Answer #5- Make 'em Laugh

"From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it. "
Groucho Marx

It dawned on me recently that I would rather make people laugh than make them think. I don't know what that says about me but both of those are pretty hard tasks anyway. Preston Sturgess, one of the great film directors of the 1930's realized, and often emphasized this in his films. While the country struggled through the misery of the Great Depression he felt it an honored task to make funny movies to keep people uplifted. Laughing in the face of adversity is not making light of the situation but it certainly lightens the load of the situation. A good laugh releases anxiety and tension and fear. Laughing literally helps you live longer, although not in the face of an oncoming truck. (bada bing)

 My Dad was always one for a joke. usually the same joke, over and over again. He had an LP record album of classic Yiddish humour called "You Don't Have to Be Jewish" that he played until the grooves wore off (for those under the age of 40 who have never seen a vinyl record grooves are the.....oh, you get the idea). He then proceeded to repeat every gag on that record at any opportunity, having not quite mastered the technique of leaving them wanting more. But at least I grew up laughing (and crying, and screaming, and sulking). My parents even took the whole family to see Some Like It Hot at the drive-in when I was 11 years old (that's OK, I saw Psycho when I was nine) and I thought it was hilarious. I somehow got the whole set-up of the humour and most of the punchlines. I also got an earful of Mom complaining about that see-through dress Marilyn Monroe wore.

I also grew up guffawing over Cary Grant's great double takes in Arsenic and Old Lace, Rosalind Russell 's Auntie Mame and her questionable child-rearing, the Marx Brother's mayhem, the Three Stooges eye-gouging, and James Stewart talking to an invisible rabbit. From the slapstick to the dry-as-bone, from Monty Python to The Blues Brothers, I can pretty much find something that tickles my mind and convulses those diaphragm muscles.
   Just as with people who can't appreciate beauty, I always feel there is a part of the soul that is malnourished in people who do not have a sense of humour. It doesn't have to be MY sense of humour. I don't think my husband understands my Eddie Izzard fixation. I, on the other hand, have never understood the appeal of Adam Sandler. And this may sound like heresy but I don't think the movie, Bridesmaids, was that funny. I think I chuckled about twice. Maybe it's a generational thing. I though bodily functions were funny when I was about four.
 So, let's get dangerous here. I think the problem with religious Fundamentalists is that they have no sense of humour. They are so black and white they miss the subtle shades of grey. And shades of pink and mauve and taupe and chartreuse and cerulean..........And humour is all about shading. It's about observing the foibles of humanity and not exactly judging, but rather using it as a springboard to satirize, mock, parody, and comment on.

 I also think Jesus was a funny guy. I think people often miss that when they assume he spoke in pious tones and always had a freshly laundered robe and shiny hair full of God highlights. Take for example this scene: the rich, privileged kid comes up to Jesus and asks in all sincerity how to get into heaven. Jesus already has this pampered pup figured out but he tells him to sell all he has to the poor then come and follow him just to see how he reacts. I think he's actually teasing him. Awkward pause from the kid as this sinks in. In modern times that kid would be pondering giving up his pick up truck, his iPod, his laptop, his gym membership, his giant screen TV, his trip to Cabos, his bar tabs....etc. Jesus didn't really judge that boy. I think he was testing him, knowing he was asking something nearly impossible: wandering around with a bunch of hairy, unbathed men from town to town, getting fed free meals, and talking about how the Kingdom of Heaven is inside you, even if the Romans come to kill you. And then Jesus delivers his punchline to his apostles "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (yes, those Sunday School lessons paid off. I didn't even have to look that up). Rather than picturing him delivering it somberly with a faint choir of angels in the background, picture him saying that with a bit of mirth (thanks, Donniece!) and with a twinkle in his eye, because picturing a large, unhappy camel shoved by his ass through a needle's eye is actually an amusing image. I hope he got a good chuckle at least from his crowd. I often think Jesus did some eye-rolling  when his disciples failed to grasp the meaning of some of his parables, but that's just me.
I have no idea how to end THIS blog either. I like to make people laugh but I am the world's worst joke teller. I rely instead on my razor sharp wit and biting sarcasm. Of which that last sentence is an example......
So let's just fall back on some more images beginning with the master of the double and sometimes triple take, Cary Grant, followed by a small sampling of various kinds of funny. Enjoy. Laugh a little:

                                               Edgar Allen Bro

A special thank you to Pinterest.com and whoever invented Memes.