In a week that has seen The Vapid, where I looked at the media’s obsession with stories more meaningless than meaningful; Stupid, where I talk about the tactless remarks made by Cleveland Cavalier’s owner Dan Gilbert in reaction to LeBron James’ decision to leave the team, followed by the equally irresponsible comments by Rev. Jesse Jackson about Gilbert’s, I thought we needed a little break.

Because the thing is, in spite of our imperfections, hubris and just plain stupidity, we Americans have a capacity for two admirable qualities: first, we can forgive (provided the people involved own up to their shortcomings and make an effort to apologize); and second, we know how to laugh at our own pretensions.

Wednesday night, comedians Steve Carell and Paul Rudd reminded all of us just how monumental those pretensions can be with a video special that was part of the ESPY Awards, another self-congratulating enterprise used to honor “excellence in sports performance and achievements.”

Self-congratulations notwithstanding, Carell and Rudd do a brilliant job of making fun of both the awards and ESPN’s own LeBron James special, The Decision.

Good comedy has a way of showing us just how seriously we sometimes take ourselves and, hopefully, in the process, brings us back to earth.

Oh, by the way… in an effort to provide greater context, this will be the first of occasional video content. They all won’t be funny, of course. Some will be serious. That’s not to say that something funny can’t be serious. It just means that… well, you get the idea.