Chad Froomkin

Group 7

September 16, 1999

Some people say that laughter is the universal medicine. That when you feel down or when you are not feeling good, laughing can cure all ills. Other people can measure whether they had a good day just by if they laughed or if they saw something funny. There’s nothing better than being down about something and quickly change your mood by just doing something as small as putting a Mel Brooks or Adam Sandler movie in the V.C.R. Comedy gives people a lighter side on life.

That’s what it really means to be funny, that is if you give someone a lighter side on life. Some of the best and most popular role models are stand – up comedians, or actors that usually play funny roles. People can be labeled as funny by not only what they say, but also how they say it, by what type of facial expressions they make, or even by what type of situation they are in. A person can be labeled as funny or be funny for doing something in particular, even though that person isn’t trying to be funny. Sometimes it feels good to be laughed at.

Also, though it might be bad to be laughed at. If you are the butt of the joke, then it’s probably not going to be funny to you, but it might be to other people. In some situations it’s healthy to laugh at yourself. It’s good to just look at yourself and laugh, and when other people laugh with you and not at you, it helps your social aspect of life. To me that could be a great feeling if someone laughs at one of your jokes.

I myself might come off as a quiet person, but when I’m around my friends I’m usually very funny. One thing I love to do is joke around with people, not to be mean spirited, but just to have a little fun. I’m not the knock – knock joke type of funny, I’m more of the situational funny. For example, usually when I’m with my really good friends and we are out at a restaurant or at the mall, there is always something funny that takes place. With me it’s unexpected, sometimes I just say things that people are thinking, because they just don’t want to say it themselves. That’s one of the ways people open up and talk to you, because it shows them that you might be pretty interesting. Another thing I love to do is to say a line from a movie in normal conversation. My theory is that everything that goes on during a typical day is related to some type of movie. On some days I might just repeat ten to fifteen lines from movies just to make people laugh, or even reciting lines and not realizing they are from a movie until after I say them. Doing that is a great way to find common interests in people you might not know very well.

I’ve made many friends just by being funny. You can know whom a person is, but never really talk to them that much. That first time you get in a meaningful conversation with that person and you make them laugh or they make you laugh, is a very great feeling. By just laughing with that person you probably made a new friend at the same time. If you make people laugh and people think that you’re funny, you will probably not have many enemies. It makes someone feel great to laugh.

That’s another thing I like to do. When one of my friends is upset or my girlfriend is feeling upset, I always try to cheer them up by trying to make them laugh. I hate to see people upset over things, and I’m not the type of person who gets upset easily. So I seem to be the person who is always there to cheer you up. Comedians even use this technique on themselves sometimes. Many stand – up comics or comedian actors, use their comedy for a way out of personal situations. There are many stories out there about how some comedians grew up in a dysfunctional home or in a bad situation, and they use comedy as an outlet to their anger and unhappiness. That’s probably why you see many Canadian comics, because it has to be horrible to grow up in Canada and be Canadian. I mean come on, who really has fun being a lumberjack and chopping down wood all the time. That is probably why it seems like most Canadian comedians come to America to make it big, because most Canadians don’t have a sense of humor. That is maybe why Canadians are disliked so much.

Having no sense of humor is just another way of saying that a person is miserable. If a person doesn’t know how to laugh, that person does not know how to live. I could never see myself being friends with someone who has no sense of humor, let alone talking to someone with no sense of humor for more than a couple of minutes. If they can’t laugh with you, then they shouldn’t be near you.

Comedy is never negative. I love comedy, because it makes me happy and it makes me laugh. Comedy enables me to always look at life on the lighter side. When something I don’t like happens to me, I either let it roll off my shoulders or just think of something funny and laugh to myself. I guess in my case then, laughter is my universal medicine.