TRAVERSE CITY -- Comedy is a serious business.
What's offensive, what's funny and the fine line in between was tackled by Saturday's Film Festival "All-Star Comedy Panel" in front of another large crowd at the City Opera House downtown.
"We believe in laughter, especially during dark times, and the importance of keeping not only our sense of humor but creating art that allows people to have a good cathartic laugh," said festival director Michael Moore.
Moore emphasized that being entertaining doesn't mean that films have to lack substance.
"Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx were very political people," he said. "They were angry at the social conditions they saw and realized that humor can be one of the more potent weapons in dealing with what's going on."
Humor can also be an effective way of soothing hot button issues like religion, elder care and even disasters, but knowing if you're treading on too-sacred ground comes down to basic instincts, panelists said.
Larry Charles' "Religulous" takes an irreverent look at the current state of religion around the world, and Charles wasn't sure of the reaction the film would get at its first film festival screening Friday night. "Half of the audience identified as believers," said Charles. "Believers still have a sense of humor. There are those who won't ever see it who will be the most vocal."
Moore said that during dark times people like to see dark films too, helping them to relate to what others are going through. The film festival documentary "Trouble the Water" is an account of New Orleans' residents coping with the disaster.
"Could you make a comedy about Katrina?" Charles asked. "Maybe, if you look at the bureaucracy that created it. Tragedy plus time equals comedy."
Comedy can also allow for forgiveness, such as Michael Schroeder's film "Man in the Chair" that looks at nursing home neglect.
It can make you feel free, like the comedy of Italian satirist Sabina Guzzanti who spoke out against the Vatican at a rally in Italy. "People felt energized," Guzzanti said of the event. "People went back to think. Satire is a way to bring up issues."
Comedies can result in box office hits, or major flops.
"The process of laughter is abstract. Freud has written books about it," Charles said. "There's no right answer. It breaks down to instincts. When we write the line and shoot the scene we don't know if people will laugh. If it doesn't elicit laughter you ask yourself why. It's a very tricky thing."
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