We expect comedians to be funny. We expect them to make light of things in their lives, the news and life for everyone in general. That's what they do.
Something that I've noticed this year (or rather, started paying attention to this year) is that some of these celebrities who make their money being funny use their platforms to actually say something of importance. Late night show hosts like John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart (before he retired from the Daily Show), Seth Myers, Samantha Bee, Jimmy Kimmel and others take their fame and talents and put them to good use.
While many segments of their shows are pure hilarity or jokes, most of these comedians use parts of their on-air time to express their feelings on important issues. Government, politics, world issues and more. They take these heavy topics and simply talk about them, backing up their ideas with facts and presenting them clearly.
What I love about these people and their shows is that while, yes, they are extremely funny and entertaining, they also have value. They are intelligent. They put thought and facts into their rants or speeches. It's never just an angry person shouting nonsense at the screen. They make you laugh while also informing you about events happening in our world. They're comedians and yet, when it comes down to it, they can become serious advocates of change, justice, equality and many other worthwhile things.
It must be said that a part of these shows are biased. These celebrities are using their platforms to present their own ideas. It's still better to get facts and unbiased information on a subject from the news or your own research.
Still, I'd like to thank these show hosts for a few things:
Thank you for making people laugh while spreading the word about important topics. Thank you for explaining things in a way that's easy to make sense of. Thank you for using your celebrity to try to bring about change and increase awareness. Thank you for injecting humor into a dark world when sometimes that's all we need.
