Response to Comic Relief 2-39
Many people believe that laughing
is simple; when something is funny, we laugh. We laugh at friends, at movies,
at YouTube videos, and at jokes, but when presented with simple humor we rarely
stop and ask ourselves why it was funny. The truth is that society often laughs
without thinking; therefore, society does not think about laughter. As Morreall
reveals in Comic Relief, humor can be
innocent and simple, but humor also has the ability to bring-up more serious,
thought-provoking issues.
Most of the
things we laugh at today are simple. After all, humor generally is not meant to
be treated as “a puzzle to be solved, or a problem to be dealt with” rather to
be “simply enjoy[ed]” (33). The funniest things are what we can instantly
understand. In the YouTube video, “You Forgot the Blueberries” a young girl
explains how to make a fruit salad while her little sister persistently reminds
her to add the blueberries. The little sister then loses her balance and falls
to the floor causing the fruit salad bowl to smack her in the face. Upon seeing
this, one would find it near impossible to stifle laughter. Once this laughter
stops, however, there is nothing left to ponder, and there is no solution left
to seek. The incident was funny and nothing else.
Not all
humor that creates laughter must be as simple as in “You Forgot the
Blueberries;” humor can also be “modeled on more serious activities” (34).
Morreall describes this type of serious humor through comparing it to serious
play. In Morreall’s opinion, boys playing soldiers is an example of serious
play. When boys play soldiers they tend to use “aggressive movements;” however,
they only “pretend to kill each other” (34). Therefore, boys playing soldiers
can be viewed as a fun way to explore a serious issue. Comedians also bring up
similar issues to their audience; however, they make it fun through humor, not
play. Brian Regan, for instance, compares a child watching their balloon fly
away to an adult watching their wallet fly away because both would throw a
tantrum if either of these events happened. Through this comparison, Brian
Regan successfully reveals the issues of greed, but he disguises it with humor.
Therefore, he does not offend anyone, but there is a message that lingers after
the joke is told.
Laughter is
one of life’s greatest pleasures, but it is also one of life’s greatest
mysteries. No one is entirely sure why we laugh, but we know what we laugh at.
We laugh at the simple humor because it makes us feel elated; however, we also
laugh at thought-provoking humor. This more serious type of humor makes us
uncomfortable because there is a serious truth lurking behind the laughter.
