By Lue Deck
2006-12-18

This article belongs to In Search of Laughs! column.


(Author's note: insert tongue in cheek, brave reader)

After a good night at a comedy show, isn't it amazing how hard you laughed then, but the next day, you can't recall the name, or place the face? (Geez, that babe with the tight skirt? Or that guy with those red shoes? Or the guy in the robe that did that silly rap parody?) Those are the folks this weird treatise is all about.

Why do you think we can't remember the Leno, Letterman, and John Stewart jokes the next day? Those stupid jokes your friends keep e-mailing you, you do manage to forget them don't you? One should realize that one's memory can be, and is selective.

We all struggle for answers. Scientists tell us that, which IS REAL, can be measured, and then verified. The rest is unreal, and it remains to be questioned. But, Thomas Aquinas said: "Some questions have no answer."

I propose this possible, if not improbable answer: these Johnny Appleseeds of mirth exist amongst us. They travel across our vast land bringing fun and laughter, where before, there was none. Haven't we all been going about our business, and laughed for no reason? That's one of those Jokey-boys! He must've sneaked up on you and whispered his little funnyness in your ear. They come not to be served, but to serve.

Life GRINDS on us all! I postulate this: Laughs are the vital oil that keeps all human things running smoothly. Paraphrasing Mark Twain: "Man is the only animal that laughs.....or NEEDS too!" If your sense of humor is working properly, then you'll probably put up with some situations or ideas, temporarily, where you normally might balk or rebel. Smells trigger memories, why can't laughter trigger one's patience? Life can be SO MUCH EASIER for those who will understand that life CAN BE ABSURD! Maybe, just maybe, there are higher forces are at work here?


Here's your Brain!
Here's your brain on dopamine!
Any questions?


But lo, I have further evidence to be told. The poster boy for laughter healing, Norman Cousins, allegedly cured himself from enormous pain. Hi there...Mr. Placebo! Johnny Carson said: "If you buy the premise, you buy the bit!" Don't you want to CHOOSE to be amused? Some people choose to be gloomy. Why would you hang with those kinda stuffy folks? Hang with us, we're having lotsa fun. After all, laughing with one another is the next best thing to loving one another. It's one of the original faith-based initiatives.


Those who produce Yuks, whether they are pros or your pals, they're trying to make you laugh. So understand they aren't necessarily trying to be memorable, they're trying to make you laugh!



So, if every so often, if a sight, or smell, or memory triggers a good laugh from you, and you can't figure out why, or who, or what provoked that laugh...


COULD BE...one of our kind has infiltrated your data stream for a brief shining moment.We are the few, the happy few...we are the comics that no one remembers!