NEW CASTLE —
What's so funny?
Don't you just love that when this particular question is usually posed, it's delivered as more of galled accusation than a serious inquiry?
Just thinking about it makes me laugh. And probably garners me a dirty look or two from some affronted passerby.
"What's so FUNNY?"
The simple and honest truth? For me, darned near everything.
I've always been a humor seeker. I'm willing to pay good money for anything that will make me laugh — funny movies, comedians, television shows like “Family Guy” and “tosh.o.” (Hey, I never said my humor was cultured.) And if I don't see someone or something funny nearby, I'll hunt it down like a rattler looking for a warm rock.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not a mean humor type of person. Generally. I don't make fun of anyone less powerful than myself. That means that those less fortunate are off limits, but celebrities, politicians, and people and who tick me off are completely fair game.
But while I love to throw out the occasional Lindsey Lohan or Whitney Houston crack (See how I did that there? Crack? Get it? Oh, never mind!), it's not really the one-liner or the finely sketched parody that keeps me going. It's side-splitting, clench your hands over your stomach, try to keep your mascara from running, stupid, crazy stuff that happens when life is just happening.
My son and I laughed for five solid minutes last night just from seeing the name of the town "Nutsy" on television. And along with my daughter, we laughed twice as hard the night before on the way home from a road trip when my son admitted how much he likes to look at himself in the mirror.
Every song on the radio for the rest of that trip had the words "I" and "me" substituted when the singer sang of his love interest. I just can't help myself. I'm a laugh addict. And if you can make me laugh, I'll gladly follow you around for the rest of your life like a lost puppy, just waiting for you to make me laugh again.
My late husband, God rest his soul, had a lot of great characteristics, but a sense of humor was not one of them. I'm still not entirely certain how I ended up with a total straight man. What I do know is that it's probably the reason I keep gravitating back to my on-again, off-again ex-boyfriend, Will. The man makes me laugh like a clogged drain: gurgling, convulsing, and gasping for air. And does it several times a day, to boot.
I'm drawn to that like an ant to a picnic.
You know, there's been research done on the subject of laughter. Is it a social response, blah blah, blah? I honestly don't care WHY I laugh ... just that I do. Do you know that scientists have found that lab rats will emit a high pitched squeal inaudible to the naked ear when tickled? And that they love it so much, they come back for more? Am I the only one who giggles every time I think about a rat being tickled in the first place?
And of course you all know the old "truth" of how toddlers laugh 300 times a day, and the average adult only about five or something. Bullpucky!
I don't know about you, but if my kids had laughed an average of 21 times an hour (I'm excluding sleep time here) I'd have been a little more than freaked out by their resemblance to a Chucky doll. And five times a day for me? I might as well throw myself off a bridge.
I'd like to think it's more like an in-the-middle average for all of us. Texting has helped for me. I felt a little foolish when I first noticed that I typed "LOL" at the end of just about every other text. But the truth is, those texts called for an "LOL" (if not an "LMAO" or even a "ROTFLMAO!"). I'm darned funny over a cellie, much moreso than in real life. And when someone sends me a funny text, I lock it ... for all eternity. So I can go back and read it and laugh some more whenever I want.
I'm not above bathroom humor, either. Or laughing at someone who trips. Or embarrassing myself to get a laugh out of someone else. It doesn't make me the most sophisticated dame in the world, but it's a heck of a lot more fun than crying.
Go forth and find laughter, my friends. Go!
Then share it with me, will ya?
Lisa Madras
Related Photos
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This is an actual pictures of my cat Butters, laughing at something hilarious ... LOL!
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