Fool for Truth

As April Fool’s Day whizzes past us once more, I find myself pondering on the role of the Fool.

I’ve done comedy as performer on stage, in ads, for voice overs and as writer, and I even tried stand up…once. I may try it again, at some point, possibly when the fear has subsided.

The Fool is, and always has been, sacred. In King Lear the Fool is the only one who truly loves Lear enough to not abandon him, and always, through pathos, satire and any other comic device possible, even a bit of good lowbrow humour, tells Lear the truth of his folly.

The Fool was and still should be allowed to go where angels fear to tread. Playing most trusted Advisors to Kings, Queens and Leaders or most hated Nemeses of the Corrupt.

Is that not still the comic’s role, the modern day Fool?

Do we not require the ability to laugh at our human foibles, more so than ever before?

To laugh together at our universal idiosincracies, anxieties, delusions and vulnerabilities?

But all to often we seem to employ idiots who are more interested in an ego fix, a laugh at others and their demise, instead of laughing with us as we all acknowledge our own struggle with the human condition and this crazy circus that is life.

What makes great comedy in advertising, on stage or even on TikTok is the Fool who delivers truth, without destroying the diginity of another individual.

There will always be those who take offense at something. C est la vie. And there is always place for a bit of lowbrow humour, don’t get me wrong. But the purposeful use of comedy to demean an innocent is a dangerous slope.

Should we not be or strive to employ the kind of Fool who brings Truth, who brings the leaders to account and brings us all a little closer to our humanity?