Jack Handy once said that it takes a big man to cry, but it takes an even bigger man to laugh at a man who is crying. Saturday Night Live, Monty Python and the Red Green show all have one thing in common. They make the people who watch them laugh. The style of humor used by each show differs greatly. Monty Python favored the ridiculous and the absurd, Saturday Night Live prefered to use humor as a commentary on our times, and the Red Green show was uncomplicated Canadian humor that managed to find a wide following.
Even if you do not understand that the handyman’s secret weapon is duct tape, you can enjoy many of Red’s projects involving this World War II invention, including making a recliner out of a dishwasher. You’ll find the Holy Grail funny if you enjoy slapstick or intelligent humor.
The odd thing about humor is that there are so many different types that no one agrees on exactly what is funny. There are also certain jokes that are popular in one community and little understood in another a good example of this is a Beatles parody called “Write in C.” The parody is filled with references that only a programer would get. Perhaps anyone who has ever misspelled procedure may get understand one of the song’s reference’s about Pascal.
Our sense of humor changes as we get older. A young child may enjoy the simple jokes in a knock-knock joke book, but an adult will have heard them all before. The adult will look for things that allow him to share the joy or even in the pain in someone else’s life. Equating laughter with emotional pain may not seem like something that carries a grain of truth, but Robert A. Heinlein explored the issue in his book Stranger in a Strange Land. The main character does not laugh until he understands that laughter is often a way of sharing the pain of another.
Even people who like to laugh will acknowledge that certain forms of humor encourage this behavior. Shows that perform practical jokes play on this kind of humor extensively. Even the Overhaulin show used the that people were worried about their car in order to do their early pranks. Things ay have worked out in the end, but the people who had their cars removed from their possession could not do anything other than worry about where their vehicle was.
Even though certain forms of humor may rely on causing someone else discomfort. As long as everything is understood to be in good fun, humor can be a stress reliever. Jokes show us that we are not the only people who have problems. It gives us a chance to step outside ourselves for a brief moment. The use of humor distinguishes man from other animals.
