What Makes Me Laugh

I haven't had the best week of my life. I'm not saying it was stupid terrible, but I am saying it hasn't been the best. I've had troubles up the ying yang with my car, I've felt used, rejected, lonely, bitter, sad, embarrassed, and twitterpated, and that's not dandy at all.

I feel like life has used me as that mediocre punching bag yet again. I say mediocre because it usually has much bigger more important punching bags to beat up than me. Still I feel pretty beaten up. What's a guy to do? When I get down, I mean really down, this may sound a cliche but I love to laugh. Okay wait a second! Before you judge me for using the most overused line on how to get over depression let me tell you now I'm not talking about no phony "Patch Adams" cheer me up when I'm down scenario.

I take my humour very seriously, I have my own tastes, I'm offended when people don't share the same humour as me, and I'm even more offended when someone thinks something is funny and I don't. We all have our tastes, nothing makes me more depressed than watching "2 and a half Men", it's sloppy, dated, and you can hear the punchlines coming from miles away.

Like all art, humour can be analysed, deconstructed, and criticized. If someone says something is funny, and I don't think it is, I often ask myself, why don't I think it is? That may make me a loser, but baby I don't care.

Comedy comes in all shapes and sizes, either in a joke, a story, or a scenario. Humour can be stupid, clever, or corny, I like anyone as long as they are delivered in a way that appeals to me.

I am not a comedy expert (or am I?) But here are some people, places, and things that have made me laugh the most and have comforted and at times inspired me in life.



The Simpsons: I grew up with "The Simpsons" so in that sense, they are nostalgic. They have lost their lustre in later years, I don't find myself needing to watch them as I used to. But when I'm watching television, and they are on, I will usually stay on that channel just for th chance to hear one of Homer's many Homerisms "To alcohol, the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" is still a favorite.



Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert: My late night warriors showing the world that good satire still exists. In fact Stewart and Colbert have in some way transcended satire by even having more credibility than most newsmen.





The Silent Giants: There are those who will say silent comedy isn't funny anymore. To them I say watch it again. Start with Chaplin's "The Gold Rush" and Keaton's short "Cops" and go from there. I mean look at the logic of "The General" where Keaton is caught in the middle of a canon blasting at him, but narrowly misses him as the track makes for a turn.



The Comedies of The Coens: Judd Apatow is great, but the best comedies being made today come from The Coen Brothers. They are weird wondrous, and screwball. Some like "O Brother Where Art Thou?" seem to be made from another time, others like "Raising Arizona" are bizarrely real. Right up to their current masterpiece comedy "A Serious Man", the Coens continue to surprise and enlighten. Don't believe me? Just as the Church of "The Dude".

And Finally....

Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo (Yes dammitt Zeppo) : Simply the best funniest foursome ever. Hail The Three Stooges, hail Laurel and Hardy, hail W.C Fields, but The Marx Brothers are their Gods. Watch them, and to you non-believers I say really watch them. The fact that Groucho and Chico never said anything that wasn't a joke is proof enough for their greatness. When we have wondered off this mortal coil, I hope these four men are somewhere in the afterlife. I wouldn't want to live forever if they weren't apart of it.

Top Ten Simpsons episodes:
1. The flashback when Maggie was born
2. Frank Grimes (Grimy)
3. The Monorail
4. The Christmas episode when Bart shoplifts
5. Lisa becomes a vegetarian
6. The Power plant goes on strike
7. The parody of "The Prisoner"
8. Springfield does "A Streetcar Named Desire" The Musical
9. The Cape Fear parody with Sideshow Bob
10. Bart takes his dog to obedient school (Sentimental fav cause I had a stupid dog once too)