The Terminal

As many readers of this space know, in addition to my duties herein, I am involved in a number of projects whose singular purpose is to discover new talent. Specifically, writing talent.

As many readers of this space also know I am currently involved in a writing competition. Not as a contestant, but as a judge.

What makes this interesting, excluding me, are certain facts that have come to light as the various stages of judging have been completed.

Fact number one: There is a lot of writing talent Out There.

Fact number two: There is a lot of writing talent Out There but, relatively-speaking, very little originality.

Fact number three: Of all the writing talent Out There, which saw fit to submit material to this particular writing competition, none of it submitted anything resembling comedy. None of it.

When I was first made aware of this particular fact I shrugged and said that perhaps it was merely a fluke, and by the time competition closed to submissions there would be at least one submission readily categorized as comedy.

I was wrong.

When the last call for submissions was made none of the submissions collected were comedy, and none of the submissions collected could be qualified as comedy.

Odd. Very odd. And it was a fact that was noticed not only by myself but by several other judges.

In recent weeks, as decisions have been made, as this submission was moved to the next stage, and that submission was discarded, conversations have come to existence, each asking the same questions: Where are the comedy submissions? Why aren't people with true and honest writing talent writing comedy?

To date a conclusion with regards to these questions has been drawn: Comedy is hard to do. Good comedy, more so. So when you encounter someone who can write comedy, good comedy, consider yourself blessed, and know you are witnessing nothing less than a miracle.

And when you encounter two people with the ability to produce comedy take a moment and say a big 'thank you' to the dude in charge: Today the cosmos shine upon you. Today you smile and laugh, and find life to be wonderful. Truly wonderful.

Today I smile and laugh, and find life to be wonderful. Truly wonderful. For today I am blessed, for I have witnessed nothing less than miracle.

And to those who made this possible I bow deep from the waist and say 'Thank you. THANK YOU.'

Mr. Steven Spielberg and Mr. Tom Hanks, each a master of comedy in his own right.

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