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- Chris Duffy’s book “Humor Me” suggests ways to intentionally find more humor in everyday life.
- The book outlines three pillars of good humor: being present, laughing at yourself, and taking social risks.
- Duffy encourages readers to pay closer attention to their surroundings to notice amusing or odd situations.
- The author also explores scientific theories of humor, such as the benign violation theory.
If, like a lot of us, you are slowly being beaten down by the steady stream of the news of the world and are struggling to stay afloat, might I recommend Chris Duffy’s “Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy”?
Duffy’s odd little book will not cure depression or other mental illnesses, but it just might encourage you to see the world in a slightly different way — and that could improve your outlook for sure.
Duffy says that the point of this book is to ask the reader, “How do you see the funny in your life? How do you identify what might bring you (and others) laughter in situations that would otherwise be mundane, boring, or even tragic? That’s the skill that I think everyone would benefit from.”
There are Three Pillars of Good Humor, says Duffy: “being present, laughing at yourself, and taking social risks.” He explores each of these with unsurprising good humor, funny examples and hilarious footnotes. (His footnotes are up there with the science writer Mary Roach’s in my book. There is one footnote tangent about the Property Brothers I have been thinking about for days.)
The first pillar, which is arguably the most important one, is to notice your surroundings. Pay attention. See what’s going on around you, and it might just be amusing. These observations are “the attention and mental frame that creates a fertile soil for laughter to sprout. Humor almost always springs out of noticing what’s off, odd, strange, or delightful—when you pay close attention.”
This pillar reminded me of the time I was on a work trip to a town in the Delta, and when I got out of my car, there was a tiny fish stuck to a piece of yellow gum in the parking lot. I was delighted with this bit of rural oddness and took a picture of it. My coworker did not think it was that funny, so I saved it as her profile picture in my phone.
Duffy advises to “[a]llow for serendipity by not always being so desperate to avoid moments of downtime…I’m arguing that you’ll laugh more if you experiment with cultivating a practice of being in the transitions more and just seeing what’s there from time to time.” I think we can all benefit from a few idle moments staring out the window or observing the other people in the waiting room without looking at our phones all the time.
Duffy explores various scientific theories about humor and laughing, which he admits can suck all the funny out of something. One theory of humor is the encryption theory, that “humor is a type of social test. It’s a riddle, a puzzle, intended to see if the listener can figure it out.” This only applies to intentional humor, not something unintentional, like people falling down.
Falling down relates to the benign violation theory: “Humor occurs when and only when three conditions are satisfied: (1) a situation is a violation, (2) the situation is benign, and (3) both perceptions occur simultaneously.” A person slipping on a banana peel is funny; a person slipping on a banana peel and breaking their arm is not funny.
All of the pillars are interlinked; if you’re paying attention, you’ll be willing to be laughed at and can take some social risks. This means that sometimes you might engage in slightly weird behavior: “[P]ay attention to that little voice inside your head that says Don’t do that; that would be weird pipes up, and experiment with not obeying it.”
This reminds me of a video a friend shared where she was at a fancy party and decided to slide down the stairs on her stomach in her formal dress. It looked like a lot of fun and was a great example of everything “Humor Me” recommends. Pay attention. Get laughed at. Take social risks. We may not all have the means, opportunity or desire to slide down some stairs on our stomachs, but we can all benefit from laughing more.
A review of ‘Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy’
- By Chris Duffy
- Doubleday
- Hardcover: 272 pages
— Tracy Carr is the editor of Conversations with Ellen Gilchrist.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.clarionledger.com ’
