Comedy Roundup

Comedy isn't a distraction, it's a doorway. In this installment, SMC readers share their favorite picks.

For several weeks now, SMC has been exploring the intersection of resilience, spirituality, and humor. Last week, I asked my readers to send in some examples of their favorite positive comedians. What follows is a round-up of the list that accumulated in the Comment section this past week. One of the benefits of the Internet is the way that both timeless and timely comedy bits are completely accessible. For example, by typing in “The Best of Jerry Lewis,” I stumbled into his brilliant Count Basie Orchestra bit. With the possible exceptions of Lucille Ball or Carol Burnett, I’m not sure if anybody has ever done better physical comedy than the young Jerry Lewis. I can’t wait to search for some of the more recent artists on the list!       

A List of Positive Comedians in No Particular Order

Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mo Amer, Conan O’Brien, Robin Williams (Sylvia says "the GOAT"), Key and Peele, Melissa McCarthy, James Acaster, Will Ferrell, Bo Burnham, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Nate Bargatze, Jim Gaffigan, George Carlin, Carol Burnett, Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, Looney Tunes, Lucille Ball, Fred Rogers (hmm…), Monty Python, and Jerry Seinfeld.

Readers’ Comments on the Role of Comedy in Their Lives 

In addition to listing favorite artists, the respondents shared the “role” that comedy plays in their lives. That list included the following. 

Receiving Kid’s Comedy (Andy), Transcending Pain (John Harry), Lightening the Load of Sadness or Anxiety (Lizzie), Unifying Divisions (Gracie), Changing the Channel on Negative Politics (Liz), Digesting Current Events (Hane, et al.), Reducing Anger (Mike), Transcending Grief (Sylvia), Taking in Issues in a New Way (Annalise), Deflating the Powerful (Daniel).

In some ways, each of the themes articulated in the above paragraph could serve as chapters in a book on resilience and comedy. Since I’m not writing a book here, I thought I’d just pluck out a couple of those themes, and expand on them a little.  

The Holy Fool

It’s hard to think of a sillier man than Conan O’Brien. One respondent noticed the substance below his silliness. It was on full display in 2010. With one hand, a major TV network handed him his childhood dream:  hosting the coveted, Tonight Show. With the other hand, seven months later, without so much as a two-week notice, the same network snatched away that dream on the whim of a powerful executive. O’Brien’s depth of character was on full display as he quietly put one grace-filled foot in front of the other, and found new ways to give the world his gift.    

The same SMC reader noticed something similar in the life and career of Robin Williams. Carl Jung could have created the phrase, “wounded healer,” for Robin. It was only after his death that the world discovered the depth and intractability of Robin Williams’s depression. Despite lugging the weight of it around, he had a reputation for always being there for colleagues and friends. When Christopher Reeve suffered an injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down, Williams arrived at the hospital dressed as a physician. He claimed to be a proctologist sent to give his injured best friend a rectal exam. It’s hard to know, but you have to wonder if the laughter that followed had something to do with Reeve’s decision to continue to fight for his life, rather than disengaging life support. Another reader, Sylvia, called Williams “the GOAT.” Thank you for this reflection. It makes me want to keep my eyes open for the everyday saints walking around in our midst…making us laugh. 

Photo of Robin Williams taken by Michael Dressler in 1979, later used as a cover photo for Time magazine.

“Lizzie” has her eyes and ears on a comedian who is very similar to Robin Williams. She notices the Rumpelstiltskin nature of so many comedians. They turn the straw of their own anxiety and depression into comedic gold. For her, Bo Burnham is the prime example of it. Her really fascinating insight is that comedians like this have a special talent for channeling this kind of personal resilience to the receivers of their gift. Lizzie, I’ll keep my eyes and heart open for that. On your recommendation, I looked up his bit on YouTube, “Welcome to the Internet.” Brilliant!  I wouldn’t watch it with my grandma…but brilliant!

The Development of Humor

I had a client who took his fathering very seriously by taking it lightly. His advice for new dads, “Follow the laughs.” “Andy” is a dad like that. He’s the father of two girls. “What I've really enjoyed,” he said, “is watching as my daughters develop their own senses of humor, style, timing, delivery - they truly make me laugh, a verifiable case study in the genetics of human personality.”  

This comment is worth slowing down and absorbing. Have you ever noticed how each and every laugh is different? Could it be that humor is like that? Maybe it’s one of those deep-down things that expresses an essential part of the totally unique, unrepeatable soul? If so, then how we make space for the child’s emerging sense of humor is a sacred art. It follows that we don’t shape their humor so much as receive it…delight in it and savor it. That surround of delight in their “timing,” “style,” “delivery,” and content, provides the necessary ecosystem for this important dimension of their little souls to emerge. This also has me thinking that every time we follow their laughs with a discerning delight, another trowel of cement is added to our bond with them. 

Some “Spiritual” Comedic Exercises

Laughter as Sacred Music

See if you can call to mind the particular laugh of someone close to you, living or dead. If you are having a hard time surfacing the memory of a deceased person’s laugh, put yourself back into a time and place where you experienced their laugh. See if picturing the surroundings will help you to hear it again. Sometimes a photograph of someone laughing can pull up that precious sound.

Imitating Laughter

With or without adult beverages, it can be fun for a group of close friends or family to try and imitate each other’s laughs. It can also be fun to imitate the different categories of laughter for a particular person (e.g. belly laugh, compared to a mild laugh). A related exercise? Spend time with a group categorizing the different species of laughter that all laughs can be sorted into…imitating each species and subspecies with living examples of each.

Laughter as an Icebreaker

The April 13 edition of SMC described how the decision to laugh hard, “on the count of three,” led to waves of uncontrollable laughter in a surgical waiting room. That laughter released pent-up, pre-surgery anxiety, leaving me relaxed for a serious procedure. I am curious to see how this technique might work in an upcoming workshop. I’m wondering if I can replicate it as either an icebreaker or a wake-up exercise after lunch. Would you want to try that in a group sometime yourself? I’m imagining that you’d need to really commit to the exercise and not give up if it didn’t work all at once. Hmm…paradoxically, seems like humor requires bushel baskets of bravery.

Memorized Comedy Bits

Many, many boys of my era memorized Monty Python lines. My daughter, Annalise, committed one of Will Ferrell’s bits to memory when she was a teen (Lion vs. Tuna, from the movie, The Other Guys). Do you have any comedic scenes memorized?  Would you be willing to do them again for a friend or group of friends?

Dialogue: These questions and prompts are provided for discussion over a cup of coffee, or for your own personal reflection. As always, any reaction you might wish to share with the SMC community in the “Comment” section of this blog would be welcomed!

Discussing Your Favorite Comedians 

Over a cup of coffee or a favorite beverage, share your favorite comedians with one another. Describe examples of their work.

Discussion Questions

• Who really appreciates your humor?  Who makes you feel relaxed enough to be funny? 

• How do you coax humor out of others?

Please share with the SMC community your thoughts and/or reflections in the comments below.