Top Five things I’ve learned in this class

Top Five things I’ve learned in this class

1. Laughter is social.

The more I reflect on the times I’ve laughed the most, it’s with other people. Laughter and comedy can be a powerful way to bring people together. I hope to use that more in my life.

2. Humor can be found at all intellectual levels.

Tina Fey once said, “You can tell how smart people are by what they laugh at.” I’ve learned to find humor and amusement in complex things and in simple things. I’ve enjoyed that we’ve laughed at everything from prank videos to satirical essays.

3. There are tools/rules/formulas to help create comedy.

The rule of three. The comic perspective. Comic problems like the fish-out-of-water and center and eccentric. The comic through line. All of these things can help give a frame to structure comedy and help take of the pressure to simply “be funny.”

4. Laughter is a release.

We don’t just laugh at things that are funny. We laugh at tension, to release emotions, to fill silence, to let ourselves be awkward. Laughter as a release can be equally powerful and valuable as humorous laughter.

5. Humor as a coping mechanism.

This has been the most important thing I’ve taken away from this class and it came at a really important time. Between quarantine, and my family experiencing tremendous health and financial hardship, and moving and starting a new job, there are a lot of things to be stressed about. So, being purposeful about finding time to laugh and looking for humor in things has helped me through a lot. However grim life may be, find time to laugh. Thank you for laughing with me this semester.