Iulia Șerban – If Nothing Will Do

Iulia Șerban – If Nothing Will Do

If Nothing Will Do

Baron Ryan, A Comedy of Nobodies: A Collection of Stories. Blackstone Publishing, Inc. Texas, U.S. 2024.

Aptly demonstrating what being an ‘absent practitioner of blind joy’[1] means, Baron Ryan bursts onto the literary scene and takes a bold chance with his authorial debut, A Comedy of Nobodies. Published in 2024 by Blackstone, this collection of short stories marks a terribly exciting attempt to translate a multimodal humoristic tradition into literary form. Ryan writes as if to mend a personal and universal tendency towards nihilism with the full force of his wry optimism. Deemed to be a tale of ‘people with no problems’[2], the book reimagines the slice-of-life genre, while reviving and adapting the form of the postmodern sitcom.

The nine character-driven stories center on the intricacies of human connection. Set within a contemporary context, the stories follow a 20-year-old Charlie and his three friends, Nora, Ted, and Mike, throughout a Harvard semester’s worth of self-inflicted anxieties and disappointments. The soundtrack accompanying these Ivy League students’ lives is a cacophony of self-doubt interspersed with Nola jazz tracks.

Charlie’s character follows the model of a hopeless romantic, as he starts off as a deeply immature Nice Guy that resents his nature. Representing an entire rom-com tradition, he believes that love and heartbreak are the point of life. When it comes to Charlie’s inherent lack of problems, the answer is to create them. This becomes the central, resurfacing theme in Ryan’s creative endeavors, who keeps exploring the idea that ‘there is something about nothing that makes everything seem okay’[3].

There is, indeed, comfort in this cyclicity. In this sense, the absurdly escalating situations that he creates – third-wheeling the date that your crush is on, becoming a present to a Russian mobster, or going on a blind date entirely disguised because there’s a bounty on your head – don’t really matter. Each plot remains self-contained, despite the chronological arrangement of this coming-of-age story. Whatever snag Charlie finds himself in, one can always rest assured that he will come out of it alright, although he might now have a broken lip that will soon disappear, much like a cartoon character. 

The episodic nature of the events aids the idea that, despite fitting within and benefitting from a meta-, digital-culture, Baron Ryan distances himself from the latest trends in humor. Finding himself on the brink of generations, his influence stems primarily from the heritage of a tele-cinematic culture. The collection of stories is flush with references to classic formative sitcoms, such as Seinfeld, Friends, and others.  To this end, Ryan often attempts to beat the reader to the punch and confess to his influence and the tropes he’s borrowing.

Because of this, the narration becomes borderline uncomfortable as the character seems to wait for the non-existent, nauseating pre-recorded laugh track after each joke. Ryan doesn’t play by the rules, simply letting the reader remain an eavesdropper, but instead turns them into a ratified participant to the conversation. This discomfort proves to be intentional, the author alluding to the customs of observational humor in stand-up and, at times, relying on the reader’s second-hand embarrassment. The friend group also presents its share of cliches, talking with the distinctive rhythm of conversation customary to the 90s sitcom. It is a bold attempt and yet, it doesn’t entirely function. The literary field simply cannot support the participation-based model of these humoristic devices, since they can only be conveyed multimodally.

Baron Ryan initially rose to fame with the comedic, bittersweet short films that he started posting on various short-form media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram. Most of these sketches encompass some shared anxiety of the world, explored by a ‘retired’ nihilist stuck in a never-ending conversation with himself. His background is crucial, as Ryan established himself first and foremost as a thinker, and second as a filmmaker and performer. These internet short films represent the crux of his work. With this backdrop, A Comedy of Nobodies attempts to flesh these creative think-pieces out and integrate them into wider narratives. This faux pas of confounding scriptwriting with prose costs the author, as his writing comes off as amateurish and unpolished. The supporting narrative frames lose value in the process as well, being reduced to simplistic devices, mere filler that the author might have lodged said think-pieces within. While he allows his characters to wax romantic about life, zigzagging between stand-up bits and bittersweet epiphanies, an imbalance is clearly delineated.

All in all, A Comedy of Nobodies gravitates around the lingering could have beens of youth and the kindness of suffering. It has the makings of a good debut, despite being permeated by a sense of disjointedness at times. Less biting than David Sedaris and more tender than Nick Hornby, Baron Ryan joins a niche and stays true to his own ideals and style, while also paying homage to established voices in the community that have shaped his sense of humor, such as Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, his loyalties clearly siding with postmodernism. Without becoming overly codified or inaccessible, the book reads as an endlessly referential and playfully musical script.


[1] Ryan, Baron, „Aging Anxieties.” Substack. October 31, 2024. https://americanbaron.substack.com/p/aging-anxieties

[2] Ryan, Baron [americanbaron]. Instagram, May 31, 2024, https://www.instagram.com/p/C7ngo5usX0-/

[3] Ryan, Baron [americanbaron]. Instagram, March 29, 2024, https://www.instagram.com/p/C5FX_VhsKjW/

Echinox

Echinox este revista de cultură a studenţilor din Universitatea „Babeş-Bolyai”. Apare din decembrie 1968.

Articole similare

Octav Ojog – Două chipuri, un singur Real: Confuzia și disoluția spectatorului în filmele lui David Lynch

Octav Ojog – Două chipuri, un singur Real: Confuzia și disoluția spectatorului în filmele lui David Lynch

Emanuel Lupașcu – When Wishes Go Awry: despre body horror & fascism

Emanuel Lupașcu – When Wishes Go Awry: despre body horror & fascism

Poezii – Simon-Gabriel Bonnot

Poezii – Simon-Gabriel Bonnot

Alexia Pop – Lapvona: A Guided Tour of Medieval Misery

Alexia Pop – Lapvona: A Guided Tour of Medieval Misery

Cel mai recent număr:

numar litere sidebar

Discuțiile Echinox

Cel mai recent număr:

numar litere sidebar

Abonează-te la newsletter

Facebook

Parteneri

Facebook