A Comedy of Tragedies
by Brock LaBorde
December, 2004

    In the past couple of months, I've had a few bad things happen. Without going into detail, I'll call them several mini-tragedies and one Mega-Tragedy. Had only one of the mini-tragedies happened, it wouldn't have mattered much, but they all happened at once and with their powers combined, they formed a sizeable beast indeed. The Mega-Tragedy would have floored me just the same if it happened on its own, but coupled with the Ultra-Beast of Many Mini-Tragedies, let's just say that I've been emotionally and artistically immobilized for a while.

     But when Life starts dumping garbage on you (even though a lot of it may be garbage that you created), you can either deal with it or smother. And I've been smothering under my garbage like an unwanted baby in a dumpster. Like that baby, things started to get really stinky after a while and it sort of began to spoil the environment. Only, unlike that baby, I still have the ability to climb out of the dumpster and hopefully grow into a stronger person with an indescribable fear of trash receptacles.

     People say you have to laugh in the face of adversity to keep yourself sane. Usually, I keep my sanity by making other people laugh via Studio8.net. Lately, it's been hard to do that, though.

     I hope I'm not being too vague here, but I don't want this to turn into a crummy LiveJournal entry. I think that over the years, Studio 8 has grown from a sloppy collection of goofy ideas into a semi-serious attempt at comedic greatness. Whether we've succeeded in our attempt is up to you, gentle reader, and oddly enough, the success of this website has had some sort of bearing on my recent problems. That's what I want to focus on in this column.

     The pressures of maintaining a quasi-popular website can be intimidating. There are plenty of funnier sites (SomethingAwful.com) with bigger writing staffs (TheOnion.com) and well-developed layouts (AintItCoolNews.com, just kidding) and more money (Fark.com) that seem to make our little corner of the web (Studio8.net) look pathetic. And we've met producers and other fancy people in the entertainment industry who say projects like Studio8.net are a waste of time (mostly because they don't turn much of a profit). Even with web ads and the sales of our movie, CDs, and clothing items, we really do little more than break even. So you can see how we might get discouraged from time to time.

     However, we've also met a few important people who have been genuinely impressed by what we do and they recognize that we've got a unique blend of something going on here. We're not in college anymore, which gave us more venues and opportunities for nutty stunts and spectacles. But now we are involved in the film industry, which puts us in touch with more creative people and better resources than we've ever had. It's the Comedic Crossroads. There's no doubt that we have to change, but what will we change? Will our humor grow up? Not likely. But we're realizing how and where to use our comedic talents to reach more people, meaning that in the coming years, a lot of the style and formatting of Studio8.net will change.

     Comedy is a rough thing to dedicate yourself to because whether you're a success or failure, at some point, you're going to ask yourself, "Am I, and have I ever been, funny?" Sure, this line of thought keeps your ego in check, but it can work the other way and make you doubt your abilities. Which is what I've been doing lately.

     Insecurity can cripple you if you let it. It can destroy your willpower and make you feel worthless. And even before you're able to recognize your insecurity, it can spoil your life by making you treat others unfairly.

     So what does all of this belly-aching and sentimental babbling boil down to? It boils down to this one promise: I don't know exactly who you are, readers, and I don't know why I'm compelled to provide you with funny things to think about, and I don't know how much funny material lies inside my head, if any. But I do promise to you that I won't stop trying to make you laugh - no matter how much garbage I dump on myself and no matter how much seems to be dumped on me by the rest of the world.

     I'm going to run with all of the positives that I've got and I'm going to focus on some writing that I've been putting off for a while, which might mean less Studio 8 stuff and more long-term projects like scripts and stories and books. It's not an easy decision to make, and I don't want anyone to think that Studio 8 is shutting down. No no no. We've got a small team of dedicated people under the Studio 8 umbrella and there's more talented people looking to step up and get involved.

     Which leads to my second promise: Studio 8 will never employ an unfunny person. I don't want to be discriminatory towards unfunny people, because I know they have to eat, too, but really, I have no use for them. If an unfunny person walks into the Studio 8 offices tomorrow with bags of money and a couple of tasty pastries in their hands, I will throw rubber bands at them and curse their grandchildren, I swear it. Maybe I'll let them sweep up or something. But they won't be allowed to write any jokes!

     I'm not leaving Studio 8 by any means, but I will be putting more of the site's daily creative power into the hands of my qualified comedic compadres. In the long run, this will be awesome because I'll be able to generate more quality material with less stress and distractions. In a way, the tragedies I spoke of at the beginning of this letter are reshaping my comedy, and really, my entire outlook on Life. Let's hope some good things come out of all this.

     And that, ladies and ladies, is why Tragedy is more important than Comedy. That is, unless you think Comedy is more important than Tragedy. I'd hate to challenge your beliefs or anything.

     Nobody mind me, I'll just be the guy muttering and scribbling on that wall over there.

By the way, for anybody who's interested, here's the rundown of which Studio 8 member is working on what production in New Orleans right now:

Brock - "Elvis" - TV miniseries
Chris Trew - "Dukes of Hazzard" - Feature Film
Chris Richard - "Dukes of Hazzard" - Feature Film
Eric - "Last Holiday" - Feature Film
Jared - "All the King's Men" - Feature Film
Mikey - "All the King's Men" - Feature Film
Nathan - "Five Fingers" - Feature Film

Email this page to a friend!

Do the contents of this page make you horny? Talk about it in the Studio 8 Forums right now!

Back to Editor Main
 

Related Items:

- Gentleman Brock's Main Page

- Buy Gentleman Brock's Book!