The Humorist

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” -William James

Girls like guys who are funny, right? I imagine if every female had to take a quiz with a list of attributes they admire on it, a sense of humor will probably be high on the list, but is it really the case? Well, think about it this way: if a guy is always serious, things would get boring rather quickly. But that’s where common sense plays a part. A guy who is never serious would also get tedious in time. It’s all about walking that delicate tightrope between the serious and the humorous.

But, of course, if I knew where that line was all the time, and how to stay atop it without falling, I would be a genius. Most guys also can’t balance that well all the time. So we try our best to read the “signs” given off by whatever females we happen to be engaged with (engaged being a state of interaction in this case). I can’t tell you how many times I haven’t been able to read those signs and some bad things resulted from it, or when I read the signs the wrong way and made a mess of things that way too. In those instances, I just tell my wife, “You knew this about me when you met me.”

Not the right response when the lady’s not too pleased that you’re joking during serious time. Believe me.

I do pride myself on being funny, but that kind of quirky funny, you know the type. I’m the guy who takes the obvious punchline and overdoes it, making the reaction funny, not necessarily the joke itself. I guess you can say I’m over the top in most things I do, but I do have the corniest jokes. For example…

“A man walks into a bar with a pig under his arm. The bartender says, ‘You can’t have that pig in here!’ The pig replies, ‘That’s not a pig. That’s my brother!'”

Take my word for it. It’s hilarious when I say it. And the jokes has so many variations, too. It could be pretty much any animal under the guy’s arm, or being led into the bar on a leash, or whatever else you can imagine. You’d be surprised the number of people who have died laughing at that punchline simply because I put huge emphasis on it, and I do the silly voice at the same time.

That’s the other part of the “funny,” doing voices, and having comical body language. And of course most of the times someone is making jokes it’s to cover up some part of themselves they don’t want you to see. Perhaps they’re self-conscious about something or other, and they’re betting on the jokes to keep you from noticing what they think is a huge arrow pointing at their inadequacies. Or maybe they want to pre-empt others joking about them, so they mention the inadequacy in the form of jokes.

“What’s your name?”
“Fat Amy.”
“You call yourself Fat Amy?”
“Yeah, so twig bitches like you don’t do it behind my back.”
[from the film, Pitch Perfect]

While this may be funny, it’s also very sad, that she feels the need to call attention to something that has been a constant source of ridicule for her, to “joke” about it so people don’t call her the names she knows they will call her anyway behind her back. And it begs the question about whether guys are attracted to girls who are funny. It seems to me most guys like “funny” girls, but as friends in the larger group, not as partners. When a guy wants to settle down he likes a girl who is more serious than funny, because a funny personality on a girl is a turn off when she is often cracking jokes. Guys are more tuned in to females who use subtle humor to make a point. It makes them feel smarter.

“There is nothing like a gleam of humor to reassure you that a fellow human being is ticking inside a strange face.” -Eva Hoffman

Humor can really bring people together. It can add spice to life. But use it sparingly or it becomes rote, commonplace, an excuse to fill the silence. Embrace others who have that spark of humanity that humor lends because they’ve learned not to take all aspects of life too seriously. Which is the best way to approach life.

Sam