Years ago I read an essay about comedians and how hard it was to succeed. Not everyone can tell a joke and among those that can, some of them are just barely able to get a grin, much less a guffaw. Every comic I read about back then said pretty much the same things. First it was about timing. Measuring the joke(story)so the audience knows the punchline is coming, but is unsure when. Second, if I recall correctly, was reading the audience. If a certain type of joke doesn’t connect, be flexible and move on maybe by mentioning how that last joke fell flat. Some people make me laugh out loud, like Jim Gaffigan. Others, ot so much, maybe the occasional laugh but overall, nothing. Which brings me to Trevor Noah who’s announced he’s leaving The Daily Show. I really never thought the guy was very funny at all and when I read he;s leaving the show, I asked out loud, “What took so long?” I could not imagine that the producers of that show replaced Jon Stewart, who was one of those you never wanted to miss, with a complete unknown that you always wanted to miss. One of the problems with comedy today, I think is that too many of the “funny people” have become onstage political ideologues and their “comedy” is just ranting at whoever it is in power they hate. Think about late night TV. None of those today could hold a candle to their predecessors. It’s too bad because there are times when we all could use a good laugh and its becoming harder to find that nowadays.