Healing through Laughter

After just one chapter, I can confidently say The Comic Toolbox is so much better than Comic Relief. No offense, Dr. Williams, I understand why we read Comic Relief, but man that was a rough read. The Comic Toolbox is light and fun, and I might say it’s even more informative than Comic Relief. By creating formulas about how to make people laugh, John Vorhaus is basically creating his own theories on humor (and I like his theories better).

The first chapter introduces his idea that comedy is truth and pain. This reminds me somewhat of the Superiority Theory from Comic Relief. When I learned about the Superiority Theory, I thought, “Wow, this seems accurate, even though it makes humans seem like an incredibly cruel species”. As much as I felt like it wasn’t completely correct, I couldn’t come up with a better explanation until now. I think the idea of comedy being truth and pain is much more accurate. Yes, we may be laughing at people in the moment, but in a way we are also laughing with them. We see someone trip and fall and we sympathize; we see the truth (everyone trips) and the pain (falling hurts) and we laugh because we know what that person is going through. We know that someday that person will be us, and when it does happen to us we’ll probably want to laugh it off, and it’s easier when someone else is laughing with us. If we didn’t laugh, we’d focus on the pain, so it’s good to have people laugh at/with us. They’re not trying to demonstrate superiority, they’re showing us the humor in the situation so we can laugh and ease our suffering.

When a small child learns to walk, they fall quite often. If you rush over and search them for bruises, they begin to cry because they think they should be hurt and focus on their pain. However, if you give them a smile and a giggle, unless it’s a truly awful fall they’ll usually smile right back and stand up happily. Therefore, it’s beneficial for everyone involved if we laugh at our pain, and the pain of others. Of course, there is a limit to when a situation is funny and when a person should stop and help.

When we originally discussed the Superiority Theory in class and referenced racist/sexist and other derogatory and inappropriate humor, I felt conflicted. On one hand, yes, I often thought the jokes were funny. On the other hand, I began to feel guilty about finding them funny and really had to evaluate my sense of humor. If comedy truly is truth and pain, is it so bad to laugh at these jokes?  A thought I’ve tinkered with before is: is laughing at these “inappropriate” jokes a way to heal? If someone said “Wanna hear a joke? Women’s rights,” and they meant it in a joking manner and were not seriously sexist, I would most likely laugh. It wouldn’t be because it’s funny to me that women have been and continue to be oppressed, but if I don’t laugh then I dwell on some horrible situations in the world. Laughing is way of getting over it and moving past painful and tragic situations. Obviously there is an extremely fine line still between jokes being offensive and maybe being something we can now laugh at as we distance ourselves from old situations, but I think laughing at some of these jokes may not be as bad as it seems. I sincerely hope that doesn’t offend anyone, it’s just an idea I've been contemplating.