So I was listening to Les Misérables and something struck me about it. I never made the connection when I saw it, because I was younger, and not in theatre yet, ergo I wasn't thinking critically about the actions and choices on stage and, in turn, the connections to the audience reaction. We have this Innkeeper and his wife. They're not good people at all. They abuse and mistreat their ward. They fix prices. They feed their boarders god-knows-what. They're extortionists. They lie, cheat, and steal. They forsake their own daughter. They plan kidnapping and / or murder. They're war profiteers. They're racist and bigoted. And yet, because they have funny lyrics and lines in their songs, they become the "comic relief" from the heavy bummed-out drama. Here's the part that struck me while listening to it earlier; something that I had forgotten about. The audience applauds them vociferously after every verse. They laugh and clap, because these two people are quite the characters (and I won't even go into the amount of mugging these actors did... fourth wall? what's that?). The worst part of all of this came at the curtain call. They got the loudest applause, they got the whoops and cheers and yells, and they were the first two who received standing ovation honors. whoa whoa whoa... Did I just miss something? Is the audience really giving the top kudos out to the two most despicable characters in the play. Did the audience really miss out on how vile these two people are? They have no redeemable qualities. I mean, really, even Javert has redeemable qualities, and he's the "villain". So what does this mean? If this was a play about World War II, and Hitler had some really funny songs about the tribulations of commanding the third reich would he get the most applause? Or, in real life, if Hitler had been a funnier guy, would the Holocaust be more palatable? "I'm not so sure about this eradication-of-the-semites thing, but Damn! That guy is a laugh-a-minute cutup!" "I know, right? Has he told you the one about the Rabbi, the Negro and the Aryan who all walked into a bar?" "... um, yep, pretty sure he did." "How about the one where the amputee couldn't salute when he heiled, so he used his--" "I've heard that one too." "Oh, oh oh! Has he told you the one about the little diarist girl and her little Peter?" "Ha ha ha, that one was racy! Even for my Master Ears!" "Haha, you bet! If anything, our führer causes a comedic furor everywhere he goes." "..." "Get it? Führer, Furor... haha get it?" "Was that supposed to be funny? Because it wasn't a joke... it was just an exercise in homonyms." "It was meant to be punny." "Do you hear Hitler using puns? That's 'cause he doesn't. When it comes to comedy, you're no Hitler." Oh Adolf, you incorrigible harlequin, is there no bound to your zany wit.