Humor (Humour for those who waste lettters)

I was watching on program on the History channel last night about the history of “the joke,” hosted by my favorite comedian Lewis Black. It chronicled the history of the rise of comedy (obviously) but it also made some social observations that I found fascinating. One of the most interesting was that women are statistically shown to be perceived as less funny than men. Now this statement doesn’t reflect my personal beliefs, but it did spark some curiosity. They talked to several big time female comics some of them took the position that they are funny, but others agreed that men were funnier. What does this say about our society? Are we sexists? Do we relate better with one gender over the other or are there other factors in play? Or as one female comic observed, could it be as simple that the vast majority of women don’t want to make the necessary sacrifices to make it as a big time comedian? Personally I think there are some very funny women, Chonda Pierce is by far my favorite.
Anyway, this is a theme I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. What does it mean to be able to laugh at yourself? I think that a lot of Americans (and frankly people in general) have lost all ability to look at themselves and see that the absurd things we do are really funny! If you are unable to laugh at yourself then what does that say about your character? I personally think that it shows that you are too insecure about yourself. Now, being an overweight kid, I could take every fat joke that has ever been told, take it personally and build up hatred and anger, or I can chose to laugh and say “oh, you know I do do that and it is funny.” I’m not talking about reducing your self image, but recognizing that we all have eccentric behaviors. Learning to love and embrace those differences bonds us as people. Culturally there are things we do differently. Why is it that all Brits are portrayed as being evil tea drinkers with posh accents? Why are all Americans are thought to be fat and stupid? Why is it that we all think that the Japanese carry around a million cameras taking pictures of everything they see? What I’m saying is that you can’t take life too seriously or you’ll never get out alive. I think there is a reason that laughing is so therapeutic. Its one of the few things that separate us from being hairless chimps!

I know that this has been a completely random topic especially with all that is happening in the world, but something was said in that special that I find absolutely true. When you laugh, I mean really bust a gut laugh, you are stripping away everything and revealing who you truly are. You are leaving all the facades behind. Its the same way with crying. We experience a wide range of emotions capped with the two extremes. My advice, find the people you can share both with. People who make you laugh until milk comes out of your nose, and those who don’t mind seeing you shed a tear.
xPeacex