Twit It! Twit It Good!

First it was a website. Then Facebook. Then Twitter and eventually a blog. It's a like a torturer's lasagna: layer upon layer of pressure to be funny, witty and urbane, all covered in lovely, gooey cheese...

And it's not fair!

There's a bias in my town, a bias towards the dramatic. Think about it, how many actors or actresses have won an Oscar for being funny? Johnny Depp was nominated for Pirates (and we can debate the merits of Jack Sparrow as a comedic role but in the first movie, I stick with my guns - 100% old school comedy), Tom Hanks was nominated for Big (it would take five years for him to win his first with Philadelphia), Robin Williams was nominated four times, but all for "dramatic" roles (though don't get me started on Dead Poets' Society and Good Morning, Vietnam because it was his comedic talents that sold both roles) and Cary Grant had to settle for a special Oscar despite a lifetime devoted to comedies and comedy/dramas of all shapes and sizes (*fan girl squee* I LOVE YOU CARY!)

On the chick side it's even worse: can you even name me an actress who's won for a non-child actor, non-musical comedic role, either leading or supporting?

*Jeopardy theme song*

Yeah, I thought not. I've got two: Marisa Tomei for My Cousin Vinny and Claudette Colbert for It Happened One Night (*another squee*). Oh, and Olympic Dukakis and Cher for Moonstruck, but still, it's just sad, sad, sad.

I'm rambling now. It's cool. My point, of course, is that drama is taken more seriously than comedy when in fact comedy is considerably more difficult to pull off. Comedic actors make the jump to drama every damn day of the week, but how many can claim they've been able to pull off comedy after years of dramatic acting? And Shakespeare doesn't count, you RADA-trained snobs! That's another animal entirely. Let's just keep in mind Hillary Swank's cringe-inducing performance in P.S. I Love You, and she's one of the greatest actresses around!

And it royally pisses me off when comedians decide to reject their roots. After Crash (oh, I loathe that film) Sandra Bullock - the only successor to Meg Ryan in the incredibly difficult genre of romantic comedy - decided she was only doing drama from that point on. More fulfilling. Hey Sandra, how's that working out for you? And in the late 90's, Tom Hanks refused UCLA's Spencer Tracy award because he didn't consider himself a comedic actor anymore. Tom, I've got two words for you: Bosom Buddies. Not to mention the fact that the award was named after one of the greatest actors of all time, but please, be my guest and piss all over his legacy, please.

*rolls eyes*

Recap. Comedy is hard, hella hard. And churning it out on a thrice or twelfth daily basis in the form of Tweets and status updates is a lot of pressure to put on a person! Sure, Stephen Fry can handle it - he's a pro! And Lance Armstrong doesn't need to be funny because HE'S FRIGGIN' LANCE ARMSTRONG!!! But me, yeah. Need to be entertaining at the very least.

I'm not sure I have a point here, but in the interest of summary I will attempt one. Be lenient. I'll try my damnedest to entertain, but some days merely commenting on the weather or the awful LA traffic is the closest I'll come to erudite.