“Comedy is pain and frustration and crushing embarrassment; in other words comedy is much like real life,” writes Dan Leo at NewCritics. His essay, Funny Ha Ha, is not about Andrew Bujalski’s film. It’s mostly about how “the whole trick is to go through the day suffering all one’s usual defeats and calamities and somehow to see yourself as a sitcom character, or, if you’re feeling really grandiose, like a big-screen funny person like Jack Black or Vince Vaughn or Ralph Fiennes.” It’s also about sex.

It’s all part of NewCritics’ Comedy Blogathon, which began yesterday, and continues through Saturday. The idea, according to the invitation email, is to answer the question, “What is the purest comedic moment you have ever experienced?” To participate, you can write your own post on your own blog, include a link to this post on NewCritics, and your entry will be sweept up into the madness. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. I might just review Southland Tales–because if The Rock saying “pimps don’t commit suicide” isn’t pure comedy, I don’t know what is.