The comedy club theory of dictatorship

Have you ever wanted to know how dictators stay in power? Try visiting a comedy club. I went to one the other night. The acts varied in quality. No one died on their backside, no one stormed it, the audience went away happy. But at a couple of points the thing happened, the thing that gives you a clue about dictators: the comedian picked on a member of the audience. In fairness they were both minor examples. One was the compère assessing how a line had gone down. Two guys in their fifties sitting at the side had laughed. ‘Wow, even you two liked that,’ said the compère. ‘Look at you, Waldorf and Statler there.’ Everyone laughed, including Waldorf and Statler, and the evening moved on. Later, a comedian commented on how people were dressed, including one guy in the front row whose checked shirt gave him ‘the Brokeback Mountain look’.