Don Rickles said “You can’t study comedy; it’s within you. It’s a personality. My humor is an attitude.” It’s an ATTITUDE! So true!
Something is funny because it captures that moment…it contains that element of simple truth. Comedy is able to touch those things that are awkward or uneasy, and it’s okay. It could be something that we’ve always known about life or ourselves and yet humor makes it feel as though we’re hearing it out loud for the first time.
Funniness can happen if something is expected and we’re laughing at ourselves, or if it’s unexpected. There’s slapstick and there’s parody. There’s spoof, satire, and irony. There’s sarcasm, farce, black comedy and surrealism. There are so many types of comedy you would think that anyone could do it. It’s sort of like there’s something for everybody. Something for everyone to like and everyone to do…like how many different ice cream flavors there are out there in the world. But yet not. There are those of us that find comedy not to be so second nature. We may find things funny, but yet we don’t think we are funny. Or what you find funny is not what someone else finds funny. This doesn’t have to mean you’re not funny, but maybe you’re not with those that like that “same flavor”. A few years ago I was talking with a friend of mine and they inadvertently told me that they didn’t think I was that funny. I actually felt quite flattened by that, because I consider myself to be funny. I decided to chalk it up to our just not finding the same things funny…me, among one of those things. Is having a sense of humor genetic? Is it something we can learn? It’s interesting. I think there are too many types of humor out there not to find some type of funniness that you like and other friends that like it too.
This is what is true about a sense of humor-it brings lightness to dark situations. If for instance, you’re speaking to a group of people about serious things…any serious situation has the potential of being disengaging, boring, maybe depressing, but it becomes much more captivating if you add a bit of comedic levity. A sense of humor is an excellent sales tool, there isn’t any highly paid sales person out there that would disagree with this statement. Humor can navigate through the darkest of times. It helps when you’re experiencing life’s negative twists, if you can notice the humorous positives. A sense of humor is downright medicinal. I can vouch for that.
Look for those funny moments in your life. Observe. If you’re taking life too seriously (which can be easy to do) it may be difficult to see the funnier things. There will always be serious things, but allowing yourself the time to laugh will bring you that positivity that you need to regenerate. Open up! Laugh more often. When you open yourself up, you will begin to see things you haven’t seen before! Try to take yourself less seriously. Remember the most embarrassing moments in your life, the times you refused to make changes, the breakdowns in communications that you played a major part in, and maybe even the times you tried to be funny around your friends and there were only tiny he-he’s. These things can be hilarious. Just laugh! ”Bring your good times, and your laughter too…we gonna’ celebrate and have a good time”. Thank you too, Kool and the Gang for “Celebration”. Now, I think that’s funny. Anyone laughing? Laughing a little bit?