For my book: all you’ll find is laughter: That’s all the glory my heart is after ... For laughter makes men human, and courageous.
From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais
I had lunch with a good friend of mine recently, and as we were preparing to bid each other farewell, I told her one last story I hoped would be amusing, this one about a cat.
She listened politely to my tale, and when I finished, she said, “I didn’t remember the cat’s name.”
She had obviously heard that story more than once.
The exchange with my friend got me wondering about some things. Was I repeating myself in newspaper columns, too?
Was I using tired comedy formulas that no longer work?
Then doubt began to creep in.
I wondered if the world had passed me by, if I had become an anachronism like Red Skelton.
This all led to a serious writer’s block that was followed by many more blocks, which soon formed a writer’s wall. So, I spent the rest of the weekend in a state of panic and desperation as I tried to write something, anything, for this week.
Then, quite by accident, I stumbled upon something about Red Skelton on Facebook.
According to the post, Red Skelton believed humor should be wholesome.
“Comedy should never hurt anyone. It should lift you up. It should make you feel better,” Skelton said, according to the Facebook post. “The best comedy makes people think, but it also makes them feel.
And when it’s done right, it makes them feel good.”
With all due respect, that sounds like a load of BS to me. Hopeful and optimistic BS, but BS just the same.
And this is coming from someone who tells more corny jokes than just about anyone.
Here’s an example of a corny joke I jotted down in a notebook a week or two ago: “Paleoanthropologists have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Stone Age cultures preferred guitar rock.”
Is that funny? If it is, how funny is it? On a scale of one to 10, with one being a trip to the dentist and 10 a Dave Chappelle show, how funny is it?
But let’s jump into the deep end of the pool with this one.
“After years of hiding his true feelings and identity, the father bought a dress and became transparent.”
Is that funny or offensive? It doesn’t feel mean-spirited to me, but I haven’t lived the life of someone who feels like they were born in the wrong body either. So, I’m not entirely sure. But a joke like that carries implications that make some people uncomfortable.
I tend to believe that when Americans are permitted to laugh at you, you are safe to be yourself.
Everyone is made fun of at some point.
Honestly, the whole 21st-century trans thing seems to have corrupted any word with the trans prefix, which was initially thought of as a “word-forming element meaning ‘across, beyond, through, on the other side of; go beyond,’” according to etymonline. com.
“It is commonly used in its literal sense, but also as implying complete change, as intransfigure or transform.”
But trans has become more than a prefix. It’s now used as an adjective, a verb, a noun, even a participle.
Consider the following words that are prime candidates as puns for mischievous writers: transaction, transmission, transverse, transpose, Trans Global. Wait a second. That was the name of the airline in the “Airport” film starring Burt Lancaster.
But these are the things someone who dabbles in humor must confront honestly.
Skelton said he wanted to be remembered as someone who made people happy.
And that’s a noble goal, Red, but where exactly is the line that separates a belly laugh from a punch in the stomach?
Let’s close with a slightly scatological witticism from the Icelandic classic Njal’s Saga, written in the 13th century.
Responding to Thorkel the Bully, Skarphedin delivers this unforgettable line: “My name is Skarphedin and there’s no need for you to pick out insulting words for me, an innocent man […] You should pick from your teeth the bits of mare’s arse you ate before you came here — your shepherd saw you at it and was amazed at such disgusting behavior.”
My Medieval Lit professor thought that line was hilarious. What do you think?
Selah.