Perhaps the best advice I’ve ever taken, or given,
originated with Vietnamese Buddhist sage Thich Nhat Hanh: “Take a deep breath,
and smile.” Here, you try it, right now. I’ll wait.
Feel better? Now try my new supercharged version: “Take a
deep breath, and smile… now *laugh!*” A little “heh heh heh” will do just fine.
This is a good month to laugh. It’s not just the recall, but
also another historic humor event. October 20 marks the official release of
“The Complete Far Side”, a two-volume collection of every Gary Larson syndicated
cartoon ever published. My son Riley, on hearing this news, said without
looking up from his cereal, “We’re getting it.”
We *are* getting it. I’m looking forward to revisiting my
(hundreds of) favorites. There’s my first visit to the Far Side, stuck to door
of my brother-in-law’s refrigerator. Two goldfish stare out from their bowl
atop a tall pedestal. Directly below, out of sight on the floor, is a goldfish
skeleton. One of the goldfish tells the other, “Well, I guess he must have made
it. It’s been a week since he went over the wall.”
The Far Side has a way of striking the deep funny bone, like
the whack of a Zen master’s bamboo cane. Like the striking insight of the cow,
looking up from her meal and shouting a revelation to her fellow bovines: “Hey,
wait a minute! This is *grass*. We’ve been eating *grass*!” There seems to be a
Far Side to go with so many of life’s predicaments. Like the bear on a big city
sidewalk that sighs to his mate, “Well, we’re lost. And I guess it’s only a
matter of time before someone decides to shoot us.”
Laughter is everywhere, waiting to erupt. A year ago I
discovered British stand-up comic Eddie Izzard, via his “Dressed to Kill”
video. If you haven’t seen it, get it and enjoy the Stonehenge and the Cake or
Death routines. My favorite: the naming and alleged death of Englebert
Humperdinck, the last part of which involves a long series of subtle gestures
that had me laughing so hard I nearly threw up. Seriously!
As I write this, my wife and are watching “The Russians Are
Coming. The Russians Are Coming.” Humor with a heart. “E-mehr-gen-CEE! Eh-vree
bah-dee to get from street.” Another favorite, Woody Allen’s “What’s Up Tiger
Lilly,” features Phil Moskowitz, Allen’s overdubbed Japanese James Bond,
shouting curses to punctuate his punches: “Saracen PIG! Spartan DOG! …Spanish
FLY!” There’s Billy Crystal and Jack Palance in “City Slicker”. Billy: “Kill
anyone today, Curly?” Palance, sharpening his knife: “Day’s not over yet.” I
like to repeat this last one during those workdays from hell.
Humor columnist Dave Barry
came to our neighborhood recently, promoting his latest: “Boogers Are My Beat.”
My reaction to Dave often involves facial cramps. He is the master of absurd
example: “Shawn's acting ability is such that she could not convey the concept
of falling if you pushed her off a cliff", or telling of a man with “B.O.
so bad it interfered with radio transmissions.” Or reporting on the American
Olympic snowboarding team dudes, "he then uttered a word, a word that cannot
be printed in a family newspaper, a word which, frankly, expresses a concept
without which families would not be possible."
I think I owe a lot to my Dad, and his abundance of corny
jokes. The one about the three-legged dog who walked into the bar and said, “I’m
lookin’ for the man who shot my paw.” And the insomniac who complained to his
doctor about dreaming he was a teepee and a wigwam, and the doctor said,”
You’re too tense”.
I just read that laughter is the antidote to the
fight-or-flight stress response; that it brings deeper breathing to enrich the
blood with oxygen; that it generates endorphins to ease the pain; that it
improves food digestion. Regular hearty laughers have lower standing blood
pressure. The benefits, they say, begin as early as a smile. So, make yourself
healthy and happy. Take a deep breameetand laugh!