What’s So Funny?
Aug 1 2010

To me, a sense of humor is really important.  But funny enough what some people think is funny others don’t.  The best comedians appeal to a majority of people with their jokes because usually they pick on the insecurities many of us have.  If you can’t laugh at yourself, your mistakes, or even others from time to time, you’ll go insane.  In my opinion, a good sense of humor is important with friends, family, and in the workplace.  I like to laugh and I like to make others laugh.  I’m certainly not a comedian by any stretch of the imagination, but I tend to show my humor much more off blog than on blog because I really don’t know what will resonate with you hundreds upon hundreds  of readers out there. (Are you still there? Feedburner, Google Analytics and WordPress stats say you are. :-))

There are two cartoons that I think are hilarious that my kids watch.  I like to watch them too and my kids ask me (while they are laughing) why I think they are so funny and I tell them “I just do.”  They are Penguins of Madagascar (based on the DreamWorks movie series Madagascar) and Emmy award winning Disney channel’s Phineas and Ferb.  King Julien, the ring-tailed lemur, cracks me up in his self absorbed ways in Penguins of Madagascar.  The crafty penguins with their dry wit, make me laugh out loud.

The creativity (and obliviousness) of the two little step brothers in Phineas and Ferb, their older classically teenage sister (Candace) who is always trying to BUST them in their over-the-top, dangerous projects, and Perry the Platypus who is always busting the evil Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, are so well ‘cast’ together.  The brother’s Firecamp Girl (play on Girl Scouts) friend Isabella helps them with their projects and always greets them with a “Watcha doing?” when she sees them.  According to the Wikipedia link, the creators of Phineas and Ferb pitched the concept for 16 freaking long years before Disney picked it up.  Wow!  To me, it’s pure genius.

I also just rented Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, Life of Brian, and The Holy Grail because a friend (Earl Lundquist – soccer blogger) mentioned that he and the family were watching Monty Python on one of his facebook updates.  It reminded me that I hadn’t seen those movies in a really long time, and I think Monty Python is classic British wit that pokes fun of many sensitive subjects (religion, politics, personal relationships, gender) at its finest.  I re-watched Meaning of Life last night and it still is so funny.  The scene where Death comes to visit, or the scene where the professor is trying to teach sex-ed to a seemingly uninterested group of boys by going through the mechanical acts of procreation with his wife, or the scene where the Catholic mother is doing the dishes and gives birth to her 30th child and they sing about not being able to use protection, or the scene where they come to harvest a liver from a live donor are just classic.

I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to watch them with me.  I think if they can laugh at themselves or find the humor in things, they will hopefully be happier individuals overall.  [Although I do have a limit to the bodily functions humor they both seem to like.]  I hope they find Monty Python funny too and don’t roll their eyes at me and think how embarrassing their mother is, but I’m prepared for the worst.  Well, maybe my sense of humor is odd, but hey at least I can laugh at something (some people are so serious they can’t see the lighter side of things).  Plus they say laughter is the best medicine and it can be just what you need to make a breakthrough in a tough project at home or work. 😀 <— that’s me Laughing Out Loud (LOL).

Author: Aruni | Filed under: entrepreneurship, parenting, TV | Tags: madagascar, penguins of madagascar, perty the platypus, phineas and ferb, sense of humor | 3 Comments »

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