What is comedy?

When I was in high school, I took a class called Humor in Literature.  Our final project for the class was to simply answer this very same question: What is humor?  Many of my friends in the class went around surveying teachers and students to see what they thought.  The most popular answer was “Something that makes me laugh”.  But this answer is the obvious one.  It is the general idea of what humor or comedy is, but the question then becomes:  Then what exactly makes you laugh?

In my response to this question, I could probably say simply everything.  I always try to find the humor and comedy in life, no matter the situation.  This means I find many situations to be funny that others would not.  Some of these instances include in the middle of a field hockey game, during a really boring class lecture, or even when I am at church with my family.  Now I know that it is not very appropriate to be laughing at these times, but I cannot help it, I can find them comedic pretty much everywhere.  I was always taught that laughter is the best medicine.

I do find many practical things to be funny as well.  I love sarcasm more than pretty much anything in the world and use it constantly.  Aside from my own witty jokes, I love many other kinds of jokes including “That’s what she said” (office freak).  And like many others, I enjoy watching YouTube videos of people falling.  The latest thing I found comedic was my best friend telling me stories of what her brother did while he was on vicodin after his surgery this morning.  So, I guess I would say humor is something that makes me laugh, and for me that can be anything.  I think that if you live life humorously, then you will always find the good in any situation.  And a good life filled with many laughs is one worth living.

Oh, and this is really comedic too:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqEeP1acj4Y

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.