You’ve got Looking for Lincoln, on PBS (check your local listings for time) and Important Things with Demetri Martin, on Comedy Central at 10:30 p.m.
Hmm. Let me guess. The only way your kids are going to watch Looking for Lincoln is because their teacher is making them do it for their homework.
I gotta confess, I’d pick 30 minutes of comedy over a two-hour documentary, too. Especially since Demetri Martin’s little bit of silliness is actually funny and even though, the Lincoln thing is a personal journey of discovery for Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a Harvard professor and one of the most interesting guys on the planet.
If Looking for Lincoln is a little like eating your vegetables, it’s also like discovering that vegetables can be pretty tasty. Gates comes from the place that we all know who Abraham Lincoln was, but that at the same time, we really don’t. Revered in the African American community as the Great Emancipator, Gates included, he tries to reconcile that very personal understanding of our 16th president with the far more complex person he really was.
Hard-core history and Lincoln buffs might quibble with Gates’ eventual take on the reasons behond the Emancipation Proclamation. My husband grumbled that they didn’t mention the foreign relations benefits – by freeing the slaves, Lincoln made it harder for Britain and France to side with the Confederacy during the Civil war.
In fact, you might quibble with a lot of the film, but I think that’s the point and one of the things that makes it so fascinating. This isn’t just about Lincoln, but how we, as a people, tell the story of our country and our culture. How we choose our icons and use them. And how that story differs within the different sub-cultures in our country.
Important Things with Demetri Martin isn’t quite as profound, although it’s meatier than you might think a sketch comedy show would be. Martin uses rough sketches, character bits and even music to explore important things such as power or safety or even chairs.
It’s not exactly family-safe, in that there is some bleeped out language and Martin does make the occasional crude joke and there is some minor violence. But point one – he is funny and when you’re funny, you can get away with a lot. And point two – he’s not excessively crude, by any stretch.
Let’s face it, too many comedians out there these days try to be as crude as humanly possible either because they can or because they think they have to be because everyone else is and they have to be more crude so that they stand out. Martin, on the other hand, is simply trying to be funny. So when the occasional crude joke happens, it’s no big deal. There’s nothing particularly shocking about it. And, as a result, his overall schtick is a lot funnier and more interesting.
But, yeah, you will probably want to watch it with your kids. Which is why I cover shows like this. Like I said, this is the show your kids want to watch. At least it’s one that’s worth watching.
Anne Louise Bannon
Your Family Viewer
