why so satirical? a personal journey through humanity's oldest side-eye
thoughts on satire from down the rabbit hole
I was about six or seven when I first discovered satire, though I wouldn't have called it that at the time. My mom used to watch SNL reruns in the evening, and I'd wander into the living room, puzzled by the strange spectacle unfolding on screen. People were speaking in exaggerated ways, mimicking others I vaguely recognized from the news, twisting their words and mannerisms just enough that the audience erupted in knowing laughter. I sat there, confused by the dissonance. This wasn't exactly mockery, though it contained elements of it. It was something more artful, more... purposeful.
I caught on pretty quickly and it wasn’t long before the adults in my family started referring to me as a "little shit". I’m sure my teachers all thought the same. Because why make everything serious when you could make everything funny? A few years later, Barenaked Ladies dropped their hit “One Week” and it was like the lyrics had reached into my soul and named something essential about me. This wasn't just entertainment—it was a coping mechanism, a way of processing the absurdities of existence.
How can I help it if I think you're funny when you're mad?
Trying hard not to smile though I feel bad
I'm the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral
Can't understand what I mean?
Well, you soon will
I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeveOne Week, by Barenaked Ladies (1998)
I didn't know it then, but I was witnessing something fundamentally human—something that has existed since we first developed the capacity to notice the gap between what society purports to be and what it actually is.