Garrison Keilor recently delivered a keynote at the Erma Bombeck Writers Conference. During the Q & A he was asked: “Is it hard to write humor when bad things happen in your life?” Before he even answered, I laughed. What? It’s the best time.
He said, “It’s great when you’re depressed. Why would you even want to write humor if you’re in a good mood?” Which made me laugh again. I get it. Give me a really horrible situation, something in my family, or the world, something unbelievable, incomprehensible, such as a new patch of cellulite developing on my thigh. I’ll think it’s funny. Well, what am I supposed to do? Go buy a $437 jar of cream that doesn’t work?
The best humor comes from life. It’s not jokes or prefabricated stories. It’s everyday life. Bill Cosby has a long hilarious bit about his root canal. Chris Rock talks about racism. And Ellen DeGeneres finds humor in well, every hardship she’s ever had.
It seriously bugs me when people don’t have a sense of humor. I get concerned.
What’s going to happen if something really bad happens? How will they make it through?
I write humor for a living. I really do try to look at things through humor colored glasses—and often that takes a little time. But eventually, almost everything is funny. Although honestly, I’m not yuckin’ it up about the cellulite like I said I was.
Some things are truly sad.
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Friday, July 11, 2008
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