The Hollywood writers and producers cannot understand why no one is interested in watching their sit-coms anymore on TV? Well, did it ever occur to them that some of this stuff isn’t all that funny anymore? The movie industry’s comedy films are also getting killed at the box office. Stand-up comedy is doing OK, but in the new PC world, comedy routines often turn off half of the audience during any given skit, throw in politics and yes, you get some headlines but comedians are divided and conquered. What happened? No, what really happened? Is Hollywood in denial?

Remember The Audience

Remember the audience is always correct, if they don’t like it, it just ain’t that good. And, ‘if and when’ they don’t like it, they sure as hell don’t want to pay for it, or spend their precious time listening or watching it on TV.

Now then, there was an interesting in article in the Wall Street Journal recently titled; “Comedy Slump Not a Laughing Matter,” by Ben Fritz published on June 26, 2018 which stated: “Last year’s most successful comedy, “Girl’s Trip,” took in $117 million in the US and Canada. The last time the year’s highest grossing comedy grossed so little was 1995, when ticket costs were 52% less on average.”

The article also stated: “Traditional comedies are struggling for oxygen at the box office, caught between superhero sequels that integrate laughs and a vast buffet of stand-up specials, sitcoms, amateur pranks and original films on digital services like

Netflix and youtube.”

What I, as a film critic writer, have noticed, is that every sit-com seems to brush up against the PC culture and then quickly back-away, and attack the politically expedient right-side of the equation. Perhaps, this is because the comedy writers all live and work in areas where most everyone has left-leaning political views, and they assume it’s funny to everyone, and that if anyone doesn’t like the jokes, then they are ignorant, or out of touch with reality.

Perhaps, it is this feedback loop which has now been labeled; the ‘Echo Chamber’ where conformational bias occurs. Indeed, it hardly matters what it’s called or why it keeps happening if no one in Hollywood, late-night comedy notices, because now that audiences have been split in half and every show is catering to the same half of the remaining market, no one is making any money, and audiences, yes, even on the left are getting bored with it all; it’s just not funny anymore. And despite popular belief in NYC, LA and DC, our president does not bathe in Cheetos dust. Just sayin’.

I’m Allergic to My Cat!

Having a cat allergy came as something of a surprise to me. Growing up, I had many pets – cats, dogs and birds. My family were animal lovers and pets abounded, so being in contact with animals was a daily occurrence. No one ever seemed to suffer from a cat allergy or any kind of animal allergy for that matter.

1. After my teens and my last pet had died, I wasn’t in a position to take on another pet for many years. Then, eleven years ago, a friend of a cousin was looking for a home for their last remaining kitten. And so it was that Kira came into my life. This was a cat with attitude (and still is!) and we bonded pretty much immediately. While she was still a kitten, I’d put her in the kitchen overnight with a little cat bed to sleep in and the litter box close by.
2. As she grew older, I started letting her sleep in the bedroom. It’s surprising how relaxing a cat’s purring can be in wee small hours.
3. A little over a year later, when down with the vet getting some supplies, I heard that there was a kitten that needed a home or it would have to be put to sleep. And so, Fritz came home with me that day.
4. Unfortunately, Kira was less than impressed with this interloper Solarmodule and I had to keep the two separated for several days before an uneasy truce ensued.
5. They’re an odd pair – Kira has attitude, Fritz is much more companionable; what you’d call a “gentle soul”. She’s still the Queen around the house and occasionally puts Fritz in his place with a right-hook to the face when she feels the need to assert her authority.
6. As Fritz matured, he also was allowed into the bedroom. Both he and Kira would sleep there during the day and night, as was their want.

We all know that cats are the greatest creature-comfort-seeking animals on the planet and a comfy place to catnap is one of their major concerns. But the place your cat chooses to snooze may not be your first choice. While I didn’t mind the cats sleeping on the bed, I did take exception to Fritz’s tendency to charge in from the garden and sleep in a basket of warm, freshly dried laundry straight from the dryer.

The Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine recently conducted a poll of pet-owners on the sleeping habits of their pets and found that 60% of them sleep in bed with one of the family. Where cats are concerned, there are two potential problems here: one is that, somehow, they manage to take up 90% of the bed and the other has to do with allergies.

I found I had a mild cat allergy when I started producing weird wheezing noises any time I was doing something strenuous. Coughing eased it for a few minutes but it would always return. I figured I’d developed a mild form of asthma, probably due to bad air quality and pollution, so I went to the doctor to have it checked out. After listening to my lungs he asked me one question: “Do you have a cat?”

Well, yes, I did. Two in fact.

“You’re allergic to your cats”, he intoned.

Then he asked if the cats slept in the bedroom. Of course they did.

“There’s your real problem”, he said. “What you’re allergic to is the dander produced by your cats. When a cat sleeps on your bed, the dander ends up in the sheets and the duvet and you breathe it in deeply at night when you’re asleep. Not good. That’s what causes your wheeziness.Stop the cats sleeping in your bedroom for two or three weeks and see if that eases your symptoms. If not, you’ll probably need to use an inhaler for the rest of your life.”

OK, that last sentence kinda hit me between the eyes. Much as I love my two furballs, I didn’t want to suffer a long-lasting health problem that could possibly be avoided.

So why is dander such a problem? It’s the layer of dead skin that’s rich in animal protein, which is continuously shed by animals. Sebaceous (oil producing) glands in the skin also produce these protein allergens. Male cats have, on average, greater amounts of sebaceous secretions and therefore are more allergenic than female or neutered male cats. This is a result of testosterone hormone effects on sebaceous glands.