Make 'Em Laugh

 .... Dontchya know everyone wants to laugh?

If Donald O'Connor said it/sang it/danced it, I believe it. Even if he hadn't, though, I imagine I would have drawn at least a similar conclusion. 

My dad used to let me watch Seinfeld [hmm, cool website, Jerry], SNL and sometimes even The Simpsons  -- all despite my mother's concern for my soul and her fear that the world is "going to hell in a hand basket" ... My dad probably just knew I was mature enough to handle the bad words. Or that I was better at keeping secrets than I was. Regardless of his reasoning, I became a lover of ... uh ... funny stuff ... at an early age. 

I'm a bit too awkward [and not in the intentionally awkward so the audience will laugh kinda way] to perform for realsies. Like, for real for real. But that didn't stop my mom [aforementioned concerner-o-my-soul] from believing she had created Branson Missouri's Next Big Thing. [Yeah, my mom loves Branson. . . <<she says as she hides her head in shame>> ... And she loves using any vacation or family outing or just plain 'ole dinnertime as an opportunity to force my brothers and I to perform a skit for her viewing pleasure.

Lucky for me, she has a hard time keeping her archives straight, or even being certain that she turned the video camera on to begin with, so there's no footage - to my knowledge - of my three brothers and I breakin' a leg or sqeezing a rubber chicken or sittin' on a whoopy cushion. No footage, but there IS evidence that we all love to laugh as much as we do.

Which leads me to what the point of this post was supposed to be .... this idea that laughing is the best may actually be less ValleyGirl and more philosophically profound than I've considered before. And as such, deserves something ... like ... an academic degree around laughter. 

Apparently The Second City has a COMEDY STUDIES program that kind of does this. But this appears to be more for people who want to perform and not so much for people who want to understand why that performance was funny.  This article in Psychology Today on "The Science of Laughter" speaks a bit to the topic:

"Given the universality of the sound, our ignorance about the purpose and meaning of laughter is remarkable. We somehow laugh at just the right times, without consciously knowing why we do it. Most people think of laughter as a simple response to comedy, or a cathartic mood-lifter. Instead, after 10 years of research on this little-studied topic, I concluded that laughter is primarily a social vocalization that binds people together. It is a hidden language that we all speak. It is not a learned group reaction but an instinctive behavior programmed by our genes. Laughter bonds us through humor and play."

So there's that ...

• ... and then we all know that "laughter is the best medicine", and it can make even someone dealing with cancer feel a bit better about urrthing [see P.S. below for real-live example of this] ...
• ... and there is probably a brilliant neurological explanation to what happens in my mind when I'm laughing ...
• ... and I got the pleasure of hearing the hilariously engaging local comedian, Joe Marlotti, speak to the "Beauty in Humor" at the Fall 2011 Elevate St. Louis event - where he described the vulnerability he sees in people when they are laughing uncontrollably, the beauty that lies in that vulnerability, the remarkable way laughter unites us and we all seem to agree without even debating that some things are just so.damn.funny ...
• ... and I was really lucky to work with the - then - Director of Student Activities at Saint Louis University, Dr. Adam Peck on a tons of kickass student leader things. Including a trip to somewhere in BFE Texas for a retreat where, when I wasn't narcolepticting out in the back of Danno Frierdich's trunk [no, I don't think I really fell asleep in a trunk. What was that, though? Did we rent a station wagon?], I was gaining valuable words of wisdom from Adam. He told me all about his various experiences in comedy, and his statement about the funniest things in life being the true things is one I've always remembered. People laugh at things they can relate to ... things that are true ...
• ... that was reinforced when I read Tina Fey's book, BossyPants where Tina shared all sortsa improv advice, one gem that stands out being her suggestion to always agree with the other actors on stage ...

... but I feel like there's more, right? There's gotta be some way to study laughter / comedy / jokes / humor / all of it in a wholistic sense. Maybe it'd ruin the fun if it became schoolwork, or we'd just analyze it do death to the point that we couldn't see the humor any more. But I say I wanna try it anyway. Laugh myself Studious ... hmmm ...

• Amusement Exam
• Art of the Wisecrack
• Bachelors in Badinage in Comicality
• Bachelors of Badinage in Comicality
• Blackboard in Buffoonery
• Bookish Bon Mot
• Book-learned Banter
• Cachinnating Class
• Certificate in Tittering
• Collegiate Caprice
• Concentration in Clowning
• Degree in Raillery
• Department of Drollery
• Faculty of Farce
• Humor Studies 101
• Ivy League Laughing
• JokesTaughtByJews [I seriously know a lot of funny Jews. Also, one time a girl at a bar told me I have a "Jewish Nose" but "not to worry, because the Jewish nose is so in right now."]
• Knee Slapping Scholastic
• Laughter-Learned
• Learning Levity
• Major in Flippancy, Minor in Waiety
• Masters in JustKidding
• Pedantics of Hoodwinking
• PhD in Pranking
• Professor of Comedy
• Pupil of Jocularity
• Satire Scholar
• Studious Schticking
• Study of Slapstick
• The Institution of 'Ilarity [English for "Hilarity", I'm assuming]
• Vaudeville College of Tomfoolery
• Wisecrack College of Giggling
• Wit University

 ... this feels like the beginning of a fine institution.

That is never taken seriously.

And that's the point. 

But ends up also being kind of a bummer for the kids who go to school there and just want a little respect. Just want to be taken seriously for ONCE in their lives. 

Meh, those are my thoughts on laughin' & schoolin' for now. La, la, la.

P.S. One of my favorite people on the planet, who also happens to be a seriously talented jack-of-all trades [not just some trades. All trades. No, not a few trades. All trades. NO NO, not most trades .ALL of 'em. You got that gurrrrrl?] - EMILY HAWKINS made something remarkable out of this "laughter is the best medicine" concept. One of her best friends, Lukas Wartman, was recently diagnosed with cancer. I've yet to have the pleasure of meeting Lukas, but the way EHawk describes this man might be enough to inspire me for a lifetime. And what she did for him- a perfect manifestation of that inspiration. And also suuuuuuper funny.

She can tell you more, and you should ask her more fo shizzy ... but here's what I know:

• She rallied some silly and shameless folks who love Lukas and hate cancer to pose in these silly pics below.
• She spent countless hours designing tons of TEAM LUKAS shirts and pics and notecards.
• She coordinated t-shirts and personalized encouragingly hilarious notes with all of Lukas' friends and presented him with this incredible gesture of human love and kindness without ever forgetting how important it is to make 'em laugh. 

[not to mention, she visits him in the hospital every moment she can and cares more genuinely about him - and people in general - than most people you'll ever meet]