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Posted by wslh 22 hours ago

Bob Odenkirk would like to remind you that life is a meaningless farce(www.nytimes.com)
67 points | 44 comments
wslh 22 hours ago|
https://archive.is/zPqra
bradhe 56 minutes ago||
When you're successful and rich (enough, at least), this is a nice whimsical thing to say. When you're suffering in the trenches, this isn't very helpful.
julienmarie 25 minutes ago||
On the contrary, read the piece. He's not saying it from comfort, he's saying it after a heart attack, after his kids grew up, after the form he loved became a young man's game. The farce isn't a punchline delivered from above; it's what's left when the registers that used to hold you don't anymore. And his answer isn't despair, it's "we've got to keep trying… there's a breeze beneath my wings." That's not whimsy. That's the thing the trenches actually teach you, if you survive them.
Phemist 11 minutes ago||
A triple "It's not this... it's that"...
reedf1 26 minutes ago|||
I'm not sure what you are trying to express here. Is it "rich people shouldn't express their worldview" or "the idea that life is inherently meaningless is incorrect"? A younger me ingested this sentiment as a call to action to create the meaning I wanted in the world.
lukewarm707 13 minutes ago|||
but is he justified, right or wrong?

is what is right/wrong important? that already requires thinking.

so, we are really choosing whether to use heuristics or seek to justify our choices.

to argue for lack of thinking, is really arguing for lack of justification.

CTOSian 33 minutes ago|||
oh yes, it becomes like this s/farce/curse
sph 37 minutes ago|||
Your comment is exactly what successful and rich people say. You can find a lot of joy and acceptance among the poorest of people: the mind is remarkably adaptable, yet it's only those that always strive for more that cannot enjoy life's little moments.

I truly dislike this recent trend of making people feel bad if they have learned to just slow down and be content with life. "It's privilege being able to take a break and smell the roses, I'm too busy for this nonsense" is protestant crab mentality that I find revolting.

smugglerFlynn 13 minutes ago|||
Exactly! What a high-profile actor’s life represents to an accountant or a programmer, that accountant’s or programmer’s life similarly represents to a factory worker, and so on.

I've met "too busy for this" people in every line of work, regardless of their pay band. When you get to know people, you will see that pretty much everyone has their own trenches, and slowing down is a matter of priorities, not privilege.

tipiirai 26 minutes ago|||
I think you misinterpreted. The comment said "When you're suffering...", not "When you're poor..."
sph 24 minutes ago||
"Desire is the root of all suffering" — Buddha

You'll have a hard time finding more suffering than in Wall Street. Meanwhile I haven't found more content, relaxed people than when I visited my distant family in sub-Saharan Africa, taking life as it comes. My point still stands.

thesamethrowawa 16 minutes ago|||
> Meanwhile I haven't found more content, relaxed people than when I visited my distant family in sub-Saharan Africa, taking life as it comes. My point still stands.

You seem to be arguing against the point "only happy people can be rich". This isn't what the GP comment said. It said only rich people come out with things like "life is a farce". Which I think is true. Are any of your sub saharan african relatives giving interviews to press pontificating on such things? I assume no.

watwut 10 minutes ago|||
You know what, no you wont have hard time finding more suffering then in Wall Street. I am not saying they are all happy, but the hell non-Wall Street people suffer as often and a lot.

Only rich people are unhappy and suffering is such a ridiculous point, frankly.

Including in Africa for that matter. In fact, you will find plenty of people there that go to extremes to avoid or minimize suffering ... including making other sub-africans super suffering in the process. That happy take life as it comes sub-Saharan Africa includes Sudan and Congo full of people who are not happy and very active in trying to change thing around them (not necessarily in the positive sense).

bell-cot 39 minutes ago|||
Yeah - but it may be a good way to articulate a bleak, from-the-trenches perspective on the world.
lo_zamoyski 17 minutes ago||
Strictly speaking, meaninglessness is opposed to farce. You can’t have both utter meaninglessness and farce, because meaning is intrinsic to farce.

Comedy presupposes meaning, because comedy hinges on the absurd, but the absurd is a departure from meaning or a deviation from it. Something is absurd when it fails to be meaningful and fails to satisfy the rational in the broader context of rational meaning.

There is no laughter in the utterly meaningless. There cannot be silliness without an overarching context of seriousness.

styluss 1 hour ago||
> The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly colored and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question: "Is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say: "Hey, don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride."

Richard Hicks

frereubu 1 hour ago||
The title reminded me of this too, but it was Bill Hicks, not Richard Hicks.
shrubby 1 hour ago||
Bill Hicks was spot on for most of the things.
aswegs8 1 hour ago||
So basically, Buddhism?
keybored 1 hour ago||
[deleted]
simonh 51 minutes ago||
It's all donosaur piss anyway.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-10-06/recycled-wa...

prngl 50 minutes ago||
This was an interesting interview. Like a lot of great comedians, Odenkirk has a very grounded and bleak view of the world. I suppose a lot of art, comedy included, is a way of coping with their perspective, for themselves and for the audience.
nozzlegear 19 hours ago||
When the zeitgeist is overwhelmingly nihilist, dare to be an absurdist.
AntiUSAbah 51 minutes ago||
The thing is, if you never question anything, just lifing is worth it in itself.

If you do think too much about everything, and you survive this, you will land somewhere and this somewhere will be content.

I'm thinking about happiness and what I want for so long, that I now have crossed my half life point.

You also need to have a certain amount of freedom to even have this problem which makes it weird for others not having this. Oh you are not happy? But you have money?! I would be happy with money, i'm struggling.

Its weird if you sometimes think it would be interesting to struggle.

anshumankmr 1 hour ago||
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/magazine/bob-odenkirk-int...
alexose 1 hour ago||
I liked the shoutout to On Cinema at the Cinema. Truly one of the most hilarious and fascinating pieces of comedy in the last couple of decades.
rkunal 26 minutes ago||
Yet he found meaning in reminding
fiftyacorn 48 minutes ago|
American or British farce?
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