My First Laugh Post 9/11

I am a child of television. I represent the first generation for whom, when we were born, the television was now a permanent fixture in our homes. Sadly the worst day in American history was captured on TV for all the world to see, unless you lived in Afghanistan where if you owned a television the Taliban sentenced you to death.

9/11 was a bad time for comedians, but let’s face it, it was much worse for a lot of other people. 3000 people dead and we're wondering when is it okay to be funny again. I felt that what I do is so unimportant compared to the police and firefighters.

Of course like most of us on the West Coast, I was asleep in bed. About 10 minutes to 7:00 the phone rings and my wife Donna answered. It was our friend Susan. Then Donna grabbed the remote to turn on the TV, but turned off the cable box instead. She forgot how to operate the remotes. I got out of bed cranky and manually turned on the cable box and the TV. We watched Matt and Katie as all hell broke loose. I ran to the living room, got on the cell phone and called my mom while channel surfing between the all news cable stations. Now I don’t like using the "F" word in front of my mom, but on this day I made an exception. What the F? Who the F? How the F?

Somehow I forgot that I was a liberal and a pacifist and I think I know why. In 2000 and 2001, I lost three close family members. In my mind, I was getting through the grief process then someone else would die and I had a setback, then someone else would die and I had another set back. I described in my comedy routine, "I felt like I failed the grieving process and had to repeat it in summer school." For the rest of that day I was glued to the TV news. That night we went to church, not our regular church, but the Hollywood Methodist Church. It was open and within walking distance. You know Billy Joel's New York State of Mind sounds really cool as a hymn.

Article Author: Tony Figueroa

TONY FIGUEROA is a standup comedian, writer, actor and storyteller based in Los Angeles. A "day job" teaching comedy traffic school led to Tony cohosting and coproducing several radio shows. Tony’s CHILD OF TELEVISION Blog is an example of life imitating art. …

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