I dunno, people watch soap operas on giant HD televisions for some reason?

I feel very fortunate that, as the universe keeps reminding me, I am bad at relatable comics. So at least when my stuff finally biffs off to oblivion, it won't be due to being jokes about contemporary concerns, but rather due to an honest and forthright lack of quality.

Good morning!

It's probably the case that all times and places push you toward the "am I right about this current thing or what" style of humor, but I do worry instagram etc. have made it almost obligatory. If you wanna be said, imagine a favorite brilliant author of the past having to post 3x/week to sell books.

One book I'd love to write, though it'd take ten years and maybe be terrible, is a search for an answer to why some places and times seem extraordinarily productive. And I wonder if this distinction is at least part of the answer. To what extent does a period allow you to do the deeper stuff.

With Jerome, his one living work, Three Men in a Boat, is really about annoying people and anti-humor, with the particulars of the time period being largely irrelevant. Whereas with his essays, you can appreciate them, but you'll rarely chuckle.

So whereas Saki, Jerome, even early Dickens get hung up on social details that don't really exist the same way now, like groups of maiden sisters living together looking for a husband, or these new-fangled automobiles, Wodehouse tends to use these things just as a veneer for more elemental stuff.

In all three cases there are exceptions both ways. But I think the key is that although his books have then-contemporary settings, Wodehouse does much less "AM I RIGHT?!" humor. In a sense, Wodehouse is typically more abstract, more oriented around plot movement and surprises than particulars.

I hadn't thought of it before reading this, but I suppose a decent amount of the flavor in pork products likely derives from fat. Wonder how it tastes.