Topical Guide 413
Mark Dorset
Humor: “A Sense of Humor”: Value of
Matthew laughs. The whole scene strikes him as funny, these people in various stages of coming unglued. Liz used to think he had no sense of humor, and at the time she may have been right, but he has a sense of humor now — he’s sure he does, it’s one of the many ways he’s changed, as she would be amazed to see if she would take the trouble to look. He’s learned this: a sense of humor is the best defense. He spent a whole childhood moping because he didn’t have the defensive shield of a sense of humor. He has cultivated this sense of humor that he has now, and he believes that he mopes for only a small part of the average day.
Reservations Recommended, Chapter 1
I can’t help myself, I listen to the junk on the radio, and the way it looks to me, it’s blind leading blind out of the frying pan into the fire, world without end. It’s like me and Doc Clendening. There used to be a department in the New London Day called “Diet and Health.” It was run by Dr. Logan Clendening, and he was always bright and cheerful. “Keep smiling!” he’d say. “Worry will kill you. A good hearty laugh,” he’d say, “is the best medicine. If you’ve got high blood pressure, laugh! If you’ve got low blood pressure, laugh! The more you laugh, the longer you’ll live.” When I was down in the dumps, I always enjoyed “Diet and Health.” It was the first thing I’d turn to. It cheered me up. And then one day I picked up the paper and it said that “Diet and Health‚” wouldn’t appear no more because Dr. Clendening had cut his throat.
Joseph Mitchell, “The Bottom of the Harbor‚” in Up in the Old Hotel
I laugh at all . . . a mere spectator of other men’s fortunes and adventures, and how they act their parts, which methinks are diversely presented unto me, as from a common theatre or scene. I hear new news every day, and those ordinary rumours of war, plagues, fires, inundations, thefts, murders, massacres, meteors, comets, spectrums, prodigies, apparitions, of towns taken, cities besieged in France, Germany, Turkey, Persia, Poland, &c., daily musters and preparations, and such like, which these tempestuous times afford, battles fought, so many men slain, monomachies, shipwrecks, piracies and sea-fights; peace, leagues, stratagems, and fresh alarms. A vast confusion of vows, wishes, actions, edicts, petitions, lawsuits, pleas, laws, proclamations, complaints, grievances are daily brought to our ears. New books every day, pamphlets, corantoes, stories, whole catalogues of volumes of all sorts, new paradoxes, opinions, schisms, heresies, controversies in philosophy, religion, &c. Now come tidings of weddings, maskings, mummeries, entertainments, jubilees, embassies, tilts and tournaments, trophies, triumphs, revels, sports, plays: then again, as in a new shifted scene, treasons, cheating tricks, robberies, enormous villainies in all kinds, funerals, burials, deaths of princes, new discoveries, expeditions, now comical, then tragical matters. Today we hear of new lords and officers created, tomorrow of some great men deposed, and then again of fresh honours conferred; one is let loose, another imprisoned; one purchaseth, another breaketh: he thrives, his neighbour turns bankrupt; now plenty, then again dearth and famine; one runs, another rides, wrangles, laughs, weeps, &c. This I daily hear, and such like, both private and public news, amidst the gallantry and misery of the world; jollity, pride, perplexities and cares, simplicity and villainy; subtlety, knavery, candour and integrity, mutually mixed and offering themselves; I rub on privus privatus.
Robert Burton (as Democritus Junior), The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–1651)
It has been said that man is the only animal who can laugh at itself. This is because mankind has learned to recognize and express ridiculous behavior in self and others. Most civilizations have valued the ability to identify and laugh at the absurdities of life—and to apply these insights to personal and social improvement and even to survival. …
A wise saying is that “some good humor every day may help to keep the doctor away.” Let’s, therefore, consider various forms of humor and some ways they may be developed through education. …
For educational purposes, it is best to start with a Humor Survey of what the child thinks is amusing. What “tickles the funny bone” of one person may appear unintelligible, crude, or even repulsive to another. As with all human faculties and abilities, the sense of humor is refined through progressive stages of development. Any survey should take these developmental levels into consideration. These stages can be characterized as:
1. The early childhood “giggling prankster” stage.
2. The middle childhood “foolish comic” stage.
3. The late childhood “puzzling riddler” stage.
4. The early adolescence “punning wit” stage.
5. The adolescent-adult “satirical critic” stage.Robert E. Valett, “Developing the Sense of Humor and Divergent Thinking,” in Academic Therapy
Don’t mind the rain drops
Wait till the rain stops
Smile through your tears, laughing at life
No road is lonely, if you will only
Lose all your blues laughing at life
Live for tomorrow, be happy today
Laugh all your sorrows away
Start now and cheer up
The skies will clear up
Lose all your blues laughing at life
Don't mind the rain drops
Wait till the rain stops
You’ll find the sun laughing at life
No road is lonely, if you will only
Smile through your tears, laugh at life
Live for tomorrow, be happy today
Laugh all your sorrows away
Start now and cheer up
The skies will clear up
Lose all your blues laughing at lifeBo Todd, Charles Kenny, Cornell Todd, and Nick Kenny, “Laughing at Life”
Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra, featuring Roy Eldridge, trumpet; Lester Young, tenor sax; and Teddy Wilson, piano:
See also: Humor: Shaggy Dog Story: The Three Rabbits TG 150; Pun: Extended or Epic Pun TG 150
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