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Though comedy was already booming, Zinoman learned right away how quickly it could change.
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On Comedians Responses to His Job
I recentlywrote a piece on Mort Sahlafter he died.
That was what he called a stand-up.
Some people hated them.
Its bizarre that that didnt exist for comedy.
[At the beginning,] I got a ton of pushback.
This is bad news.
And they were saying, Jasons element is bad for comedy.
People are going,Hes going to give bad reviews to peoples career.
At the time, I disagreed with it, and it is still annoying.
But in retrospect, it is legitimate.
Its something that I think critics have to engage with.
Now more than ever, this is not true of just comedy but all critics.
My central concern is whats good or bad for my readers.
Ive always thought one of our jobs is to be the clown in the dunking booth.
We should be able to take criticism.
We take a strong position on something, and people can define their own ideas in opposition to it.
Its really important to not forget that person.
But also, what is my value added here?
If you want an ordinary civilians opinion, its not hard to find them.
So my added value is putting this in context.
I can make connections to broader political, moral, historical, or aesthetic context.
Those are the things that I should attempt to do to justify my existence.
But its a flawed form.
I remember when I was a young critic, I, like many young critics, hated older critics.
When he would reviewHamlet, he would write about the 50 otherHamlets hed written about.
And Id always be like,I want to know whats on the stage.
What do you see on the stage?
I think that you have to write for the novice as well.
Everyone in your familys got an opinion on them.
So your arrogance has to be earned through hard work and study and thinking.
But then you also have to be incredibly humble.
So how do you get both?
How are you both humble and arrogant at the same time?
Its a constant fucking struggle.
This was a very well-received piece.
But that was a piece that I think I got wrong.
I had the right thrust in the piece, but it wasnt in the foreground of it.
I didnt say comedy was going to bust.
I said there are signs the comedy boom might burst, and this is why its a good thing.
Then I went to this whole historical thing about how the 80s comedy boom was ultimately about real estate.
It was about building clubs and then clubs closing.
There were other things, but that was at the center of it.
Its now more seismic than that because its not about real estate, its about technology.
The club is no longer as central as it was, and neither are the alt rooms.
If I could rewrite it, that would be the angle.
So I think that was a failure of a piece.
Thats the excitement of this job.
Curiosity is a core requirement of the job.
I love how comedy is changing so fast.
There are so many different new things.
Theres much more novelty than there is in theater.
I love watching somebody think through an idea in a funny way.
Thats just endlessly entertaining to me.
