I Love to Laugh – #MFRWauthor

It’s week 18 of the MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge, and this week’s prompt is What Makes Me Laugh Out Loud.

I freely admit that I love to laugh. To quote Dolly Parton’s character in Steel Magnolias, “Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion,” I have been known to burst into song at random times, warbling, “I love to laugh” from Mary Poppins. It’s true that the more the glee, the more I’m a merrier me.

My kids and I have laughed our way through some pretty serious stuff in our lifetimes. That doesn’t mean we don’t know how and when to be serious, but there are times when a good laugh releases more tension and accomplishes more than a good cry.

So what makes me laugh out loud?

My grandkids’ silliness makes me laugh out loud. Both of my grandchildren have vivid imaginations and they’re quick witted. They’re still quite young, but they can come up with sassy comebacks that make me laugh, whether they’re aimed at me, their mom or dad, or their aunt. They’re smart enough to know when it’s okay to sass. They can read a crowd like professionals. I laugh a lot when I’m with those two.

My children make me laugh out loud. Same as above. They’re smart and witty and oh-so-sharp. They’re also incredibly silly and sarcastic I’m not just talking about my daughters here. My son-in-law is also quick-on-the-draw and makes me laugh a lot, even when he’s making observations about my age. A few years ago, while undergoing a major dental procedure, Younger Daughter popped up in front of me looking like this. I was nervous and in pain, but she definitely made me laugh out loud and eased some of the tension for me.

My close friends make me laugh out loud. They’re like-minded souls who know when to be serious, but who also know that it’s important not to take oneself or life too seriously. I tend to surround myself with people who can see the ridiculous in life and comment on it intelligently.

Freddie and Stuart (Ian McKellan and Derek Jacobi) from Vicious make me laugh out loud. It’s a rare episode of this show that doesn’t make me snort with laughter. The whole cast is hilarious, but Freddie and Stuart definitely own the show.

You’ll catch me laughing out loud at Kurt Russell in Captain Ron. This is one of my favorite movies of all time because (a) it’s Kurt Russell and (b) it’s one of the rare shows written to be funny that I actually think is funny. Most movies and TV shows billed as comedy don’t make me laugh and the vast majority rarely even make me crack a smile. But Captain Ron does. Martin Short is hilarious in this movie, too, but (sorry, Martin) he’s no Kurt Russell.

Paul Giamatti in the snowball fight scene in Fred Claus. This one gets me every time.

I’m not a fan of obvious or slapstick comedy. I don’t like it when writers dumb things down to make them funny, and simply tossing in some off-color language or talking about sex doesn’t make a thing funny. I don’t like bodily function comedy, either. I’m waiting for Hollywood to figure out that comedy can be intelligent.

Most movies and TV shows that attempt to portray the life of a writer and the process of writing a novel make me laugh out loud, but not in a good way. How Jessica Fletcher ever managed to become a bestselling mystery novelist producing manuscripts this size of a travel brochure is beyond me. I don’t know about the rest of my writer friends, but my life doesn’t look a thing like most of the movie versions. Screenwriting may–no, must be a different animal entirely.

I’m sure I could find a few more things that make me laugh out loud if I kept digging, but I’m equally sure you’d be bored to tears if I did. I’ll be interested to read some of the other posts on this bloghop since, as we all know, humor is so subjective. That’s what makes it so extraordinarily difficult to write.

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