mmmmlxxxvii (#2)

Laughter

Humor.  No hyena.
Not an auditorium.  

Or maybe it is.  Or it

could be a 1,000 piece puzzle
done with family and/or
friends over a holiday.
It might be bawdy, full
of farts and snot and
other various human
and animal detritus.  In
human form this might
be the consequence of
eating well: too much belly
laughing.  Sometimes things

are funny and other times the

same thing is not.  Finding the not-so-

funny hilarious, though, is to me a fetching angle,
a rather delicious mode of humor 

that you might find me attempt in
order to seek the life-
affirming sound of
audible laughter.

Laughter that is

also a gut-punch.
But, also, humor
can be found in our
most heinous earthly
tragedies: death, disease,
divorce, heartbreak, failure
and worse.  However bad it is,
if I might coax the humor that
surely exists within such moments,
such tragic circumstances, well, 

that is a fete I’d gladly be
known to have done. Delight
can be eked out of anything,
but of course there are many
situations which are inherently
comical in and of themselves.
I don’t mind using those as,
say, backdrops during a
rather serious section of
a written piece that I’m
building or story I am telling. 

Which reminds me that those 

moments in life we find sobering,

by which I don’t necessarily mean tragic

– well – I loappreciate anyone who can

milk any humor, any laughter from such 

moments. So that the severity of
a tough situation might be
indelibly tied to the light-
hearted and humorous
for as long as the memories
of all who witnessed or took
part in such a juxtaposition had
any cognition at all. Self-deprecation
is also one of my favorite areas in which

humor can be found. It seems like humility, but

it can grab attention, moving a spotlight ever 

closer.  I try it regularly enough, even

during my worst moments, much as I can,
it can give a needed internal chuckle at the fine mess 

in which I’ve found myself. Even a moment in which I 

embarrass myself in front of a rather large group of people 

can be hilarious, but should never be done in a casual 

manner or to further embarrass anyone. Would that we

could all glean humor from our various embarrass

ments. Slapstick, physical, Chaplinesque humor, what

a treat for me! And to be part of the physicality 

of such humor is one of the greatest treats imaginable. 

Being a stage actor for quite the duration, myself, doing or 

saying something on stage that elicits audible 

laughter has given me something that nothing 

else has.  It is both immediate, like the quick pump of 

endorphins through veins, and lasting,

because it enhances the little bit of 

memory that I have, highlighting it 

in such a way that it remains with me,

can be conjured, even, during times when

it’s quite difficult to find any humor.

And it is during the worst of times that I seek out

any bit, from any angle, that might cause laughter.

These past few years, when I have found myself virturally

or literally down on hands and knees looking for

any morsel of humor, the gem of a guffaw, a
laugh that is so thorough that it is a purgative – 

it gets rid of whatever might be toxic within me, 

allowing me to reconsider the moment with more 

focus.  It is an escape. Because of its humor. 

This is just about the most serious

subject I can imagine.