You lost me halfway. Nanette was evocative and powerful. It was nice to hear a woman, a queer woman, taking the piss out of jokes and opening them up to see the pain in all of them.

See, Comedy, unlike Movies or Books, is more or less like getting into a boxing ring with the truth. Books, songs, poetry, music, all that has usually one core theme or a couple of themes, but comedy...

comedy just kicks your ass up one side and down the other.

And we laugh because we can't scream. Who want's to scream at a comedy club?

And we laugh because we're hearing the truth thrown at us like punches and they land, and they land, and they land...

But what if we just told the truth without the punchline? What if we just said the truth? What If I got up in front of a crowded bar and, microphone in hand, said, "My name is Freddie. For nearly 2 decades I was a member of a cult that abused me. And the funny thing is, it's taken almost another 20 years trying to get out from underneath all it did to me."

Would people listen?

Would I be booed off stage?

I dunno but I feel like it would suck all the air out of the room.

So instead, I'll grab the mic and say, "So, a Baptist preacher, a catholic priest, and a rabbi walked into a bar...,"