Thursday, February 26, 2009

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

With me, it is the ridiculous. The old Laurel and Hardy movies, Some Like It Hot. Slap Stick.

I admit it. I'm a peasant.

My husband loves any Woody Allen film. I love Woody too but the one I can't get enough of is "Sleeper". The scene where he's coming out of his long sleep breaks me up every time. I think my husband enjoys Sleeper too, but in moderation. His favorite movie of all time is not a Woody Allen film. It's "An American President" with Michael Douglas and Annette Benning. If I am totally in the dark as to what film to suggest to him for an evening together "An American President" is a good choice. I love that film too. I think there's not a lot of dialogue in "An American President". It's built around ridiculous situations. That's probably why both of us like it. Tonight we're watching a Woody Allen film, an Academy Award winner--"Vicky, Christina, and Barcelona" and all I can think of is there's a lot of talking. It makes me think of Barcelona and weep. The Rambla! Ah.... I don't know when if we'll ever get to Spain again. He on the other hand is grinning and enjoying himself immensely.

An example of the ridiculous came up tonight that gets me laughing every time I think of it. It was right out of Slap Stick Heaven.

A little background. Our dog Plato is always hungry. It doesn't matter when he ate last, he's hungry. And he will eat--strange things.

My husband came home about seven o'clock tonight. He got himself a Scotch and sat down in the chair next to me. All of a sudden he said, "What's that noise?' I didn't hear the noise but in retrospect it must have been a rumbling noise of some kind. He finally was curious enough to go upstairs to check.

A minute later he came down with Plato. Plato was attached, with his collar, to a large metal mesh wastebasket and a plastic bag. "Get it off him," my husband demanded. I was laughing too hard to comply for awhile. The plastic bag had contained a diaper. Yes, Plato had been in our son's and daughter-in-law's bedroom--which had been conveniently been left open by the cats--and in trying to grab the diaper had gotten trapped by a very large, inconvenient metal wastepaper basket. Plato will eat anything.

I laughed about the sight of Plato attached to that ridiculous metal wastepaper basket for hours. My husband was irritated. He didn't find it funny at all.

What are the uses of humor? I think one of the uses is to help us through our day. I've heard one of the best things we can do for our health is laugh. We come upon the ridiculous a lot more than carefully set up dramatic situations that make us laugh. I'm glad I laugh at the ridiculous. I wish my husband did.

When I went to my brother's funeral service--it was a chance to listen to old memories--it felt so good to laugh. Laugh at the three Dave's: the Dave that got to me most was the one who appeared for his fishing buddies in a ridiculous bucket hat, a tea shirt that was mostly holes that belonged to my father, and a pair of Hush Puppies that had been resoled at least a dozen times. My brother appreciated the ridiculous. He laughed at the ridiculous. Maybe that's why I loved him so much.

What makes you laugh?

4 comments:

JKB said...

GROOOOOOOOSS! Plato! MAN!

Hm. Laugh...lately, not too much. I'm working on it, but not much. Off the top of my head, when I'm doing my workout and get through a new part (It's a very long workout) successfully. Then I'm pretty happy, and I laugh in victory.

But that's about it. :(

Heidi the Hick said...

The ridiculous. I have a deep affection for anything ridiculous!

Like, your trash-can-headed dog. Dogs! They are so gross! And yet we LOVE them!

That's ridiculous!

Some Like it Hot is a brilliant movie, I agree. And my son is a big fan of slapstick. My daughter has a totally wacky sense of humour... right now, the number 27 is hilarious. I have no idea why but if she's laughing, I'm gonna too!

Kerri said...

That is so funny. I would've laughed even more seeing the disgust on my husband's face. What makes me laugh the most? My husband cracks me up b/c he doesn't mean to. Like when he sings or dances. And he's not embarrassed at all, that makes it funnier.

marsh to the fore said...

Yeah, Plato can be gross but he was so funny coming down with that silly thing attached to him.

Jen, you gotta figure out how to laugh once in awhile. Get a funny movie that you really enjoy and you and Soren watch it. Do it!

Heidi, you and I are kindred spirits, I can see. Hmmm. A funny numbeer. Yeah, there has to be something in that but what? I am definately curious. I've got to figure that out. I love it that your daughter finds the number 27 funny.

And yeah, Kerri, seeing someone who doesn't know he's funny can be hilarious--and endearing, because the hummor is so unplanned.