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People laugh for the same reason dogs bark: when they are confronted by the truth (I am parphrasing Lily Tomlin there). NOBODY gets injured in this routine, unless you count the comedian but not really him, either., Well, when his daughter reaches adolescence, if she finds out some of the stories he told, she may either run away from home, get into therapy, join a cult or kill him in his sleep. See, this is not standard self deprication: I am a jackass, or pathetic, or unconventional and you should laugh at that. He is not insulting himself so much as exposing himself. It takes healthy self confidence, humility and just the right amount of self love to be so exposed to a room full of strangers. All of us may not go through exactly what he describes, but we know, in our intimate, secret selves, that these kinds of uncomfortable self revelations happen; we usually just try to forget about them. He makes a routine about them. I laughed at some of this until I was squeezing out tears. This is an ordinary guy, trying to understand what in the heck is expected of him: too intelligent to just blindly obey and too timid to revolt. There is a slight tremor in his voice that is endearing. He looks and dresses like any guy on the bus. Nothing about him is especially attractive or interesting. But when he opens his mouth, and his mind comes pouring out, all I could do was smile, wide eyed at how clearly and lovingly he ponders reality. I am telling all my friends. I feel better about myself and the world, having watched this. It is not life changing, just life enhancing.
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