Joe Pera’s Calm Reformation of Comedy
By Arts & Lit Editor Luca Cavallo
Growing up in Ireland can sometimes involve the development of a certain elitism when it comes to comedy. With mainstream media often blending Irish and British shows, movies, and books, there is a familiarity between each culture’s comedic approach. This is sometimes met with respectable resistance on both sides. You might assume that there is competition between Irish and British comedic works, but this is actually not the case. Instead, there is a feeling of extreme superiority that Irish and British people share about their comedy over that of their trans-Atlantic neighbour, the USA.
Not all American comedy is bad. The other night, I watched about half an hour of what I would call ‘the best’ of ‘the worst’: The Hangover. Many of the jokes haven’t aged even slightly well, but some of the movie’s more surreal and wild moments still hold up, such as the trio finding a tiger in their bathroom. The subsequent films I can’t defend with half as much enthusiasm, but The Hangover is good fluff for when there’s nothing else on. That’s what most American comedy can hope to achieve. Of course, there are a few examples of comedy that reach the Anglo-Irish standard. Airplane!, Dr. Strangelove, and seasons 3–10 of The Simpsons may all contest my opinion of American comedy.
I almost feel bad comparing British and Irish comedic works to these American outliers. There are funnier and wittier books, like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Commitments, White Teeth, Ulysses, and Good Omens. The movies are considerably funnier, like In Bruges, Monty Python and The Holy Grail, and Hot Fuzz. And although it may lean harder on personal and cultural preferences, the stand-up comedians in Britain and Ireland show a much broader talent in their performances than their American counterparts.
The only option left for American comedy is to somehow find a way to subvert the expectations of its national audience. At the same time, it should refuse to bend to the bleaker outlook of Anglo-Irish humour (see season 1 of The Office (US)). I have spent a fairly unforgivable amount of time looking for a comedian who can go beyond the comedy formula of the States. And I have found Joe Pera.
Joe Pera marketed his television programme, Joe Pera Talks With You, on large, but simple billboards with the slogan, “A Show as Good as Water.” This is exactly what Joe Pera intends for his audience: refreshment. A fan of barns, beans, and the Buffalo Bills, Joe has performed as a stand-up comedian for over ten years, making a name for himself with his “guy who was raised by his grandparents” demeanour. He approaches comedy with a slowness that is quite jarring when compared to the highly active and energetic performances of other, more renowned American comedians such as Kevin Hart and Sarah Silverman.
A number of issues have arisen for stand-up comedians in the past number of years, mainly regarding ‘edgy’ comedians’ disdain for what they might call ‘the woke brigade’. Chris Rock whined in his latest special, Selective Outrage, that ‘everyone just wants to be a victim nowadays.; In other words, performers like Chris Rock are struggling to think of good material for their work that doesn’t involve offensive topics. Of course, some British comedians like Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Carr take pride in their ‘edginess’, but much of Anglo-Irish comedy has not relied half as much on controversy for laughs as the Americans have. Joe Pera not only steers away from all offensive topics in his stand-up, but also avoids any and all vulgarity in his act. Joe doesn’t swear, rarely talks about sex, and never mentions controversy of any kind.
A lingering question about Joe’s oddly slow and tame style is whether or not he’s actually funny. It’s only natural that Joe’s content isn’t even close to mainstream, for it doesn’t really want to be. As I have mentioned, his TV show was marketed as something relaxing, rather than ‘hilarious’ like other comedy shows.
Joe Pera Talks With You is a show that has its own thing going on. Joe stars as an idealised version of himself and his philosophy in Marquette, Michigan, experiencing the mundane with both childlike awe and elderly wisdom. Joe spends a great deal of time in a diner, faced with the impossible choice of what to eat for breakfast. He calls a dozen radio stations in one evening, begging them to keep playing ‘Baba O’Reilly’ by The Who so he can dance all night long. As the choir teacher at his local middle school, he writes and directs a stage play about The Rat War of Alberta, but first intends to deliver a 100+ page history lecture to the audience before the show can begin. Each of these scenarios and misadventures are detailed in their simplicity; Joe is living in the very centre of a very small world. When Joe falls in love with Sarah, the band teacher who owns a fortified basement to save her from a supposedly incoming apocalypse, he is forced to step out of his perfect bubble and take a new perspective on life. He approaches this by removing his glasses to ‘learn to see better’ and memorising morbid facts. The dynamic between Joe and Sarah is a form of comedy unlike anything else, blending the paranoid prepper with the whimsical, Thoreauvian idealist.
Joe Pera Talks With You concluded in 2021, but Joe has since moved his comedy to a podcast, Drifting Off With Joe Pera. As the name suggests, it is a sleep podcast, but Joe still slips in the slightest of jokes to keep his sleepy listeners entertained. When Joe concludes an episode with a long series of voicemails from friends, answering the question ‘What’s your “comfort movie?”’, everyone ponders before answering, ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’.
Joe’s first full comedy special, Slow and Steady, was released last year. Although my Irish comedic elitism remains undefeated against American comedy, I cannot deny the pure originality and effort in Joe’s strange and delightful style. There has never been anyone like Joe Pera, and there probably won’t be anyone like him again. His presence on stage and on screen is stooped and shaky, yet there is a certain uniqueness about him that is simply astounding.
