Chapter 69
Getting Humor
Life
without humor is not funny. Survival is
not solely about the preservation of our flesh, but also the health of our
psyche. Humor is medicine that should be taken every day.
What makes you laugh? For me – a
self-declared humanist - my funny bone seems attracted to the darker jokes. Not
proud of it. Consider the joke “I want to die peacefully in my sleep,
like my grandfather. Not screaming like the passengers in his car.”
That cracks me up every time I hear it.
When a joke makes you laugh, it is somewhat like a sneeze. Try to stop the impulse at your peril. (Except when flies hover over the open casket at your uncle’s funeral. Show a little decorum, ok?)
Here are a few jokes related to our human natures for the sake of levity:
o
“Son, marry a girl with the same belief
as the family.” “Dad, why should I marry
a girl who thinks I'm an idiot?”
o
For those who enjoy (or, at least, tolerate)
puns: Why do bugs have odd beliefs? They're in sects.
o
I told my wife she was drawing her
eyebrows too high. She looked surprised.
o
I threw a boomerang a few years ago. I
now live in constant fear.
o
My therapist says I have a
preoccupation with vengeance... We'll see about that.
o
My girlfriend and I broke up because of
a difference in religious beliefs. She didn't believe I was God.
o
Human nature: wanting what we don’t
have, ignoring what we do, and complaining either way.
o
I
don’t have a short attention span—I just… oh look, a squirrel.
o
I tried meditating to reach a higher
state of consciousness... ...and fell asleep. Close enough.
o
Is reality real, or is it just my brain hallucinating
consistently? Either way, I still have to pay rent.
o
We
call it “experience” when we survive our bad decisions.
o
I
told my wife she should embrace her mistakes—she gave me a hug.
o
I’m
not arguing - I’m just explaining why I’m right.
o
I don’t need anger management - I need
people to stop being idiots.
o
I tried to be normal once. Worst two
minutes of my life.
o There are two kinds of fake news: the
kind you laugh at, and the kind your uncle shares unironically
o My short-term memory is awful... But my
long-term memory still haunts me about that embarrassing thing I did in 3rd
grade.
o
I tried using memory tricks to remember
people’s names. I called my boss “Stinky Steve” and got fired.
o
I don’t bottle up my emotions. I age
them in a barrel like fine wine and unleash them at family gatherings.
o
I told myself I didn’t need to do the work today. Because future me is way
more responsible.
o Why do I always rationalize eating junk food? Because emotions are scary and chips are crunchy.
While I predict none of the above jokes evoked a belly laugh, even a chuckle can elevate the moment.
Why
do people laugh? Laughter serves a social, emotional, and physiological
purpose.
- It brings people closer together.
- It surprises us (in a pleasant way)
- It helps us break the tension of serious or awkward situations.
- Like a yawn, it is contagious. (Think of an SNL skit going off the tracks.)
- It is pleasurable
What about people who seem to lack a sense of humor? How could they not think your quip was funny? Are they “dense”? Do they not like you? Maybe yes. But perhaps they prefer a different style of humor. Maybe they abhor puns. Maybe they find crude humor boorish. Maybe they come from a different culture. Perhaps they don’t display amusement in their facial expressions. Or maybe they were raised in a household that used humor hurtfully. Or…
Perhaps a person has simply heard the joke too many times. I learned that lesson entering London’s Imperial War Museum. When the unsmiling attendant asked me if I wanted my audio guide in English, I replied that I’d prefer it in American. Deadpan, he said, “If I hadn’t heard that same quip a hundred times already today, I might have chuckled at your cleverness”. Lesson learned? If we want to entertain others with our humor, we have to learn to read our audience.
Humor
can be slapstick, ironic (my favorite), satirical, dark, absurdist, or
self-deprecating. Whatever tickles you, let yourself be tickled. Like Norman
Cousins wrote in his book about recovering from cancer, it is often the best
medicine for what ails us. Cheers!