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Learning to laugh is serious business
"The most wasted day of all is that during which we have not laughed." - Sebastian R. N. Chamfort
Few things in life are better than a good laugh.
In just a few seconds, laughter can take you from having a low-down, no-good, lousy day to having one of the best days you've ever had in your life, during which you will find your soul mate and win the lottery. OK, maybe not that extreme, but it can at least make your day a little less lousy.
Today, there is an entire comedy industry built on making people laugh. From the humor section at a bookstore and comedy channels on TV to newspaper cartoons and comedic films, laughter has become a serious business.
Now, how you make yourself laugh is entirely your business, and I won't ask because, let's face it, we don't know each other that well yet. Personally, I've found a couple of surefire ways to inject some much-needed laughter into a rough day.
My favorite thing to do is pick up one of Dave Barry's books. Barry, a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist, started writing his column for The Miami Herald in 1983, and retired in late 2005. Today, he is the author of several books, most of which discuss very important topics such as exploding cows.
I challenge anyone to not laugh while reading one of Barry's books. For me, it's physically impossible. I actually caused one older gentleman to get up and leave a Barnes & Noble cafe in Colorado Springs, Colo. because I was giggling so frequently while reading a Barry book.
Actually, I don't think it was giggling, per se. The sounds I was making were the telltale snorts of someone trying to contain an extreme urge to laugh and failing miserably. In fact, I'm surprised I didn't rupture my sinus tissues.
Anyway, I now have a personal rule that I will never read Dave Barry material in public. I'm forced to confine my habit to my house, where only my boyfriend can get up and walk out of the room because my laughter is interrupting his enjoyment of a helicopter documentary on the Military Channel.
Another seriously funny columnist is Rick Reilly, who has written for Sports Illustrated for more than 20 years. His column, "Life of Reilly," runs on the last page of SI, and I discovered it because my dad is a faithful subscriber of the magazine.
Reilly's commentary on the sports world runs the gamut from serious to sarcastic. It never, however, fails to entertain. Actually, I laughed just yesterday morning while reading a Reilly piece (I justify this as "research" for this column) about the frustrations of interviewing the bullfighters who save cowboys from getting stomped, gored and crushed on the Professional Bull Riders tour.
"Even the clown, Flint Rasmussen, who entertains the crowd and helps the bullfighters, clearly doesn't get paid by the word," Reilly said. "I told him I couldn't climb the fence if I had to escape - the first rail was too high. He looked at me and said, 'You will.' A minute later the first bull of the day got loose and came snorting at me. Before I knew it, I was on the top rail. Flint came over and said, 'Tole ya.'"
I firmly believe that laughter is an essential part of life, but the materials or methods one uses to induce laughter can be many and varied. One last recommendation: when all else fails, tickle someone.
(Emily Goodson is the assistant editor of the Tribune & Georgian and a regular Friday columnist. She laughed a lot while doing "research" for this column.)
Few things in life are better than a good laugh.
In just a few seconds, laughter can take you from having a low-down, no-good, lousy day to having one of the best days you've ever had in your life, during which you will find your soul mate and win the lottery. OK, maybe not that extreme, but it can at least make your day a little less lousy.
Today, there is an entire comedy industry built on making people laugh. From the humor section at a bookstore and comedy channels on TV to newspaper cartoons and comedic films, laughter has become a serious business.
Now, how you make yourself laugh is entirely your business, and I won't ask because, let's face it, we don't know each other that well yet. Personally, I've found a couple of surefire ways to inject some much-needed laughter into a rough day.
My favorite thing to do is pick up one of Dave Barry's books. Barry, a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist, started writing his column for The Miami Herald in 1983, and retired in late 2005. Today, he is the author of several books, most of which discuss very important topics such as exploding cows.
I challenge anyone to not laugh while reading one of Barry's books. For me, it's physically impossible. I actually caused one older gentleman to get up and leave a Barnes & Noble cafe in Colorado Springs, Colo. because I was giggling so frequently while reading a Barry book.
Actually, I don't think it was giggling, per se. The sounds I was making were the telltale snorts of someone trying to contain an extreme urge to laugh and failing miserably. In fact, I'm surprised I didn't rupture my sinus tissues.
Anyway, I now have a personal rule that I will never read Dave Barry material in public. I'm forced to confine my habit to my house, where only my boyfriend can get up and walk out of the room because my laughter is interrupting his enjoyment of a helicopter documentary on the Military Channel.
Another seriously funny columnist is Rick Reilly, who has written for Sports Illustrated for more than 20 years. His column, "Life of Reilly," runs on the last page of SI, and I discovered it because my dad is a faithful subscriber of the magazine.
Reilly's commentary on the sports world runs the gamut from serious to sarcastic. It never, however, fails to entertain. Actually, I laughed just yesterday morning while reading a Reilly piece (I justify this as "research" for this column) about the frustrations of interviewing the bullfighters who save cowboys from getting stomped, gored and crushed on the Professional Bull Riders tour.
"Even the clown, Flint Rasmussen, who entertains the crowd and helps the bullfighters, clearly doesn't get paid by the word," Reilly said. "I told him I couldn't climb the fence if I had to escape - the first rail was too high. He looked at me and said, 'You will.' A minute later the first bull of the day got loose and came snorting at me. Before I knew it, I was on the top rail. Flint came over and said, 'Tole ya.'"
I firmly believe that laughter is an essential part of life, but the materials or methods one uses to induce laughter can be many and varied. One last recommendation: when all else fails, tickle someone.
(Emily Goodson is the assistant editor of the Tribune & Georgian and a regular Friday columnist. She laughed a lot while doing "research" for this column.)
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