Life as a Comedy

By far my favorite form of entertainment has to be comedy. I love to laugh at just about anything from the Simpsons or Family Guy to the Colbert Report or SNL. What has always made me wonder was how many people can get very offended over words or messages in comedy acts or shows that weren’t intended to be delivered hatefully or derogatorily. The point of a comedy is to make you laugh and relax, and, to be fair, I think most of them do that without being very offensive to anyone.

What makes humor so appealing? Why do we love laughing and making others laugh? The video below by the very talented David So explains, within the context of Robin William’s death, much better than I am able to:

Warning: Some NSFW Language

Tl;dw: Comedy is based off real life experiences, and the reason we laugh at it is because we can relate to the situations. The reason some people can be such great comedians is because these have gone through these emotions themselves. The feelings are real, and it is a human way of saying, ¨It’s ok to laugh at our mistakes and flaws¨. Because of this, however, many comedians also have gone through hardships and struggles and may be depressed or have emotional issues.

Robin Williams photo © 2014 by HotGossipItalia [CC BY 2.0]

What I got out of this video was that everything that happens in life can be looked at multiple perspectives. With the exception of extremely tragic events, such as warfare, death, disasters, and epidemics, almost anything can be viewed with a sense of humor. Even the tragic events mentioned above can slowly turn into comedy over a lengthy period of time. As TV personality Carol Burnett very accurately said, ¨Comedy is tragedy plus time.¨ I have found this to be personally true as well. When I was about 8, I was riding my bike and hit an object on the road, causing my bike to flip. I fell with it, and, just as luck had it, knocked the bottom half of my two front teeth straight onto the handlebar. At the time, it was horrible; they were adult teeth. They would never grow back and at the time, I felt like I was going to live with a gaping hole in my teeth. Shortly afterwards, I had several dental surgeries to fill in the gap and now it’s very hard to distinguish that the bottom portion of my two front teeth are fake. Instead, I have a very cool and often humorous story about my synthetic teeth. I attempt to make it as funny as possible whenever I tell someone about my teeth because, in a way, making it into a source of comedy has helped me deal with it, accept it, and even embrace it.

Too many people feel that their existence is dreary and pointless. Whether it is a midlife crisis, relationship issues, or a simple drop in your mood, it’s always good to remember that life is too long to fill it with excessive stresses and worries. Be your own cure. A simple shift in perspective can turn all your problems away. Let loose; laugh and live.