On the "I'm Just a Comedian!" Excuse

I hope to one day be influential enough to need it

A comment on yesterday’s column about Occupy Wall Street touched on something I think about sometimes, and it seemed worth addressing in a bit of detail. Here’s the comment:

So, first: I am completely aware that the real reason I decided to highlight this comment is probably because he said nice things about me. In fact, “Ben” is probably either my mom or an alter ego that I lapse into while in a fugue state, like Brad Pitt’s character in Fight Club.

But now let’s address the ostensible (i.e. “fake”) reason for talking about this: It really is worth wondering what role comedians do play and should play in our political dialogue. It sometimes feels like we’re playing a game but pretending that we’re not, like if the beer vendor at a basketball game ran onto the court and swatted away a three-pointer, and then ran back into the stands yelling “I’m just the beer guy!”