I don’t know if I laugh out loud enough. Probably not many of us do. But, when I do, I get it. I understand the importance of comedy and laughter in our lives. And I want more!
I love being around people who make me laugh out loud, and I’m very lucky to say that many of the people in my life fill this role quite well. I dislike when people or movies try to get a cheap laugh by tearing someone else down or by trying to be crass. That’s not my type of comedy. (So, that rules out a good majority of current TV shows and movies for me.) I love witty comedy and, yes, I loves me some good puns.
I always thought “comedic timing” was about the timing of a live comedy performance or maybe the rhythm and pace of lines in a TV show or movie. It never occurred to me that comedic timing can also be the actual time period of a joke. Certain phrases or lines that may have been big hits decades ago may make no sense in modern context. (And a slew of lines from 80s TV shows and commercials just rang through my head.) And certain subjects definitely aren’t ready to be the core of jokes until decades from now. There’s also our own personal comedic timing. Things that have cracked me up in the past may not elicit the same response now. And I think this is what makes comedy so magical. It’s fluid and timely, and when it hits you, it’s unexpected. That’s what makes it come alive.
The other night, as I was reading this book, I completely lost it. I was in hysterics. And as I tried to explain the reason for my laughter attack to my husband, I just laughed harder. Actual tears were streaming down my face to the point where I didn’t know if I was laughing or crying, and I couldn’t catch my breath. These kind of laughter fits are treasured ones. And it made me reflect on other times in my life when I’ve laughed uncontrollably:
–Watching Wayne’s World for the first time in a budget theatre with my dad and brother
–Many instances with my childhood family, but the one that sticks out right now is at a restaurant we went to on vacation
–Seeing a Gary Larson cartoon in high school (which I cannot find even on the great wide Internet) of a caveman family riding an elephant, with the little boy saying, “Coast, Dad. Coast.”
–Reading Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason on a friend’s houseboat
–Watching a live clown show (Yes, clown show) at the local library (I definitely didn’t see that one coming)
–Reading Darth Vader and Son on the couch, while holding my new baby boy. (Serious gasping for air on this one–although my hormones were all over the place)
–Playing a video game with my son.
–Laughing in bed with my daughter about a misunderstood deadly calf.
–Reading Jenny Lawson’s book, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, on the couch before bed.
The interesting thing, of course, is that I can remember exactly where I was and who I was with during each of these “episodes.” There are countless others and ones on smaller scales. And even though I may not be able to repeat these laugh-out-loud moments with the same triggers, I like remembering them. It reminds me to seek out more of these moments in my life. The moments that make me forget whatever silly thing I was worried about and plant me very firmly in enjoying the now.
From House Calls by Patch Adams
“Studies show that laughter relieves pain, relaxes stress, and stimulates the immune system.”