The Examined Path Through Stand-up comedy as examined life

The comedian stands alone in the light and says the unsayable — which is a philosophical act dressed as entertainment. In every tradition that produced a Nasreddin, there was someone whose job it was to speak truth with enough laughter wrapped around it that the listener could bear to hear it. The stand-up is the holy fool's modern descendant, working the same ancient trade in a different room.

The course sequence, in order.

Each step builds on the last.