The other night I was with my 22-year-old daughter and we started to laugh so hard—deep from the belly laughter—and I realized I hadn’t done that in far too long. I don’t remember exactly what we laughed about, just that it was full and contagious and warming. I was happy to do it with her.
These have been difficult days, what with the chaos of the Republicans, the ongoing derangements of their leading candidate, and the atrocities of Hamas in Israel and the escalating response that portends more bloody days to come. My mind keeps turning to the William Butler Yeats lines: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world/The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/The ceremony of innocence is drowned.
There will be more to say about all that. But not today. My mind is focused on laughter. How about the Chris Farley sketch in which he plays motivational speaker Matt Foley, hired by a dad to scare straight his pot-smoking children? Over and over—in tones over-wrought and bombastic, his movements exaggerated and extreme as he makes his case and struggles to keeps his pants from falling down—Farley delivers the classic line: “I live in a van down by the river.” It never fails to deliver for me.
So do most Will Farrell performances with their passionate ridiculousness. There are many laugh-out-loud examples, but I confess I’m always laughing when he and John C. Reilly play forty-something men thrust together as step brothers when their parents marry. As critic Nick Schager puts it, Adam McKay’s Step Brothers “is a preeminent work of man-child absurdity, a smorgasbord of nonsense involving grown men acting like adolescents who’ve been hit on the head a dozen times too many, and parents struggling to stomach their progeny’s willful inanity.”
Pomposity getting its comeuppance, bad hair choices, bad life choices and the desperate, often humiliating attempts to fix them—all this usually makes me laugh, maybe nowhere better than in The Office. Steve Carrell (the cringe-worthy boss Michael) and Rainn Wilson (the boot-licking deputy Dwight)—responsible for the important work of selling paper for Dunder Mifflin—always prove that what could go wrong will go wrong. One example among many: “The Injury,” when Michael badly burns his foot on a Foreman grill because he likes breakfast in bed and the smell of sizzling bacon.
What about you? What makes you laugh? Perhaps you want to mention particular movies or shows. Maybe you want to share favorite actors or comedians. Or maybe you have a specific life experience or joke that always makes you laugh. I suspect we can all use a little of this necessary elixir.
As always, I look forward to reading your comments and for us all to hear from each other. Please do be respectful in your responses.
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*Photo of Chris Farley as motivational speaker Matt Foley (with David Spade and Christina Applegate) in the classic Saturday Night Live sketch written by Bob Odenkirk of Better Call Saul fame.
The skit where Tim Conway plays a dentist on his first day of work trying to figure out how to pull Harvey Korman’s bad tooth has some of the show’s all time best moments! Including brilliant impromptu lines and moves from Conway that pushed Korman to his limits of trying not to laugh! I have watched it so many times, but it never fails to give me a belly laugh! 😆
Anybody else notice how many of us remember THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW sketches as what makes us laugh? I don't see much SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, Letterman, Conan, IN LIVING COLOR or even MAD TV showing up here—but give us Tim Conway and Harvey Korman each trying to make the other corpse, Carol pulling off That Dress from "Went With the Wind" as she elegantly walked down the stairs, or Carol playing sexy secretary Mrs. Zw-iggins to whatever accent Conway was using as Mr. Tudball, and we're rolling in the aisles!
Bob Mackie was Carol Burnett's costume designer during her show's eleven-year run. When the writers turned out an elaborate twenty-minute sketch lampooning GONE WITH THE WIND (one of the writers had done his college thesis on the movie, so he knew it forwards, backwards and sideways), Mackie had a number of costumes he had to design for the cast and guest star Dinah Shore. They'd written in something like "Scarlett enters wearing a dress made from the curtains", and I think the curtain rod through the shoulders was Mackie's contribution.
I just heard a memorial episode of Car Talk from the week when Tom Magliozzi died. The first ten minutes or so consists of the boys unable to finish a sentence because they're laughing so hard. Tom's laugh is infectious. Later, their mom comes on a show, and she laughs just like him.Fabulous stuff.
Peter Sellers’ Pink Panther movies. His ridiculous accent and bumbling ways has endeared the character to me for many years! His sidekick Cato’s extraordinary martial arts skills are quite the sight.
Glad I could add a small bit of brightness to your day. Otherwise, I think your last sentence describes a whole lot of us. (I may have to rewatch that movie now.)
From THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN! That was a high watermark for the series, and letting Lom play former Chief Inspector Dreyfus as an eye-twitching Bond villain let him really go to town rather than just react to Sellers making a fool out of him.
I also loved the movie parody credits, done by WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? animator Richard Williams.
You are correct, Steven. It’s been a difficult week.
I met with an old friend - we’ve known each other since we were kids (60 years ago!) - and we never skip a beat, even though she lives 40 miles away. We laughed about our memories growing up. We laughed about when her little brother peed through our basement window. We laughed about when our parents had a block party, and my older sister “babysat” us even though she had her teenage friends over.
I’m reminded of the Foo Fighters song (because I’m Songgirl):
My friend from middle school, circa late 1960s and I share that joy too. Highbrow/ lowbrow, raunchy, potty humor and the same hilarious (to us) stories we tell over and over again💕
Thanks so much for reminding me to find laughter! I have been awash in pain, grief and depression during the last week. While there are many moments that have brought laughter, we only have to say Robin Williams and it brings a smile. This skit continues to bring much laughter! https://youtu.be/9IUSM4EKcRI?si=xEAPFbFrYcet3aBW
I'm a huge Monty Python fan. The humor that I embrace is the absurdities in life, in reasoning, impulsivity, and the joy from considering the Gonzo alternatives. It's every where begging to be recognized and appreciated ! Who doesn't enjoy a spontaneous belly laugh !
I always set aside time to laugh. Any Mel Brooks film will do it, as well as the Airplane and Naked Gun movies. Seinfeld, Cheers, Frasier, and Boston Legal are shows that we binge watch for laughs. Older shows like Carol Burnett with her, Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway, and Harvey Korman kill me, I about hurt myself laughing at their skits. Likewise, Steve Martin and Marin Short are great together, I love Only Murders in the Building. We were at our favorite watering hole for brunch last Sunday and we were talking about something we saw and it triggered such loud belly laughter from me that a man came over and said “if people can laugh like that I got to get to know them.” He was a retired Army Colonel, whose son is now an Army Major. It turns out that we graduated and received our commissions from ROTC both in 1983, and served in some of the same places in Germany. Laughing can also help make new friends.
Cats make me laugh. There’s almost nothing as hysterical as watching a cat cooly walking across the room and get startled by some imaginary thing, do a three-foot vertical leap, and land as it continues to cooly continue walking. Yes, they can be jerks, but they also bring so much life and joy.
I always laugh at anything Tim Conway and Harvey Corman did, but especially a Tim Conway bit with the Siamese elephants on Eunice and Mama - i don't care how many times i see i laugh hysterically. It's good to laugh, cleanses the soul and now we need something - what's going on in the world and in our country is sad - so sad - as a Jew it is particularly disturbing to see what's going on in Israel, but I truly believe they will sort it out and be successful - and I hope with not too many casualties- i feel for the Palestinian people who have no place to go and are not at all at fault for what Hamas has done to them. So hard as it may be now to laugh, try to find something that at least makes you smile. It does cleanse the soul.
For several year I worked for a pre-k program. It was a six week summer program where we got five-year-old kids ready for kindergarten. One day, during play time, I heard an argument begin between a young boy and girl playing with the doll house. "No, no, no," the boy said emphatically. "My daddy says you can't have any babies unless you are married." A few minutes later, I heard them both humming the wedding march. Then they both began happily planting babies around the house. Working with kids always makes me laugh.
Farley and Swayze playing Chippendale dancers on SNL. I laugh until I cry! And the dentist skit on Carol Burnett with Harvey Norman trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.
All the posts remind me of all the zany absurd stuff of TV and movies--how can you not love Peter Sellers or the SNL skit about Sweaty Balls? But, I have come to realize how hilarious my own life's gaffes have been gut bustingly funny now, even though "then" probably left me shaking my head in regret. So, what I laugh about now everyday is how stupid I can be, past, present and future--and I'm reminded that a sense of humor is one of life's greatest gifts!
Yes I do! Mango was also funny. I loved when Cheri Oteri and Will Ferrell did skits together. I've been watching SNL on and off since the first season. Now, I watch it on YouTube the next day, since I can't stay awake til 11:30! 😂
Some of the old Saturday Night Live routines with Gilda Radnor, John Belushi, Steve Martin, and others. Sometimes I watch Johnny Carson on Antenna TV channel.
Farley lives in my heart because of that sketch. And yes! Sacha Baron Cohen in everything I’ve seen him in. Let me contribute Christopher Walken as the Continental or any send-up performance he’s blessed us with.
So many but if I want to actually cry laughing it’s the entire Raising Arizona film and the entire cast therewith. Epic. Or Charlie Murphy’s stand up recollections of his early life guarding his brother.
If you haven’t been reading Jay Kuo each day, you may have missed his Saturday posts where he assembles a whole bunch of tweets, memes and hysterical animal bits that have come up during the week. So many are laugh out loud funny. Plus his daily posts can ALMOST make sense of the nonsense the retrumplicans are doing day by day.
Thank you for a happy post, Steven. I'm with you - I'd forgotten what it was like to laugh freely, hard, and long. I realized it as friends and I saw Craig Ferguson in Tucson ( his "favorite place in the whole world on a Sunday night at the Fox Theatre" to which the entire audience replied, "Yeah, right."). His entrance to "Everybody Dance Now" prancing around while playing bagpipes started the show off with belly laughs that didn't stop for ninety minutes. My ribs still hurt...
My go to for laughs is my husband...he just says the silly things that launch me into a giggle fit! :D There are quite a few movies/show scenes for us that always deliver -- many things Monty Python, and, as Claire points out, most everything Carol Burnet Show :D . Mel Brooks movies are continuously hysterical--Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles and always at the top of the list. And finally, Airplane -- being pilots -- we have probably watched that movie a 100+ times and still laugh like the first time. "Laughter is the Best Medicine" - even if it only cures you for the time you are laughing.
It's easy to laugh at the Republican clown show now playing in Congress, but that's a bitter, tragic, unsatisfying laughter.
I prefer a drier humor. My favorite types of jokes and one-liners are the kind that requure you to think a minute before get it. Winston Churchill and Benjamin Franklin were masters of the one-liner.
It too has been way too long since I really laughed. For me, Monty Python skits make me laugh, as do the early "Dresden Files" books, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and "Good Omens."
I’ve recently been laughing at the old Bugs Bunny cartoons that were on TV when I was in elementary school in the 60’s and 70’s - the good old non-politically correct ones!
...The gag originates from the fact that Route 66 (opened in 1926) actually intersects itself in the middle of downtown Albuquerque, meaning you could stand on the corner of Route 66 and Route 66note resulting in a lot of people getting turned around and taking the wrong turn.😄
My friend, Anne Bellov, the artist, who is a member of Substack, and writes and draws satire using pandas as her subject. She has just finished writing and drawing about the Fat Bear contest in Alaska. Her writings on Substack now are featuring her parody of “The Wizard of Oz.”❤️🐼
I think it's critically important that we find time to laugh, particularly now as our country—and the world, face difficult times.
First and foremost, my husband is my source of laughter, each and every day. We often just laugh at the absurdity of current politics, perhaps to ease the tension. Lately, we wonder if we should be worried when we both cackle like lunatics at the gory parts of actions movies—of course, when the bad guy gets it :-)
I also have a close friend of many years, that though we don't talk as often as I'd like, whenever I do, we both laugh until one either snorts, hiccups, or barks with laughter. This type of closeness is always to be treasured.
I read through the replies, and what wonderful examples of past and present comedic actors and/or comedians. I don't think I could list a favorite, but do have one I always watch Mon-Thur nights, Steven Colbert. I missed him terribly during the writer's strike; he has a unique ability to address the craziness in today's politics and make us laugh about it until we have tears running down our faces.
Bottom line, it doesn't matter if it's a favorite comedian, movie, TV show, book, family member or friend that makes you laugh, make sure to do it every day.
Some times it’s just doing something silly. One night, very late, I was playing Blockhead with my brothers in law. It’s a mindless game where you take turns adding an oddly shaped block to a towers of blocks. Whoever knocks the tower down is the blockhead. The whole thing was totally silly. We couldn’t keep from cracking up. We’re all pretty serious guys so it gave us a chance to have some time outside of our normal roles.
My kids (all adults). When we get together it’s oftentimes laugh-out-loud at some of the dumbest stuff you could imagine. Nobody else would understand, sometimes I’m not even sure I do. And I mean laughing uproariously in restaurants to the point the people next to us probably think we just escaped from the nearest mental institution 🤣
I have been living with my older sister since late March 2020 after I returned from a 2 1/2-month health scare. We have always been close and are both single. But now? We are like an old married couple; we finish each other's sentences and thoughts. And we will have the exact same thoughts about a scene in a movie, for instance, that makes us remember another scene from a much earlier movie and when one of us starts to say, "This reminds me of..." the other will invariably finish the thought. This has reduced us to tears in some cases particularly when the "memory" is from 50+ years ago and had never once crossed our minds until that exact moment.
Some of the biggest laughs come when my siblings and I recall good times from our youth. My younger sister has been known to add, "I was only one at the time so I don't remember any of that!" While I was in a continuing care facility in February 2020, my two sisters and four of my cousins came and spent a Friday evening hanging out in my room. Oh, the memories and laughs we shared that night made my stay a little easier. (They did most of the talking while I just laid in bed and laughed along with them.)
As for what other things brings me to tears: the aforementioned "Raising Arizona" and the Ed Ames tomahawk throw on The Tonight Show, the movie "Serenity" (the dialog is so funny [Define "bad." "Oh, god, oh god, we're all going to die?"]), the sketches from The Carol Burnett Show (particularly the elephant story when only Conway stays in character) and Monty Python, any Victor Borge performance. The list can be endless.
I have a friend who used to be a standup comic and when we get together he likes to riff, so I end up doubling over with laughter. I wish he knew what a gift he has and should keep sharing it, but oddly enough I don't think he realizes what joy he brings to other people.
I just read John Scalzi’s latest novel, Starter Villain, and one scene in particular made me put the book down and laugh loudly so long I had to stop reading. It’s unusual for a book to provoke such full-on laughter for me. Not to give too much of the story away, but it’s when the dolphins, who have newly unionized, sing “Look for the Union Label” together. Read it!
Thanks for the recommendation! I'm almost finished with John Sandford's newest novel, so this will be next. I did buy it on Kindle, but Amazon shows the cover :-)
Yeah love those gems. Philip Roth ‘s Sabbath’s Theatre I think—scene when he’s in a bathtub and is walked in on—funniest thing I ever read. I’ve often wondered how he did it.
Tim Conway and Harvey Korman trying not to laugh during skits on the Carol Burnet Show,
The skit where Tim Conway plays a dentist on his first day of work trying to figure out how to pull Harvey Korman’s bad tooth has some of the show’s all time best moments! Including brilliant impromptu lines and moves from Conway that pushed Korman to his limits of trying not to laugh! I have watched it so many times, but it never fails to give me a belly laugh! 😆
Anybody else notice how many of us remember THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW sketches as what makes us laugh? I don't see much SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, Letterman, Conan, IN LIVING COLOR or even MAD TV showing up here—but give us Tim Conway and Harvey Korman each trying to make the other corpse, Carol pulling off That Dress from "Went With the Wind" as she elegantly walked down the stairs, or Carol playing sexy secretary Mrs. Zw-iggins to whatever accent Conway was using as Mr. Tudball, and we're rolling in the aisles!
Beat me to it... no matter how many times I see those skits, the laugh-induced tears roll.
absolutely, priceless
Also, the skit with Tim about the elephant...and Dick VanDyke...Momma and Eunice....
"Oh this ol' thing? I saw it in the window..."
Bob Mackie was Carol Burnett's costume designer during her show's eleven-year run. When the writers turned out an elaborate twenty-minute sketch lampooning GONE WITH THE WIND (one of the writers had done his college thesis on the movie, so he knew it forwards, backwards and sideways), Mackie had a number of costumes he had to design for the cast and guest star Dinah Shore. They'd written in something like "Scarlett enters wearing a dress made from the curtains", and I think the curtain rod through the shoulders was Mackie's contribution.
I just heard a memorial episode of Car Talk from the week when Tom Magliozzi died. The first ten minutes or so consists of the boys unable to finish a sentence because they're laughing so hard. Tom's laugh is infectious. Later, their mom comes on a show, and she laughs just like him.Fabulous stuff.
Oh I’m going to go look for Car Talk. Loved it so much and they were always so happy. Thanks for reminding me.
Car Talk, oh yes!
Peter Sellers’ Pink Panther movies. His ridiculous accent and bumbling ways has endeared the character to me for many years! His sidekick Cato’s extraordinary martial arts skills are quite the sight.
Does your dog bite?
No.
“Owww”
You said your dog doesn’t bite.
But that is not my dog.
This reply, Peter Sellers' dialogue , by BEpiper just now made me laugh out loud..Otherwise not much these days..
me too
Glad I could add a small bit of brightness to your day. Otherwise, I think your last sentence describes a whole lot of us. (I may have to rewatch that movie now.)
From THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN! That was a high watermark for the series, and letting Lom play former Chief Inspector Dreyfus as an eye-twitching Bond villain let him really go to town rather than just react to Sellers making a fool out of him.
I also loved the movie parody credits, done by WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? animator Richard Williams.
You are correct, Steven. It’s been a difficult week.
I met with an old friend - we’ve known each other since we were kids (60 years ago!) - and we never skip a beat, even though she lives 40 miles away. We laughed about our memories growing up. We laughed about when her little brother peed through our basement window. We laughed about when our parents had a block party, and my older sister “babysat” us even though she had her teenage friends over.
I’m reminded of the Foo Fighters song (because I’m Songgirl):
It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again
My friend from middle school, circa late 1960s and I share that joy too. Highbrow/ lowbrow, raunchy, potty humor and the same hilarious (to us) stories we tell over and over again💕
A wonderful message at this time. Thank you for posting it.
When we live in joy, the world around us changes.
Love that Phil!
Thanks so much for reminding me to find laughter! I have been awash in pain, grief and depression during the last week. While there are many moments that have brought laughter, we only have to say Robin Williams and it brings a smile. This skit continues to bring much laughter! https://youtu.be/9IUSM4EKcRI?si=xEAPFbFrYcet3aBW
Thanks again!!
Omg this is the best sketch ever!!
Thinking of you and hopeful you can find more than a few moments to feel joy or maybe joy-adjacent💐
Thank you!
Yes. That’s the one I was referring to above. Thanks for posting the link!
Anything that George Carlin says.
I'm a huge Monty Python fan. The humor that I embrace is the absurdities in life, in reasoning, impulsivity, and the joy from considering the Gonzo alternatives. It's every where begging to be recognized and appreciated ! Who doesn't enjoy a spontaneous belly laugh !
Steven,
I always set aside time to laugh. Any Mel Brooks film will do it, as well as the Airplane and Naked Gun movies. Seinfeld, Cheers, Frasier, and Boston Legal are shows that we binge watch for laughs. Older shows like Carol Burnett with her, Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway, and Harvey Korman kill me, I about hurt myself laughing at their skits. Likewise, Steve Martin and Marin Short are great together, I love Only Murders in the Building. We were at our favorite watering hole for brunch last Sunday and we were talking about something we saw and it triggered such loud belly laughter from me that a man came over and said “if people can laugh like that I got to get to know them.” He was a retired Army Colonel, whose son is now an Army Major. It turns out that we graduated and received our commissions from ROTC both in 1983, and served in some of the same places in Germany. Laughing can also help make new friends.
All the best.
Steve
What a great story! 😊
Cats make me laugh. There’s almost nothing as hysterical as watching a cat cooly walking across the room and get startled by some imaginary thing, do a three-foot vertical leap, and land as it continues to cooly continue walking. Yes, they can be jerks, but they also bring so much life and joy.
Johnny Carson throwing the tomahawk with Ed Ames on Tonight Show.
I always laugh at anything Tim Conway and Harvey Corman did, but especially a Tim Conway bit with the Siamese elephants on Eunice and Mama - i don't care how many times i see i laugh hysterically. It's good to laugh, cleanses the soul and now we need something - what's going on in the world and in our country is sad - so sad - as a Jew it is particularly disturbing to see what's going on in Israel, but I truly believe they will sort it out and be successful - and I hope with not too many casualties- i feel for the Palestinian people who have no place to go and are not at all at fault for what Hamas has done to them. So hard as it may be now to laugh, try to find something that at least makes you smile. It does cleanse the soul.
Completely agree.
For several year I worked for a pre-k program. It was a six week summer program where we got five-year-old kids ready for kindergarten. One day, during play time, I heard an argument begin between a young boy and girl playing with the doll house. "No, no, no," the boy said emphatically. "My daddy says you can't have any babies unless you are married." A few minutes later, I heard them both humming the wedding march. Then they both began happily planting babies around the house. Working with kids always makes me laugh.
Farley and Swayze playing Chippendale dancers on SNL. I laugh until I cry! And the dentist skit on Carol Burnett with Harvey Norman trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.
Chippendale dancers: "That was awesome!"
Chuckles The Clown scene, Mary Tyler Moore. "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants." Hilarious.
All the posts remind me of all the zany absurd stuff of TV and movies--how can you not love Peter Sellers or the SNL skit about Sweaty Balls? But, I have come to realize how hilarious my own life's gaffes have been gut bustingly funny now, even though "then" probably left me shaking my head in regret. So, what I laugh about now everyday is how stupid I can be, past, present and future--and I'm reminded that a sense of humor is one of life's greatest gifts!
For sure!!! Thx!!
Chris Katan played Mr. Peepers in a skit on SNL. I don't remember what season, but I always belly-laughed watching it.
Do you remember his Mango skits? 😂
Yes I do! Mango was also funny. I loved when Cheri Oteri and Will Ferrell did skits together. I've been watching SNL on and off since the first season. Now, I watch it on YouTube the next day, since I can't stay awake til 11:30! 😂
Cheri Oteri’s character yelling ”simmah down!” 😂🤣😂🤣
So funny! I liked her and Will Farrell as cheerleaders too! So many funny skits!
😂🤣😂 Yes! 👋🏼🍑Mango!
Any Mel Brooks movie, especially those with Gene Wilder, and the TV version of the Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Some of the old Saturday Night Live routines with Gilda Radnor, John Belushi, Steve Martin, and others. Sometimes I watch Johnny Carson on Antenna TV channel.
Just in time for Halloween! Superhero party. John Belushi as the Hulk, coming out of the bathroom 😂
Farley lives in my heart because of that sketch. And yes! Sacha Baron Cohen in everything I’ve seen him in. Let me contribute Christopher Walken as the Continental or any send-up performance he’s blessed us with.
So many but if I want to actually cry laughing it’s the entire Raising Arizona film and the entire cast therewith. Epic. Or Charlie Murphy’s stand up recollections of his early life guarding his brother.
Yes Christopher W as The Continental!
“The Continental“ has my husband rolling on the ground laughing every time.
Christopher Walken was on Saturday Night Live last night 🩷!
I stopped watching dammit! They’re doing this on purpose!
If you haven’t been reading Jay Kuo each day, you may have missed his Saturday posts where he assembles a whole bunch of tweets, memes and hysterical animal bits that have come up during the week. So many are laugh out loud funny. Plus his daily posts can ALMOST make sense of the nonsense the retrumplicans are doing day by day.
Monty Python
Thank you for a happy post, Steven. I'm with you - I'd forgotten what it was like to laugh freely, hard, and long. I realized it as friends and I saw Craig Ferguson in Tucson ( his "favorite place in the whole world on a Sunday night at the Fox Theatre" to which the entire audience replied, "Yeah, right."). His entrance to "Everybody Dance Now" prancing around while playing bagpipes started the show off with belly laughs that didn't stop for ninety minutes. My ribs still hurt...
The movie "Best in Show." Never fails to make me LMAO!
Love Matt Foley!!! Really love watching Waiting For Guffman or This is Spinal Tap also!!
My go to for laughs is my husband...he just says the silly things that launch me into a giggle fit! :D There are quite a few movies/show scenes for us that always deliver -- many things Monty Python, and, as Claire points out, most everything Carol Burnet Show :D . Mel Brooks movies are continuously hysterical--Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles and always at the top of the list. And finally, Airplane -- being pilots -- we have probably watched that movie a 100+ times and still laugh like the first time. "Laughter is the Best Medicine" - even if it only cures you for the time you are laughing.
Eddie Murphy Delirious and Raw get me crying even though I know every line by heart
It's easy to laugh at the Republican clown show now playing in Congress, but that's a bitter, tragic, unsatisfying laughter.
I prefer a drier humor. My favorite types of jokes and one-liners are the kind that requure you to think a minute before get it. Winston Churchill and Benjamin Franklin were masters of the one-liner.
For me, Bob Newhart and Bea Arthur are icons.
I really miss Doc Martin.
Got hooked on Doc Martin during the pandemic.
Cleese on Fawlty Towers
Agree x all of ‘em!
It too has been way too long since I really laughed. For me, Monty Python skits make me laugh, as do the early "Dresden Files" books, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and "Good Omens."
Yes, especially ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide...’.
Victor Borge without a doubt. Any one of his performances.
Yes! Silliness!
I’ve recently been laughing at the old Bugs Bunny cartoons that were on TV when I was in elementary school in the 60’s and 70’s - the good old non-politically correct ones!
We quote them non stop here.
What’s up doc?
I must've took a wrong turn at Albuquerque
...The gag originates from the fact that Route 66 (opened in 1926) actually intersects itself in the middle of downtown Albuquerque, meaning you could stand on the corner of Route 66 and Route 66note resulting in a lot of people getting turned around and taking the wrong turn.😄
😄
I'm a "Three Stooges" fan and with that is ridiculous in their comedy. I somehow walk away feeling better.
I always wished I had Curley as an uncle
I was having a downer day and then Steven’s question restacked. Feeling better sharing all these different likes and stories. Thanks!
You must look up John Mulaney’s The Salt and Pepper Diner. I laugh so hard I can’t breathe.
My friend, Anne Bellov, the artist, who is a member of Substack, and writes and draws satire using pandas as her subject. She has just finished writing and drawing about the Fat Bear contest in Alaska. Her writings on Substack now are featuring her parody of “The Wizard of Oz.”❤️🐼
I think it's critically important that we find time to laugh, particularly now as our country—and the world, face difficult times.
First and foremost, my husband is my source of laughter, each and every day. We often just laugh at the absurdity of current politics, perhaps to ease the tension. Lately, we wonder if we should be worried when we both cackle like lunatics at the gory parts of actions movies—of course, when the bad guy gets it :-)
I also have a close friend of many years, that though we don't talk as often as I'd like, whenever I do, we both laugh until one either snorts, hiccups, or barks with laughter. This type of closeness is always to be treasured.
I read through the replies, and what wonderful examples of past and present comedic actors and/or comedians. I don't think I could list a favorite, but do have one I always watch Mon-Thur nights, Steven Colbert. I missed him terribly during the writer's strike; he has a unique ability to address the craziness in today's politics and make us laugh about it until we have tears running down our faces.
Bottom line, it doesn't matter if it's a favorite comedian, movie, TV show, book, family member or friend that makes you laugh, make sure to do it every day.
Some times it’s just doing something silly. One night, very late, I was playing Blockhead with my brothers in law. It’s a mindless game where you take turns adding an oddly shaped block to a towers of blocks. Whoever knocks the tower down is the blockhead. The whole thing was totally silly. We couldn’t keep from cracking up. We’re all pretty serious guys so it gave us a chance to have some time outside of our normal roles.
Great question!
My kids (all adults). When we get together it’s oftentimes laugh-out-loud at some of the dumbest stuff you could imagine. Nobody else would understand, sometimes I’m not even sure I do. And I mean laughing uproariously in restaurants to the point the people next to us probably think we just escaped from the nearest mental institution 🤣
Love this!
The Honeymooners golf scene: Art Carney line as he addresses the ball, "Hello Ball!"
Two movies that always bring me laughter come to mind. Father of the Bride with Steve Martin and Mrs. Doubtfire with Robin Williams.
It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Full stop.
Dick Shawn as Sylvester Marcus always makes me smile. 😃
"I'm comin', Mama!"
Great minds thinking alike 😁
Priceless!! 😄
“... I’m coming momma...” 🤣😂🤣😂
BBC movie “What we did on our Holiday” available on Amazon prime with David Tenet and Rosamund Pike. Really funny with a deeper meaning underneath.
Must look into this
I have been living with my older sister since late March 2020 after I returned from a 2 1/2-month health scare. We have always been close and are both single. But now? We are like an old married couple; we finish each other's sentences and thoughts. And we will have the exact same thoughts about a scene in a movie, for instance, that makes us remember another scene from a much earlier movie and when one of us starts to say, "This reminds me of..." the other will invariably finish the thought. This has reduced us to tears in some cases particularly when the "memory" is from 50+ years ago and had never once crossed our minds until that exact moment.
Some of the biggest laughs come when my siblings and I recall good times from our youth. My younger sister has been known to add, "I was only one at the time so I don't remember any of that!" While I was in a continuing care facility in February 2020, my two sisters and four of my cousins came and spent a Friday evening hanging out in my room. Oh, the memories and laughs we shared that night made my stay a little easier. (They did most of the talking while I just laid in bed and laughed along with them.)
As for what other things brings me to tears: the aforementioned "Raising Arizona" and the Ed Ames tomahawk throw on The Tonight Show, the movie "Serenity" (the dialog is so funny [Define "bad." "Oh, god, oh god, we're all going to die?"]), the sketches from The Carol Burnett Show (particularly the elephant story when only Conway stays in character) and Monty Python, any Victor Borge performance. The list can be endless.
I have a friend who used to be a standup comic and when we get together he likes to riff, so I end up doubling over with laughter. I wish he knew what a gift he has and should keep sharing it, but oddly enough I don't think he realizes what joy he brings to other people.
Politically incorrectly I laugh at people’s terrible tattoos. (Never lose hoop) (Melattica! Nothing else mattress!)
(Nolege is power)
Have you seen the "No Regerts" tattoo? Don't know if real or not but good for a belly laugh.
Gilda Radner and Candace Bergen Extremely Stupid SNL skit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-5FwVv5Udo
That one always has me doubled over😄. Thanks for the reminder!
Video clip of Tubervilles falling on Kuo’s xeets and giggles, got a full belly laugh out of me today. The wicked is catching!!
I just read John Scalzi’s latest novel, Starter Villain, and one scene in particular made me put the book down and laugh loudly so long I had to stop reading. It’s unusual for a book to provoke such full-on laughter for me. Not to give too much of the story away, but it’s when the dolphins, who have newly unionized, sing “Look for the Union Label” together. Read it!
Thanks for the recommendation! I'm almost finished with John Sandford's newest novel, so this will be next. I did buy it on Kindle, but Amazon shows the cover :-)
Just downloaded this book. Thanks for helping me find a new author! This book sounds like fun. 😀
I know you got the e-book, so be sure to check out the cover. :)
Yes,the cover is so perfect.😄
Yeah love those gems. Philip Roth ‘s Sabbath’s Theatre I think—scene when he’s in a bathtub and is walked in on—funniest thing I ever read. I’ve often wondered how he did it.
Looking it up in a minute!
Mash. All of the seasons.
Turkey drop episode of WKRP in Cincinnati.