{"id":5050108,"date":"2020-01-11T16:25:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T21:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlatinonews.com\/?p=5050108"},"modified":"2020-01-11T16:25:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-11T21:25:24","slug":"comedy-is-medicine-for-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/2020\/01\/11\/comedy-is-medicine-for-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Comedy Is Medicine for Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Annika Darling<\/a>, CTLatinoNews.com<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The greatest philosophers have long pondered over the evolutionary purpose of comedy. Theories about necessary cognitive shifts from serious to playful have emerged, as well as a theory about it being a defense mechanism for depression. Others say it is merely to inflate the ego, and making fun makes us feel superior to others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While comedy\u2019s evolutionary purpose may be speculatory, its benefits are shared by the whole of society. For comedian Kenny Ortega, he says the purpose of comedy is simple \u2026 it’s to make people laugh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ortega (winner of Season 4 of Last Comix Standing<\/em>)  wasn\u2019t always into comedy. In fact, his brother worked on the Saturday Night Live<\/em> set and while he would visit him there, he didn\u2019t think much of it. It wasn\u2019t until comedy played a truly healing place in his life that he began to understand its value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After losing both his brother and father in 1995, things seemed pretty bleak. Ortega was not in a good place emotionally. But then one night, his friends dragged him to a local watering hole where there was stand-up comedy going on. The comedians \u201cstarted to make me feel better,\u201d says Ortega. \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018I want to try that.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s been his sole mission ever since. To make people feel better. To make people laugh. Ortega performed in Connecticut last November, to do just that. He says he has been to Connecticut many times. \u201cI love Connecticut,\u201d he says. \u201cConnecticut people come out to laugh.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Comedy Craft Beer Tour that sponsored the event at Still Hill Brewery, has been doing shows in Connecticut for over 3 years and Ortega loves being a part of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ortega\u2019s approach, his style if you will, does not carry a political agenda. He does not lean on stereotypes of being Latino either. \u201cEven though I am proud, I am very proud to be Puerto Rican,\u201d Ortega explains, \u201cI am a comedian first. Instead of people thinking of me as a Puerto Rican comedian, I want them to think of me as a comedian that just happens to be Puerto Rican.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explains it like this: \u201cWhen you start to do the race jokes you put yourself in a box. I don\u2019t want to be put in a box. \u2026 It\u2019s important for me that the audience laughs, but it\u2019s more important to me that they laugh together.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being labeled, or \u201cput in a box\u201d, as a comedian can limit your audience. Isolate them even. Ortega learned this early on. He says when he first started out he would do shows where they would require that you bring people. So he would bring friends and family who knew him and would laugh at all his jokes. He eventually graduated to doing shows where he wasn\u2019t required to bring people, and he experienced bombing for the first time ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter that, I didn\u2019t want to do comedy anymore,\u201d he admits. \u201cBut then I just realized I had to explain my jokes to the audience. Like when I talk about growing up on government cheese, and the block of cheese being so big you can\u2019t even slice it with a knife, I have to explain that in a way that the whole audience can understand the humor in it, not just the other Latinos that grew up on government cheese.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not like he doesn\u2019t talk about being Puerto Rican, or use race-based comedy, it\u2019s that he uses it in a way to get the audience to understand what it is to be Latino. To understand what it is to be Kenny Ortega and to see the humor in his everyday life. No matter what shoes he has walked in and no matter what shoes the audience has walked in, he finds a way for them to walk together for a short time, at least while he is on stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did a show not too long ago,\u201d recalls Ortega, \u201cand it was a Latino show, and one of the comedians of the show was like, \u2018The audience is white.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018What did you expect?\u2019 And he was like, \u2018Latinos.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018No, you\u2019re the<\/em> Latino. They came to see the Latino show, the audience doesn\u2019t have to be Latino.\u2019 \u2026 And this is a big thing for me: you should be able to perform anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n