It's Okay To Laugh Boston

Since the events that occurred during yesterday's Boston Marathon I have been thinking a lot about what had happened, how it was effecting me, how it was effecting the city and countless people across the country. When it happened I was at work and immediately taken back but what was going on. And watching the first few seconds of it unfold all I could do was shut down emotionally and go into work mode. As you know I am an inspiring comedian, I love comedy and entertainment. All I want to be able to do for the rest of my life is entertain people; to make the laugh. But there is another side of me, the journalist side. I have a college degree in broadcast journalism and it is something I take seriously. I'm proud of it. I love telling a story, all the facts, educating people. So that is what I did. While I was at work I used whatever resources I had to just tell people what was going on. Had I been in a different city, back in Baltimore for example, would I have been tweeting so many bits of information? No. Would I be writing this post? Most likely not. But I was able to get info out and felt obligated to do so. Now that the dust is settling and more facts are being reported it makes me wonder if I was being irresponsible about the information I put out, because most of it was not confirmed. It was "I just heard this... let me tweet it."I wish there was something I could do to help the victims and the family and friends of people who will be forever effected by this tragedy. So I though to myself, what could I do? Could I offer up runners who are displaced a spot in my apartment to stay? Yeah, probably. Could I have gone downtown to the places that were housing runners and bring them some clothes and blankets to keep warm while they try to get back home? Yeah, I mean it's not like they're homeless living under an overpass, but some people couldn't get back to their hotels or homes that were in the area. But I realized what it is that I can do to help. And that's just keep entertaining people.A few hours after the bombs at the marathon went off, I was scheduled to do go on a live TV show and do stand-up; and to be honest I didn't really have it in me. I didn't think what I was about to do was appropriate. And who is going to want to laugh after seeing all the horrific pictures on the news and internet? So I tweeted that and received some encouraging words from some of my friends who are also comedians and entertainers. "laughter is the best medicine." and "you got this."

@deadairdennis do what you can to make the day a little better, man! Good luck!— Martin Freise (@MartinFreise) April 15, 2013

And they're right. For some people it has to go on, because they need to laugh. And that's okay. There is nothing wrong with that. It's just important to laugh at the right things. I saw this tweet from comedian Anthony Jeselnik, that sums up all that I want to say with this post.Was that offensive? Yes. Is that was he does? Yes. He has since deleted the tweet but that still doesn't take away the fact it was seen by thousands of people. Or will continue to live on in articles and posts like this on the internet forever. One could say the tweet isn't offensive. He meant "Don't cross that finish line! There's bombs over there!" It was a warning. I think we all know he didn't mean it that way. I know one thing I said might come back to bite me in the ass. The second thing I said about this was just a quip, spur of the moment thought;

"Multiple explosions heard at the finish line of the Boston marathon. That sound is making me feel like I'm back in Baltimore."

Was it a bit off-color? Kind of. I grew up in Baltimore and just moved here to Boston to pursue the next step of my emerging comedy career less than three months ago. I know everyone has seen The Wire, and Homicide: Life on the Street, and heard the jokes about Baltimore's murder rate. And some of it is true, most is not. And yes Baltimore is a bad city in places. And yes I've seen so much violence happen feet away from me. So I am a bit desensitized to it, but under no circumstance have I witnessed first hand the horrors that happened yesterday. With all this, my first reaction to anything is to make a joke. And I did. And so did a lot of people. Many much worse than anything I would ever say and I'm an admitted bastard when it comes to other people's feelings.I saw some others and I just skipped over them. I didn't want to read them and let it make me sick. Let it get to me. Let it anger me. I'm sure one day this will all be just a memory of something that happened. And we'll be accepting of jokes about what happened. Look at how flip we are about what happened with the twin towers, I mean how many of us have laughed at this meme or own the t-shirt?One day someone is going to say "Hey Bob, I'm thinking about running a 5K to raise money for breast cancer, want to train with me?" "HELL NO! I DON'T WANT TO GET BLOWN UP TRYING TO SAVE SOME TITTIES!" Or something to that effect. Actually, it'll probably be me that says that one day, but whatever. One day we'll get past this, some already have, some never will. But for right now don't feel bad about wanting to laugh, just make sure you're laughing at the right things and at the appropriate time. If it helps you forget about what happened April 15th, then watch that hidden camera prank video, go to a comedy show, make inside jokes with your friends. And if laughing doesn't help you, that's okay too. Just be understanding of people who need to do that. Never be ashamed to want to laugh, EVER! But if it's something you know will bother someone else, keep it to yourself.