On Being Funny
Oh, the pressure!
My [writing and theosophy] hero is Anne Lamotte, and this is what she has to say about getting started as a teller of tales:
“This is a difficult country to look too different in –
the United States of Advertising, as Paul Krassner puts it -
and if you are too skinny or too tall or dark or weird or short
or frizzy or homely or poor or nearsighted, you get crucified. I did.
But I was funny.”
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott
Lamott’s funny is piercing, laugh-so-hard-you-wet-your-pants, lighthearted, deeply meaningful, crude, sassy, and mischievous. Wonderful, in other words. And everything I’d like to be, when I write.
Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand. — Mark Twain
And so at some point in my writing career I resolved to be funny.
Me, a person who can’t remember punchlines to save her life, a person who can’t even remember the names of comedians I enjoy, unless the name is simple (Wanda Sykes) or odd and therefore memorable (Hannah Gadsby-Nannette).
Do you have any idea how stressful it is to sit down at your computer and tell yourself, sternly, archly, teeth gritted and jaw thrust forward: “MUST. BE. FUNNY”?
Does it count that I’ve written a short story about a suicidal pineapple who likes to tell jokes?
No? How about if I told you the pineapple quotes Nietzsche?
As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it. — Lao Tsu
Laughter really is good for you. If you don’t believe me, here’s an official Web MD article about it. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456 But more than that, laughter communicates. Weighty stuff, and goofy, this-is-life stuff. Sometimes, the only way I can get through tough moments is with a little wry humor.
A good laugh heals a lot of hurts. — Madeleine L’Engle
Alas, I have come to the conclusion that I am not funny. I love to laugh at others who are funny, but like the gourmand who loves to eat but gets lost trying to boil water, my enjoyment does not translate into talent.
I’m not saying Goodbye Cruel World (unlike my friend the pineapple).
I’m not throwing in the towel just because I can’t make people laugh. But I do have to keep reminding myself that it is possible to contribute, even if I can’t do it on SNL.
Which brings me to this news item: On April 17, 2021, Hester Ford passed away. At 115, or possibly 116, she was the oldest living American, according to NPR. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/24/990505023/hester-ford-oldest-living-american-dies-at-115-or-116
The article notes, “Ford lived through sharecropping, the 1918 flu pandemic, the Great Depression, World War I and II, Jim Crow laws, the civil rights movement and the coronavirus pandemic.”
That’s a headline-esque, history-textbook version of her life, and it’s impressive enough on its own; how much suffering and strife one woman lived through, and still she persevered. But I was more moved by the remembrances of her great-granddaughter: “She was a pillar and stalwart to our family and provided much needed love, support and understanding to us all . . . She was the seed that sprouted leaves and branches which is now our family.”
(The article says nothing about being funny, but I’d be willing to bet you don’t get to be 115 or 116 without a lot of good belly laughs.)
Earth laughs in flowers. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
And then the great-granddaughter said something even more poignant: “Her light shone beyond . . . .”
That is something to aspire to. Even for those of us lacking a funny bone. Love and kindness and grace and forgiveness and strength and courage, all casting their light not only on the immediate circle of family and friends, but gleaming into the darkness beyond, a campfire warming those on the margins, a searchlight for those who are lost.
I’d still like to be funny. So much good can come of bringing genuine laughter to others. Barring that, I will seek to let my light shine beyond . . . .
I’ll leave you with this final thought:
And keep a sense of humor. It doesn’t mean you have to tell jokes.
If you can’t think of anything else, when you’re my age, take off your clothes
and walk in front of a mirror. I guarantee you’ll get a laugh. — Art Linkletter
Photos, in order, by: Dan Cook, Aikimo Opeyemi, Gemma Trua-Chan, Miguel Andrade, and Amanda Sofia Pellenz
