Elizabeth Spivey
January 20, 2009
Reflection
English 102
There were two things that really caught my eye while reading Chapter 1 of Comedy Writing Secrets. The first was a quote by Steven Wright, “What if you tell a joke in the forest, and nobody laughs? Is it still a joke?” After reading that I for some odd reason automatically thoughts of the ever looming question, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around the hear it does it make a sound? I have no idea why I thought of that but it somewhat follows the same pattern. If you tell a joke and there isn’t anyone there to laugh would you still consider it a joke? I believe that as long as something makes you smile it can be a joke. I come up with jokes all the time and keep them to myself. I guess they help me through the day sometimes. But those jokes don’t ever make anyone laugh because I don’t usually end up telling them. They make me smile though, so my answer to Steven Wright’s question is that yes a joke is still a joke if no one laughs.
The second thing that caught my eye in Chapter 1 was the blurb about laughing doing for the psyche what running does for the body. I remember reading and hearing from numerous sources that the more a person laughs the longer they are expected to live. Now of course this cannot be counting when things like freak accidents come into play. But I definitely agree that laughing is good for the mind, body, and soul. Nothing brings a person out of a slump like a good, belly-shaking laugh. In my favorite movie, Sex and the City, Carrie is left at the altar. Her three best girlfriends accompany her to Mexico on what should have been her honeymoon. Carrie one morning, after sleeping through the better part of the trip, asks if she will ever laugh again. Her friends assure that when something is really funny she will laugh. A few scenes later something hilarious happens and sure enough Carrie laughs. I’m not saying the laughing made all of her pain go away but it definitely started to mend some of the wounds.
While reading “Relaxing the Rules of Reason” by Robin Hemley in Laughing Matters, I found myself nodding my head along with most everything she was saying. To me her most resonating point was that funny is where you find it. Everyone is so different so of course an 18 year old sorority girl is not going to find the same thing funny as an 80 year old retired man. What you find funny depends on how you were raised, how old you are, your race, your socio-economic standing, and many other factors. I am someone that finds racial humor very rude and offensive, but many people think it is the height of funny. I think people definitely need to know their audience before they start shooting off jokes.
Question for the class:
-Do you think it’s easier to make jokes when things aren’t going well or when everything is great?
-“A humorist tell himself every morning, “I hope it’s going to be a rough day.” When things are going well, it’s much harder to make jokes”
Alan Coren
January 20, 2009
Reflection
English 102
There were two things that really caught my eye while reading Chapter 1 of Comedy Writing Secrets. The first was a quote by Steven Wright, “What if you tell a joke in the forest, and nobody laughs? Is it still a joke?” After reading that I for some odd reason automatically thoughts of the ever looming question, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around the hear it does it make a sound? I have no idea why I thought of that but it somewhat follows the same pattern. If you tell a joke and there isn’t anyone there to laugh would you still consider it a joke? I believe that as long as something makes you smile it can be a joke. I come up with jokes all the time and keep them to myself. I guess they help me through the day sometimes. But those jokes don’t ever make anyone laugh because I don’t usually end up telling them. They make me smile though, so my answer to Steven Wright’s question is that yes a joke is still a joke if no one laughs.
The second thing that caught my eye in Chapter 1 was the blurb about laughing doing for the psyche what running does for the body. I remember reading and hearing from numerous sources that the more a person laughs the longer they are expected to live. Now of course this cannot be counting when things like freak accidents come into play. But I definitely agree that laughing is good for the mind, body, and soul. Nothing brings a person out of a slump like a good, belly-shaking laugh. In my favorite movie, Sex and the City, Carrie is left at the altar. Her three best girlfriends accompany her to Mexico on what should have been her honeymoon. Carrie one morning, after sleeping through the better part of the trip, asks if she will ever laugh again. Her friends assure that when something is really funny she will laugh. A few scenes later something hilarious happens and sure enough Carrie laughs. I’m not saying the laughing made all of her pain go away but it definitely started to mend some of the wounds.
While reading “Relaxing the Rules of Reason” by Robin Hemley in Laughing Matters, I found myself nodding my head along with most everything she was saying. To me her most resonating point was that funny is where you find it. Everyone is so different so of course an 18 year old sorority girl is not going to find the same thing funny as an 80 year old retired man. What you find funny depends on how you were raised, how old you are, your race, your socio-economic standing, and many other factors. I am someone that finds racial humor very rude and offensive, but many people think it is the height of funny. I think people definitely need to know their audience before they start shooting off jokes.
Question for the class:
-Do you think it’s easier to make jokes when things aren’t going well or when everything is great?
-“A humorist tell himself every morning, “I hope it’s going to be a rough day.” When things are going well, it’s much harder to make jokes”
Alan Coren
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