In my home in reno I dont have cable,so I GET JUST 6-7 channels. One channel i think is called metv..and on weekend it has the old burns and allen show......and when george burns does a short standup routine in the show...its still funny. Nothing topical...just the human condition .(seinfeld wasnt the first to put a short standup as part of the opening or closing of a sitcom).
And then there is the Jack benny show right before it. Again his standup is not "topical". Joke telling at its finest.

I saw youngman, open for Louden Wainwright in 1977. After his set he sold and autographed little pamplets of a bunch of his one liner jokes, he said the money went to some kids charity.
I have been lucky enough to see youngman, klein, brenner, dangeerfield, seinfeld multiple times from the 70's to the present.....and its sad that when they die.....the material dies withthem.....and they serve such an important function in society.

I saw brenner a few months after 9-11.....and he told the story how he did his show in vegas just after the attack because the audience needed to feel a sense of normalcy....needed to escape the horror and he was the escape for those folks. Entertainers serve that function......not usually for big world events like that.....but to take peoples minds off of everyday life for an hour.....a therapeutic function to society.