Humor

What is humor? Don't look it up in Webster's Collegiate; it'll make you sick to your stomach...yuck! Don't believe me? Try this: "A normal functioning body fluid or semi-fluid." Now, I don't know about you, but that's just not my definition of 'humor.' I've always regarded it as something that makes me laugh so hard, I darn near wet my pants...hmmm, now we're back to the bodily fluids. In addition, as definitions go, that's probably not the best, for humor is deeper than that.

Groucho Marx noted that, "Humor is reason gone mad," and Swiss dramatist, Friedrich Durenmatt said, "Humor is the mask of wisdom." Everyone has his or her definition of humor, and that's fine, for perhaps that is one of the things that separates us from other beings...we supposedly have a 'sense' of humor.  Dr. Steven M. Sultanoff, a "Mirthologist' and Clinical Psychologist, believes that, "Humor is the capacity to perceive, appreciate, or express what is funny, amusing, incongruous, ludicrous, etc." That's pretty good; I think I'll stick with that one; thanks, Doc.

In addition, you might ask, "What separates the humorist from the comedian?" Will Rogers and Mark Twain were wonderful humorists, but one could hardly call them comedians. George Burns and Fred Allen were both humorists and comedians. Most politicians are humorists, generally without trying to be such, and their humor is often more tragic than comedic. Today, more than several decades ago, the line between humorist and comedian has blurred. I consider Bill Cosby to be a wonderful blend of both the humorist and the comedian. Rita Rudner, Eddie Murphy, Paula Poundstone, David Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Margaret Cho are comedians, but you have to appreciate the type of comic relief that they bring to your ears.

If the essays that follow make you smile, that's wonderful; if not, we don't share the same sense of humor...and that's fine. Just remember, laughter really is music for the soul.