general that helps to alleviate all of the worrisome daily minutiae that we encounter. I feel like that influence of comedy allows me to take the less savoury with the good. We’re all thinking many different thoughts during the course of the day, and film in general is a good way to broaden our perspectives and help us to be happier.

Jerry Seinfeld is a great example of a clean comic. When I watch his show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee I’m often keenly aware that he doesn’t swear or use obscenities or crass base material to get a laugh. He’s actually spoken about this concept with a guest on the show and has reflected that clean comedy is extremely observant and often more difficult to produce than lascivious material, saying, “A person who can defend themselves with a gun is just not very interesting. But a person who defends themselves through aikido or tai chi? Very interesting.” I actually think it’s quite brave to hold to this standard in the modern media landscape as a comic, filmmaker, or any other kind of performer.

My observation is that, in general, comedies have gotten a lot raunchier and have lost touch with that element in humour that truly helps people to cope with the daily stressors of life. Clean comedy can breathe life into a situation that might mirror one in your own life and help you to access that lightness of being within yourself. This is such a service to viewers, who ultimately just want to feel more peaceful in their everyday lives.

You may not agree with me, but I’d love to know what you think about clean comedy!  Let us know on our Facebook post here.

Aeja Goldsmith is the SBI Community Coordinator at The Civic Theatre.