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Thoughts on Humor

A sense of humor is absolutely necessary for life in the world today. There are two aspects to a sense of humor and both are needed. The first is the ability to sense and know what is funny. To recognize humorous things. This does not mean that someone like this is always in a state of riotous laughter. A person can recognize humor without comment or laughter. For example Laurel and Hardy moving a piano is classic slapstick humor. I have seen it many times and declare it as funny without laughing out loud.

The second aspect of a sense of humor is less common, although many claim it. It is the ability to be funny. There are many people who think they are hilarious, but they cannot even tell a basic joke. To be funny a person must have a sense of timing, of appropriateness, a sense of irony and knowledge of idioms. The ability to prompt people to laugh or to smile or to just feel happy is a rare, yet often claimed ability.

Today there is a move to use shock value instead of classic humor. If a person can say or do something that is edgy or shocking there might be nervous laughter, but shock is rarely funny.

Idioms and colloquial statements can bring memories, and even though people may not laugh, they will enjoy the reference. Let me explain. He other day someone mentioned a split in the road. I made a comment about the other less travelled and it sparked an enjoyable conversation about that we'll know poem and what it means.

Recently in the gym a man commented that he had miles to go. I thought about commenting about Robert Frosts poem but I knew the man had only been in America for about 15 years and he came as an adult. So he did not has a classic education and might know American literature. So I refrained. The more multi-cultural and diverse we become the more we lose the idioms or our history. I am not saying if it is good or bad, it just is.

I was raised in a laughing household. I was raised on Laurel and Hardy, Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Rowen and Martin, the Marx Brothers, Red Skelton and more. I was subjected to classically funny things and I was taught to recognize humor. So I certainly have the first aspect of a sense of humor. I know funny when I see it. The second aspect is in the eye of the beholder (an idiom). Some people think I am hilarious while others think I am dry and sarcastic. So I have to pick my material and know my audience before I try. Knowing your audience is key to successful delivery of any humor and as the world becomes more shocking, working blue with edgy humor, knowing what is truly or classically funny and supporting hat type of humor is vital for our culture and society.  And then there is timing....





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