Taking It to the Streets

I think laughter is a way in which as people we can come together as one. Say you are in a large crowd of people of different ethnicities or nationalities. Maybe none of you even speak the same language.

Let’s say you are all there together when Carrot Top is making a long distance commercial. Something goes horribly awry and he is strangled by a phone cord. Laughter ensues. During that brief moment all of your individual differences fade away and you are all one entity rejoicing over the untimely death of a hack comic.

But – even if Carrot Top survives the accident – it’s alright, because you all became aware of that part of yourselves that makes you most human.

Our humanity is not hinged on how our cells differ from the cells of a centipede. It is hinged on the fact that centipedes lack the ability to laugh at themselves. Think about it.

Here’s a joke I had to write for them, because the centipedes I recruited for this task only seemed interested in crawling on the pencil:

There’s this centipede who loses all his legs in a tragic biking accident. To add to his misery, none of the other centipedes will believe his story, because he hasn’t got a leg to stand on. (Anyone else hear crickets?)

Yes, that’s right, I had to write that myself. Since there’s no way I could go any lower than that shameful pun, you may rest assured that you are safe now. Don’t worry – I’ll do the honorable thing and commit hara-kiri.

I do silly things like that Ghyslain boy did all the time. I think we need more people in this world who aren’t afraid to get in touch with their silly side. We need to try to remember to laugh at ourselves when we inevitably do dumb things. (Hey, I even voted for Reagan once of my own free will. What a hoot! Republicans are still trying that trickle down economics on us. Heads up, folks. That trickle looks yellow!)

Who, after all, is better qualified to laugh at you than you yourself? Be joyous that you have your life to screw up how you may and pass that joy on to others.

Think of it this way. If you laugh first, no one can ever laugh at you; they’ll always be laughing with you.