There's a "humor" section in the Forum General Entertainment but I think, along with discussing our troubles - bigotry, passing, depression and suicide - we need a post in our TS section, every now and then, that can make TS's smile, lift our spirits.  I'm asking YOU to tell us what distracts you from stress.  What makes you laugh rather than cry?

It's no medical secret that HUMOR has saved many a life, no matter what the affliction.  In the 90's, a UCLA doctor who was fighting cancer documented how, in his case, watching "Laurel and Hardy" movies made him forget his troubles and, along with diet and medicine, made him healthier.  Conversely, science has proven how churning stress over and over again can shorten lives.  As TS's transition, psychologists ask us to "consider, consider."  Self-analyzing can be good but it can also be like the caterpillar who's asked, "How do you make all those legs go at the right time?"

Tension can be tolerable for awhile but Alfred Hitchcock, master filmmaker, knew it was better to mix humor in now and then.  If you're tense all of the time all you do is get numb.  Better to smile, to feel endorphins kick in, to LIVE.

Slapstick humor can be an oddity -- somehow, seeing others slip and fall or get a pie in the face can instinctively bring a smile - human nature, I guess.  Maybe that's why seemingly woesome tales of stars like Britney or Paris can take the sting out of more serious news like terrorism. 

The things that make me laugh are often jabs at society's bigotry.  One example:  "I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be you Hindu, Muslim, or Jewish. I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior." -- Stephen Colbert.

Other times, I love slapstick with an edge...  There's a scene in a movie where Charlie Chaplin's tramp looks lovingly into the window of a young woman.  As he stares, his heart full of passion; she seems soooo incredibly beautiful!  But because she's blind, she doesn't realize he's there and, unexpectedly, she casually tosses a bucket of water out the window -- the water hits him HARD in the face!  We are as shocked as the tramp but, like the pie in the face, we can't help but laugh.  Yeah, love can be like that!

I profess to enjoying what many consider the "lowest form of humor, the pun."  One of my favorite jokes is one I made up myself:  Why don't you ever see any rich cheetahs?  Because cheetahs never prosper!

Another time, a friend was trying to come up with a name for a Brazilian-fare restaurant.  I suggested: "The Grill From Ipanema."

When I was a teenager, my family went camping at Crater Lake, Oregon.  One night, a bear entered our campsite and my family became very fearful.  My father, acting as the stereotype "protector," exited our tent.  As he banged a pan with a spoon, he tripped -- right in front of the bear!  The bear looked at him as if to say, "Boy, you ARE ridiculous!"  The bear turned and walked away in disgust.  And we packed our tent and spent the night in the car, laughing with our brave father.  The memory still brings me a smile.

What makes you laugh?  For brevity's sake, please skip You Tube, Quick Time movies or visual cartoons that many, including me, have trouble loading into our computers.  What's your favorite joke, scene from a movie or life?  What makes you "forget your troubles, come on get happy!"

Teri Anne

Garrison Keillor's "a Praire Home Companion", "Family Guy", Robot Chicken". I like slap stick too. I thought "40 year old Virgin" was hilarious!!! God there's so many for me. I have always been the class clown, always in the principals office for something. As an EMT we have pretty twisted-sick sense of humors, there's lot's of humor on the job in between all of the human drama. If there wasn't I couldn't do that job.

That is so true.  I am a rather melancholic person by nature and sometimes I imerse myself in my own melancholy, and it takes someone with the right pesonality to help me out from my sad world.  There is nothing more precious to me than a person who can pretend to be silly and make me laugh for whatever reasons.  IMO not too many people have such a gift, for it takes a very special person to change your outlook on life with laughter.

Aside from this, I love the Benny Hill show, SNL, The Golden Girls, Mama's family; they are good therapy for the soul and you definitely feel like a million dollars after watching any of these TV shows.


tink

My last really good guffaw was the video someone made of the faces of women as they had their bikini area waxed.  It was a moment when they had allowed themselves to be vulnerable, and their faces spoke volumes as we heard the RRIPP! of the cloth being removed...

Karen

Most of the movies that take my mind off things are like "Weekend at Bernies", I thought I was going to die
I laughed so hard. Anything with Will Ferrell... especially the chearleader skit from SNL... Nacho Libre... totally stupid
and so funny to me anyway. I love Jack Black. Some of the Will Smith movies. I'm sure there are more.

Would'nt it be great if there was a pill that could take you away like movies do?

Stephen Colbert

Karen, I discovered your Stephen Colbert quote (about infinite paths to Jesus) from the quote under your posts.  Thank you.  I tape his show and the "Daily Show" every night.  Anything spoofing Bush or the absurdity of war definitely pulls me out of myself -- in an absurd world, my worries can seem downright trivial.  And when Comedy Channel features a comic impersonator, don't ask!  I'm forever amazed and crazed at the same time.

Funny Girl - I love the twisted operating room humor of shows like "MASH" and "ER" - they definitely get into "black comedy" absurdity at times, lol.  I remember some doctor show where a VERY nervous nurse was bringing in a heart for a transplant operation... only, when she took it out of the box, the heart slid out of her fingers and the camera followed as it slid across the floor.  There was stunned silence in the room until the elder surgeon broke the ice, asking matter-of-factly, "Would someone go pick up the heart?"  Cut to show credits.

Tink, I agree with your choices and that they're great therapy.  I particularly like the warmth and humor of "Golden Girls" - my extended "family."  Also, watching the two stuck-up effete snobs on "Frazier" can be a great hoot.  "Seinfeld," constantly surprised me as it carved new ground.  "Lucy" may be my all-time favorite distraction -- talk about silly!

Amanda, another way of looking at it is that, unlike pills, watching funnies have little side-effects other than say, lowering blood pressure and boosting immune response.  And "Lucy" doesn't need a prescription plan to help pay for her.  Every episode had some silly devious scheme that would, of course, fall apart and be crowned by the recurring line, "Ohhhh, Ricky!

I'll occassionaly still enjoy a favorite I had as a kid, "Mad" magazine.  As their logo guy says, "What, me worry?"

Teri Anne

south park, that 70's show. but nothing makes me laugh as much as my four year old daughter when she is trying to look mad she looks like a little mischievous pixie!

I hate it when someone makes fun of me but I love to make fun of myself. I am the funniest person I know and if I want  good laugh I just have to look in the mirror, hopefully we dont take ourselves too seriously as life is serious enough. If we can laugh at ourselfes we can laugh at the world and that makes it all easier to bear.   Laugh through your tears and it wont hurt so much.

In the frame of mind like George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld and Al Franken I look at our leaders and people, I just laugh at the how gullible people act in everyday situations. 

Most people that try to be funny are falling way short of the real thing.

Jessie, I too enjoy the irreverence of "South Park," especially when it pokes fun of the corrupt two-faced nature of some in organized religion, professing one thing and then doing the opposite when no one is looking.  It's especially effective because the kids are young and just trying, as we all do, to figure out the world.  The kids take things at face-value, believing what they are told, and then are shocked when the world differs from that "story."  Often the jabs are things we take for granted:  I remember one scene where a nun is explaining matter-of-factly the eating Christ's body during communion.  One of the kids remarks, "What?  Really?"  The nun answers in the affirmative and then talks about drinking his blood.  The kid can't help himself, "Oh, come on, now.  You're pulling my leg!"  With the fresh eyes of a kid, many of things we take for granted can seem absurd.  And with this kind of lampooning, some of the steam can be taken out of religious rightists that choose to make make themselves feel more important by insulting minority groups like GLBT's.  It's all in the tradition of writers like Charles Dickens who sought, through works like "A Christmas Carol," to lampoon the powerful and mighty.  Everyone loves, in stories, when it's revealed that the Emperor isn't wearing any clothes.

Lisagurl, yes, I greatly enjoy George Carlin especially when he discusses words and language (perhaps it's the old English major in me).  I'll forever remember a routine where he took on the "f" word.  He asked the audience, "Why should it be a bad word?  "F" is a pleasant thing.  When someone says, "F" you, we should say, "Thank you so much, F you too!"

Another time he discussed the angst he had when, arriving in a hotel room, he couldn't open his suitcase.  When a hotel employee was finally able to open it, it was like Lassie coming home:  "There was MY stuff, my socks, my hair brush, my shirts, MYYY STUFF!"  The picture he portrayed was almost orgasmic.  Little inanimate objects that we normally take for granted suddenly were as wonderful as winning the lotto.  I think of that routine every time I open a suitcase on a trip and I smile.

Teri Anne

Hi, Teri Anne,

My faves for laughs are the movies, especially the silents and the Depression-era comedies.

Mabel Normand and Fatty Arbuckle build a home from a prefab kit.  Sounds easy enough until a neighbor pays a visit with a paint can and turns Crate #3 to #8.  What a result that was!

Marie Dressler, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, W.C. Fields, all of those who succeeded at silent films were also great communicators and effectively delivered the laughs.

I love the original Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers earlier work, Laurel and Hardy, and for sheer fantasy, not much can beat W.C. Fields.  Generally speaking, I like good nonsense.

Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In has no equal, nor does the Dean Martin Show and the Paul Henning masterpieces of the early 1960s, like Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and the Beverly Hillbillies, for sure!

The less sense it makes, the more I like it, from slapstick to gallows humour.

And I still like to laugh at myself when appropriate.

Wing Walker

Cary Grant did some funny stuff too. People never mention him alongside the Marx Brothers or W.C. Fields.

Wing Walker - Love everything you said.  Marx Bros. were so silly!  ("Viaduct,"  "Why a duck?",  "I don't know, it just is."  or, "I'm lookin' for a couple of mugs" - then two of the brothers hold up shaving mugs.

In addition to the Marx Bros. movies, I really enjoyed "You Bet Your Life" and can't understand why someone doesn't rerun it on cable.

For visual humor, no one can beat Keaton's "The General."  It's probably my favorite silent film.

Laurel and Hardy's "Tit For Tat" was crrrazy in how they go to war against a neighbor.  From what I recall, they tear apart his car and he tears apart their house.

Paul Henning's shows were great -- I'd add "Gilligan's Island" to that category in your list.

While we're talking about silly, it'd be a shame to not note all the Mel Brooks movies, "High Anxiety," "Young Frankenstein," "Blazing Saddles," et al.

I hadn't heard about the Normand/Arbuckle comedy about building a house - sounds great!

Rebis, you're right - Cary Grant could be charmingly funny.  As long as we're going into that vein, I'd add Spencer Tracy and Kate Hepburn, especially when they'd argue.

If anyone doubts the power of humor, rent "Sullivan's Travels."  It's about a comedy film director who decides he wants to make a sad drama...he becomes a bum to see the way poor people live.  He discovers the power of laughing -- it feels good!

Teri Anne

Hi, Teri,

This is for you and all of my sisters who are post-op.

After your surgery was completed, did you experience a period of melancholia that you can attribute directly to the surgery?  I never thought of any negative side affects but now I'm curious.

Thank you, Everyone.

Wing Walker

Posted on: September 26, 2007, 10:02:53 PM

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QuoteRebis, you're right - Cary Grant could be charmingly funny.  As long as we're going into that vein, I'd add Spencer Tracy and Kate Hepburn, especially when they'd argue.

Yikes!  I must be losing it!  "His Girl Friday" is one of my favorite movies with Rosiland Russell and Cary Grant.  What a loveable cad Walter Burns is!

Wing Walker

Jokes and humor I love. But I just can't remember set jokes. I make my own up.
But there are enough unemployed comedians out there as it is.

So you like puns, eh?  How about limericks?

There once were two cats of Kilkenny
And each thought there was one too many.
So they fought and they bit, they hissed they spit
And instead of two cats there ain't any!

Cindy

Thanks for the limerick, Cindy.

Wing Walker, I'd say I was more "mellow," post-op, rather than having "melanchollia."  There are still issues that one faces, post-op (like having to describe your past to a future soulmate) but, in general, I think I felt more, "gee, what do I do now?"  ie. you have, for years, the goal of transitioning but, when it's done, there's kind of an emptyness, like I should be figuring out some new goal.  Having goals, for me, gives me a sense of purpose to life.

And one goal in life I have now is to stop taking myself and life so seriously.  I used to be more upset when others did things I didn't understand.  A great movie to learn from in this regard is Jimmy Stewart's "Harvey."  Stewart never gets upset with anyone -- good advice for us.  Also, he has little use for what we call reality -- Stewart comments, ""Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it."

It's seemingly a silly thing to say, yet, in an insane world, maybe it's silly people like Stewart who are really sane.

Teri Anne

I've really taken a liking to Boston Legal, It's funny,sad,dramatic and it raises a lot of good topics.
Some other shows I like ( oldies but goldies) are Gilligans Island (I always wanted to be Mary Anne), the Beverly Hillbillies, Mash and Mork and Mindy.

Spouse and I were talking about Halloween yesterday and I wondered if the people at work would get it if I came in on Halloween looking like a guy, lol.

We decided it wouldn't fly but we laughed and laughed!  Oh my, the irony would be superb!

hugs & smiles
Emelye

Hi Teri

"Wow!" me since post-op? I may feel down for part of a day and then bounce back again. I been feeling good and more fulfilled then ever before since SRS, I love the loving and caring being that I have come to be. But then I do have a partner I call her my Soul Mate. The only thing I find missing in my life is to feel needed again. I been retired from my last job four years ago now yeah, my SRS present from Social Services people, all neatly tied in a pink ribbon and the red polkadot wrapping paper. Hmmmm almost sounds like the description of a terrorists bomb. "You see!" humor is like an addiction. "Now I'm a humor junky." Anyway my soul mate and I went to see this gender therapist and really nice lady, of course there was no way I was going to walk out of there without at least making her laugh at least twice, actually I got her three times. If they can smile or laugh at my corny jokes they have to be good people. Anyway, I may be getting on there as a volunteer working with TS people. I am really looking forward to be doing something again. Truly though, I don't care how strong a person is, we all need to feel needed.

Cindy