The secret to comedy unlocked
I start my mornings pondering the question, “What went wrong this week?”
Instead of gazing into my navel, contemplating the greater meanings of life, the universe, and everything, I’m scrutinizing my mishaps, misfortunes, and assorted bits of mayhem. I’m looking for trips, falls, and spills. The sort of mayhem that would make Allstate Insurance actor Dean Winters jump for joy.
I’m happily recounting the time I chastised the table for having sharp corners as I banged my shin into it. I’m ecstatic when I have rude encounters with a salesperson. I delight when some bit of technology stymies me (from the iPhone down to lower-tech items like the lawnmower).
Each incident becomes column fodder.
There is a weird desire in me to share my thoughts with the world. Some of those thoughts – most of them – are embarrassing, but there is a method to my madness.
I like to think that if it’s happened to me, it’s happened to you. We have all had flat tires, bad dates, cranky customers/clients, and a variety of misfortunes that we can twist into a good story.
No one would be interested in a story where everything goes right. That’s bragging.
If someone said to me, “I breezed into the office today because there was no traffic. My boss decided to give me a 20% raise plus commission, and I’m dating a model,” I’d roll my eyes so far back that I would be able to see my brain.
I don’t know why we delight in hearing stories about how things went wrong, but if you’re telling me a story, you’d better throw in some complications, even if your story has a happy ending. I prefer a happy ending, but I want to hear about the struggles it takes to get there. The reward is sweeter if it’s a hard-fought victory.
I need a little tragedy in my comedy. It’s why the masks of Thalia and Melpomene are conjoined together. You’re a theater nerd if you have the masks of Comedy and Tragedy hanging around your house (you’re a bigger theater nerd if you recognize their names).
Steve Allen may have been the first to say, “Comedy is tragedy plus time.” However, prominent English novelist Thomas Hardy wrote a letter in 1889 that said, “All comedy is tragedy, if you only look deep enough into it,” which might be a meaner way to say the same thing – 70 years earlier.
The beauty is finding the humor in said tragedy or just finding humor in a bad day. The trick is to see your misfortune from a new perspective. You must float above your troubles. See it from above. Look down on the scene and laugh.
Find the humor in everyday life. It’s there. You must dig deep for it. If something still stings (like your shin from hitting the aforementioned sharp-cornered coffee table), give it time.
It’s not always easy to find the funny, but if you can, you’ll be a hit at parties.