Humor is different from person to person. What one finds hysterical offends another. What is disregarded as juvenile by one is the funniest thing ever conceived of by the human mind to someone else.
It can also be subjective. Take certain movies for example.
I am a Monty Python fan, and have been since my indoctrination to the British troupe’s humor in high school. However, not everyone can follow it. (OK, that might have something to do with their accents!) Nor do they find it the least bit humorous.
I like some Will Ferrell movies, but others leave me cold. Yet I have good friends who LOVE everything the man has put to celluloid.
A good example is a movie that I have never actually seen: Napoleon Dynamite. I was talking to a good friend this weekend about it, and she said the first time she watched it, she didn’t get it, but on the second viewing it was hilarious.
It’s like that with groups, too. Have you ever watched a comedy with friends that had you rolling the whole time, but while viewing it alone you rarely even cracked a smile?Why is that? Is it the need to fit in so we lower our standards of what is funny to be seen in a favorable light? Or is it the fact that maybe we don’t recognize some things as funny unless others point it out for us? Whatever causes this kind of “group-think laugh”, it usually is one of the best laughs the people involved have had in some time.
Hearing interviews with comedians and comedic actors has led me to this conclusion: comedy is serious business.
Imagine the feelings that a comic must be feeling before their name is announced and they take the stage: fright of failing to tell a joke or story properly and therefore ruining the impact of the punch-line, nervousness about being in front of people and simply by being up there, asking them to find their work humorous and entertaining.
It’s hard work being funny. I have a lot of respect for the people who can make a living at it. It takes skill, a willingness to fall on your face, dedication to honing their craft until they get it right.
Oh, and don’t forget, they actually have to be funny, too!
Ben Cox is the morning show host of “Ben Cox in the Morning” on KQBZ, 96.9 FM in Brownwood Texas. He is the new in-stadium voice of the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets football team, & Ben is also an event DJ for weddings, parties and the like, and can be contacted through the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce.
The thoughts and comments reflected in this column are those of the writer alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of Wendlee Broadcasting, or its affiliates.
