Humor
I caught just a smidgen of a conversation Terry Gross was having with an actor and writer of a television program while driving to a meeting the other day. Unfortunately I did not catch the name of the actor before I reached my destination. Apparently this person acts in humorous shows, which he also helps to write. One of the statements which he made in describing a particular character in a show, who was humorless, was that he portrayed “confidence plus stupidity.” The character who he was describing was a young adult who the writer judged to have the emotional maturity of a nine-year-old meaning, in part, that he presented himself in the very confident way that a very outgoing nine year old can; one who asserts certain truths without knowing what he/she is talking about. In a nine year old, one is indulgent and amused. When the person has the appearance of an adult and comes across very confident of a subject about whom they have no obvious knowledge, one is not amused in the same way that one is amused with a nin year old. This got me to thinking about humor in general and what I find humorous.
Historically, I am not a fan of what I call slap stick humor which I think of as the creation of a character who comes across as exceedingly dumb and childish. The Three Stooges would be a good example. Their behavior is scripted to make them appear dumb and very juvenile. I tend to get embarrassed for them rather than finding their behavior amusing. That having been said, I need to try to articulate what, in fact, I do find amusing or humorous. What first comes to mind is the phrase “laughing with.” When I feel as if I am laughing with and not at a person I can frequently have a really good belly laugh. I suppose when that happens it is because it seems as if all the people involved have a solid base of self-esteem as humans who are free to be silly and to laugh at their mistakes. There are friends with whom I can easily laugh.
I am sure, however, that my range of laughter is wider than what I have so far described. What else makes me laugh? I recently saw a movie “Spy” which stars Mellissa McCarthy. In this movie, the character Ms. McCarthy plays, Susan Cooper, has been stuck on a desk for the bulk of her career as a CIA analyst. Susan is a dumpy, seemingly overweight, seemingly less that physically fit woman who finally gets to go on assignment. Suddenly, she morphs into the baddest, kick-ass person who wipes the floor with the bad guys/girls. For this pacifist, feminist man there is nothing funny about stereotype;, the simplistic duality of good vs. bad and violence. Yet, there I was sitting in the movie theater laughing out loud with the rest of the audience. We are all cheering for Susan. We want her to be more violent. I am right there with the rest of the audience. What is going on? Is there a mist in the air which has replaced my brain with that of a conservative, gun loving NRA member? The creators of this story and this movie have obviously played on and challenged the stereotypes which apparently are firmly lodged in my brain as well as most of those in the audience. Susan is that kick ass hunk/wonder man or woman who we “know” resides in all of us and will one day surprise those who see us as a dumpy, easy to take advantage of weakling. I will be 6’4” tall, broad shouldered, as agile as the most famous dancer, and as mean as the toughest Marine drill sergeant. I will have the last laugh. What is up with this fantasy?
Madea, in Tyler Perry’s The Diary of a Mad Black Woman, is another tough character who does not hesitate to use violence or the threat of violence when someone is or seems to be acting in a stupid or hurtful manner. I have seen Madea perform in a number of movies and have watched The Diary of a Mad Black Woman several times. Every time I laugh despite the fact that the behavior of the character is less than praiseworthy if looked at it independently. (I am aware of some of the criticism of black men being cast in “emasculating” roles but am choosing not to comment on that criticism in this blog.)
What is it that makes me and others laugh? Clearly some situations do not have to be consistent with my stated values for me to find it funny,
There is wide agreement on the importance of laughter. Caroline Dunaway list 20 quotes that remind us why it’s so important to laugh. These are:
“To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity. William Arthur Ward
To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it. Charlie Chapin
It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it. Lucius Annaeus
There’s power in looking silly and not daring that you do. Amy Poehler
Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not. Vaclav Havel
I do take my work seriously and the way to do that is not to take yourself too seriously. Alan Rickman
Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly. Rose Franken
Life literally abounds in comedy if you just look around you. Mel Brooks.
Laugh at yourself, but don’t ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don’t leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory. Alan Alda
If people never did silly things, noting intelligent would ever get done. Ludwig Wittgenstein.
I enjoy making people laugh. The trick is to tell them jokes against yourself. If you praise yourself, your stories aren’t funny. Michael Caine
Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment. Horace
God invented mankind because he loved silly stories. Ralph Steadman
I like being absurd. Jimmy Fallon
And I have one of those loud, stupid laughs. I mean if I ever sat behind myself in a movie or something, I’d probably lean over and tell myself to please shut up. J. D. Salinger
If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane. Robert Frost
It’s not all bad. Heightened self-consciousness, apartness, an inability to join in, physical shame and self-loathing-they are not all bad. Those devils have been my angels. Without them I would never have disappeared into language, literature, the mind, laughter and all the mad intensities that made and unmade me. Stephen Fry
You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing. Michael Pritchard
If you can’t laugh, you won’t make it. Jennifer Love Hewitt
Nothing feels so good to me as laughing incredibly hard. Steve Carnel
This is obviously not a complete list of the value of laughing, but it is a good start. Still, I have not addressed the question of the purpose of the evolution of laughter for we humans. One of the most concise discussions I found in an article “Why do humans laugh?” by Peter McGraw and Joel Warner (www.slate.com). (Hint: It’s rarely because something’s funny.) In this article they state:
“More than a century later, Gervais and Wilson saw Duchenne’s discovery as evidence that laughter evolved at two different points in human development. First, they posited, at a point sometime between 2 million and 4 million years ago, came Duchenne laughter, the kind triggered by something funny. An outgrowth of the breathy panting emitted by primates during play fighting, it likely appeared before the emergence of language. This sort of laughter was a signal that things at the moment were OK, that danger was low and basic needs were met, and now was as good a time as any to explore, to play, to socialize. “What the humor is indexing and the laughter is signaling is, ‘this is an opportunity for learning,’” Gervais told us. “It signals this is a non-serious novelty, and recruits others to play and explore cognitively, emotionally and socially with the implications of this novelty.”
“But then, sometime in the hundreds of thousands of years after that, theorized Gervais and Wilson, the other sort of laughter emerged—the non-Duchenne sort, the kind that isn’t dependent on something being funny. As people developed cognitively and behaviorally, they learned to mimic the spontaneous behavior of laughter to take advantage of its effect.”
It seems that the laugh response evolved for some basic survival reasons. Simply, it gives us a break in the serious business of gathering and preparing for use of the basics – food clothing, shelter – which, in turn seems to allow our individual and collective brains to take a break. In other words, it is part of that larger repertoire of playful behavior which is so necessary in the creative process and in allowing we humans to put aside our differences and enjoy each other.
Apparently it was sometime later when we humans learned to add laughter to our manipulative tool box – that tool box we used to manipulate ourselves into believing that, for a moment or two, we are better than, more powerful than, have more than, or whatever. Of course, all my enlightened readers know that same tool box leaves us very lonely and feeling more empty than ever.
Regardless of what tickles our individual funny bones, it seems as if the more emotionally and spiritually healthy we are the more able we are to laugh which facilitates the forming of community. I am still not convinced that making fun of is the same as laughing with someone. Have said this does not insure that I am free of the human trap of feeling better about myself by making fun of someone else. I would like to think that I am much more aware of how vulnerable I am to, at some level, buying into such biases and prejudices and possibly do it less often or catch myself sooner. This “spiritual progression” apparently has no effect on my ability to safely set aside all my values and indulge myself by laughing at Susan beating up the identified bad people in the movie Spy or Madea kicking ass in her own way in the movies featuring Tyler Perry.
Written October 15, 2015
I caught just a smidgen of a conversation Terry Gross was having with an actor and writer of a television program while driving to a meeting the other day. Unfortunately I did not catch the name of the actor before I reached my destination. Apparently this person acts in humorous shows, which he also helps to write. One of the statements which he made in describing a particular character in a show, who was humorless, was that he portrayed “confidence plus stupidity.” The character who he was describing was a young adult who the writer judged to have the emotional maturity of a nine-year-old meaning, in part, that he presented himself in the very confident way that a very outgoing nine year old can; one who asserts certain truths without knowing what he/she is talking about. In a nine year old, one is indulgent and amused. When the person has the appearance of an adult and comes across very confident of a subject about whom they have no obvious knowledge, one is not amused in the same way that one is amused with a nin year old. This got me to thinking about humor in general and what I find humorous.
Historically, I am not a fan of what I call slap stick humor which I think of as the creation of a character who comes across as exceedingly dumb and childish. The Three Stooges would be a good example. Their behavior is scripted to make them appear dumb and very juvenile. I tend to get embarrassed for them rather than finding their behavior amusing. That having been said, I need to try to articulate what, in fact, I do find amusing or humorous. What first comes to mind is the phrase “laughing with.” When I feel as if I am laughing with and not at a person I can frequently have a really good belly laugh. I suppose when that happens it is because it seems as if all the people involved have a solid base of self-esteem as humans who are free to be silly and to laugh at their mistakes. There are friends with whom I can easily laugh.
I am sure, however, that my range of laughter is wider than what I have so far described. What else makes me laugh? I recently saw a movie “Spy” which stars Mellissa McCarthy. In this movie, the character Ms. McCarthy plays, Susan Cooper, has been stuck on a desk for the bulk of her career as a CIA analyst. Susan is a dumpy, seemingly overweight, seemingly less that physically fit woman who finally gets to go on assignment. Suddenly, she morphs into the baddest, kick-ass person who wipes the floor with the bad guys/girls. For this pacifist, feminist man there is nothing funny about stereotype;, the simplistic duality of good vs. bad and violence. Yet, there I was sitting in the movie theater laughing out loud with the rest of the audience. We are all cheering for Susan. We want her to be more violent. I am right there with the rest of the audience. What is going on? Is there a mist in the air which has replaced my brain with that of a conservative, gun loving NRA member? The creators of this story and this movie have obviously played on and challenged the stereotypes which apparently are firmly lodged in my brain as well as most of those in the audience. Susan is that kick ass hunk/wonder man or woman who we “know” resides in all of us and will one day surprise those who see us as a dumpy, easy to take advantage of weakling. I will be 6’4” tall, broad shouldered, as agile as the most famous dancer, and as mean as the toughest Marine drill sergeant. I will have the last laugh. What is up with this fantasy?
Madea, in Tyler Perry’s The Diary of a Mad Black Woman, is another tough character who does not hesitate to use violence or the threat of violence when someone is or seems to be acting in a stupid or hurtful manner. I have seen Madea perform in a number of movies and have watched The Diary of a Mad Black Woman several times. Every time I laugh despite the fact that the behavior of the character is less than praiseworthy if looked at it independently. (I am aware of some of the criticism of black men being cast in “emasculating” roles but am choosing not to comment on that criticism in this blog.)
What is it that makes me and others laugh? Clearly some situations do not have to be consistent with my stated values for me to find it funny,
There is wide agreement on the importance of laughter. Caroline Dunaway list 20 quotes that remind us why it’s so important to laugh. These are:
“To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity. William Arthur Ward
To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it. Charlie Chapin
It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it. Lucius Annaeus
There’s power in looking silly and not daring that you do. Amy Poehler
Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not. Vaclav Havel
I do take my work seriously and the way to do that is not to take yourself too seriously. Alan Rickman
Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly. Rose Franken
Life literally abounds in comedy if you just look around you. Mel Brooks.
Laugh at yourself, but don’t ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don’t leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory. Alan Alda
If people never did silly things, noting intelligent would ever get done. Ludwig Wittgenstein.
I enjoy making people laugh. The trick is to tell them jokes against yourself. If you praise yourself, your stories aren’t funny. Michael Caine
Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment. Horace
God invented mankind because he loved silly stories. Ralph Steadman
I like being absurd. Jimmy Fallon
And I have one of those loud, stupid laughs. I mean if I ever sat behind myself in a movie or something, I’d probably lean over and tell myself to please shut up. J. D. Salinger
If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane. Robert Frost
It’s not all bad. Heightened self-consciousness, apartness, an inability to join in, physical shame and self-loathing-they are not all bad. Those devils have been my angels. Without them I would never have disappeared into language, literature, the mind, laughter and all the mad intensities that made and unmade me. Stephen Fry
You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing. Michael Pritchard
If you can’t laugh, you won’t make it. Jennifer Love Hewitt
Nothing feels so good to me as laughing incredibly hard. Steve Carnel
This is obviously not a complete list of the value of laughing, but it is a good start. Still, I have not addressed the question of the purpose of the evolution of laughter for we humans. One of the most concise discussions I found in an article “Why do humans laugh?” by Peter McGraw and Joel Warner (www.slate.com). (Hint: It’s rarely because something’s funny.) In this article they state:
“More than a century later, Gervais and Wilson saw Duchenne’s discovery as evidence that laughter evolved at two different points in human development. First, they posited, at a point sometime between 2 million and 4 million years ago, came Duchenne laughter, the kind triggered by something funny. An outgrowth of the breathy panting emitted by primates during play fighting, it likely appeared before the emergence of language. This sort of laughter was a signal that things at the moment were OK, that danger was low and basic needs were met, and now was as good a time as any to explore, to play, to socialize. “What the humor is indexing and the laughter is signaling is, ‘this is an opportunity for learning,’” Gervais told us. “It signals this is a non-serious novelty, and recruits others to play and explore cognitively, emotionally and socially with the implications of this novelty.”
“But then, sometime in the hundreds of thousands of years after that, theorized Gervais and Wilson, the other sort of laughter emerged—the non-Duchenne sort, the kind that isn’t dependent on something being funny. As people developed cognitively and behaviorally, they learned to mimic the spontaneous behavior of laughter to take advantage of its effect.”
It seems that the laugh response evolved for some basic survival reasons. Simply, it gives us a break in the serious business of gathering and preparing for use of the basics – food clothing, shelter – which, in turn seems to allow our individual and collective brains to take a break. In other words, it is part of that larger repertoire of playful behavior which is so necessary in the creative process and in allowing we humans to put aside our differences and enjoy each other.
Apparently it was sometime later when we humans learned to add laughter to our manipulative tool box – that tool box we used to manipulate ourselves into believing that, for a moment or two, we are better than, more powerful than, have more than, or whatever. Of course, all my enlightened readers know that same tool box leaves us very lonely and feeling more empty than ever.
Regardless of what tickles our individual funny bones, it seems as if the more emotionally and spiritually healthy we are the more able we are to laugh which facilitates the forming of community. I am still not convinced that making fun of is the same as laughing with someone. Have said this does not insure that I am free of the human trap of feeling better about myself by making fun of someone else. I would like to think that I am much more aware of how vulnerable I am to, at some level, buying into such biases and prejudices and possibly do it less often or catch myself sooner. This “spiritual progression” apparently has no effect on my ability to safely set aside all my values and indulge myself by laughing at Susan beating up the identified bad people in the movie Spy or Madea kicking ass in her own way in the movies featuring Tyler Perry.
Written October 15, 2015
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