At Saturday’s Women’s Grief Gathering on February 19,2022, we talked about the therapeutic value of laughter during our discussion time. This article by Jonah Goldberg, who is quite funny himself, points out some interesting historical perspective on humor and gives some nice links to other writer’s tributes to O’Rourke. I enjoyed O’Rourke’s work. Humor is a daily requirement for my soul. Excerpt here:
“Kierkegaard and Kant had more nuanced views of humor, seeing it as an effort to illuminate the incongruities and inconsistencies—even the absurdities—of existence. (This shouldn’t be surprising, because as Mel Brooks explained, “K” is the funniest sound so it only makes sense that the philosophers that begin with K should get it).
And that’s why I like to think the philosophers didn’t like funny men: It’s competition. Philosophy spends a lot of time trying to reconcile apparent contradictions and incongruities in all sorts of very serious ways. Comedy doesn’t necessarily try to reconcile the weird contradictions of existence, but it’s really good at pointing them out. Many versions of the “relief theory” of comedy make this point. There are all sorts of weird glitches in the programming of existence—or in the programming that governs how we perceive existence. We don’t always consciously think about them, but when a comedian points them out—“Did you ever notice …”—the recognition of the glitch brings us relief or release, say folks like Freund and Kant. I think there’s some truth to that, but I also think there’s a special feeling of joy and affirmation that comes when we laugh, particularly in groups. It reminds us we are not alone in our bewilderment, confusion, unease, fear, or contempt. Some kinds of laughter amount to saying “Shweeooo! I’m not the only one!”
It takes a lot of chutzpah for eggheads like Plato to crap on comedy as the stuff of false superiority. Philosophers are the ones who want to be de facto mystics demystifying the universe to everyone, often in ways no one can understand. Comedians do something similar, and all it takes is a two-drink minimum (unless you’re Socrates).
Kierkegaard and Kant had more nuanced views of humor, seeing it as an effort to illuminate the incongruities and inconsistencies—even the absurdities—of existence. (This shouldn’t be surprising, because as Mel Brooks explained, “K” is the funniest sound so it only makes sense that the philosophers that begin with K should get it).
And that’s why I like to think the philosophers didn’t like funny men: It’s competition. Philosophy spends a lot of time trying to reconcile apparent contradictions and incongruities in all sorts of very serious ways. Comedy doesn’t necessarily try to reconcile the weird contradictions of existence, but it’s really good at pointing them out. Many versions of the “relief theory” of comedy make this point. There are all sorts of weird glitches in the programming of existence—or in the programming that governs how we perceive existence. We don’t always consciously think about them, but when a comedian points them out—“Did you ever notice …”—the recognition of the glitch brings us relief or release, say folks like Freund and Kant. I think there’s some truth to that, but I also think there’s a special feeling of joy and affirmation that comes when we laugh, particularly in groups. It reminds us we are not alone in our bewilderment, confusion, unease, fear, or contempt. Some kinds of laughter amount to saying “Shweeooo! I’m not the only one!”
It takes a lot of chutzpah for eggheads like Plato to crap on comedy as the stuff of false superiority. Philosophers are the ones who want to be de facto mystics demystifying the universe to everyone, often in ways no one can understand. Comedians do something similar, and all it takes is a two-drink minimum (unless you’re Socrates).”
from 9/13/2018…. example:
Too tired to sleep…… I feel like I’ve played shortstop in a double header of fast-pitch softball against a championship team!! Mostly caught the line drives, missed a pop up fly, slid into first, out at second. Hit a double and got smacked in the face with a curveball. But, hey, our team won, so who cares? Maybe tomorrow will be a little less hectic! LOL!