大象传媒

Comedian & writer Paul Kerensa

Greg Davies and I go way back 鈥� I think we first gigged together at Lampeter Uni 14 years ago. The moment I saw him get out of his car, I knew then he was going to be big.

聽Perspective is a marvellous thing, and I think it鈥檚 through that lens that life appears to us as a comedy, or 鈥� hello Steps 鈥� a tragedy.

聽Charlie Chaplin once said, 鈥淟ife is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long shot.鈥� 鈥� and I think I know what he means.

聽Yesterday, new pictures were released of the glorious ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, in the highest-resolution finest detail that they鈥檝e ever been seen. No one鈥檚 ever seen it this close, apart from very tall people like鈥� well I鈥檓 not looking at Greg Davies. 270,000 digital images taken over 5 years 鈥� that鈥檚 longer than it took Michelangelo to paint AND he was off fighting crime with his ninja turtle buddies.

聽You can see up close every sinew, every muscle, from concerned divine glance to bruised mortal flesh. But there in person from below, from afar, the sheer splendour can be taken in. If we just zoom out.

聽A while ago I found myself in what I thought was a horror film 鈥� locked in a Gents toilet cubicle, several empty next to me, one lone man outside my door, growling at me: 鈥淗ello?鈥�

聽鈥淗ello?鈥� I answered nervously. What does he want with me?聽

鈥淲hat are you doing?鈥� he continued menacingly.

鈥淚鈥� I鈥檒l just be a minute!鈥� I replied, wondering why he was haranguing me. When I left the cubicle and saw he was on the phone, and not talking to me at all鈥� Well life can be a comedy in hindsight.

The bigger picture may reveal all 鈥� but that doesn鈥檛 diminish life鈥檚 tragic moments, that we鈥檝e seen come all too regularly. Perhaps by not being defined by our tragedies, but by our responses to them, we can lean on St Paul鈥檚 words, that 鈥淪uffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope doesn鈥檛 disappoint.鈥�

If we view life鈥檚 vast canvas as comedy, we can still dance and laugh and love and live, knowing that if, like the Sistine Chapel, we look up and zoom in, maybe we鈥檇 see a divine teardrop or two, and that hand reaching out.