Pressure to be funny.
Last week a friend of mine asked me, “Do you feel pressure from other people to be funny all the time?”
I lied and said “Absolutely not.” This is rubbish obviously. I do feel pressure to be funny at all times, in the shower, at the gym, at work, on stage, at the Chiropractors office, and later this week on the flight to Hawaii I know I will, at some point, feel the need to entertain a fellow traveler, or flight attendant. However, I have learnt over time that this pressure doesn’t come from other people, it comes from within.
This need to make others laugh is primal. It gives me a bigger kick than almost anything else I can hope to experience with my panties on. I am willing to say pretty much anything for a laugh and when I am drunk I will DO pretty much anything. This flaw/trait/annoying habit is hard to live with 24/7, and many people feel sorry for my husband. I don’t because I know that he will find peace with all this eventually.
Thanks to audience feedback (both actual theatre audiences and unsuspecting people in my life) I am well aware that there are many people who don’t find me funny (which is why I am forced to end many stories with the line ‘it was funny at the time’). This is terrible for my ego but an excellent life lesson. The lesson being ‘you can’t please all the motherfuckers all the time’. But I live by the leave-no-stone-unturned’ rule and so I will usually try until I am absolutely certain they want to hit me.
I am most likely to make, and laugh at, jokes about bodily functions and incest. And I feel sorry for people who think this is lame and/or puerile. My comedy colleague Billy once told a story about a dream he had where he and his dad were taking a walk and they saw a dead bird and his dad suddenly picked the bird up and started fucking it. I thought this was hilarious. I was the only person in the club that did. I also find regular sex jokes funny but not as funny as incest-ridden sex jokes. I keep thinking of making a list of stuff I don’t find funny but I can’t commit to anything just yet. Let’s say I’m pretty open-minded.
What made me like this? Was it the many years spent as an unattractive teenager desperate for attention, or is it the only-child-syndrome, or am I genetically predisposed to this condition of needing to make a spectacle of myself for other people’s amusement?
I think it is because I have no other skill. Some people can do math in their head, others can sing, and still others have big tits.
For better, but mainly for worse, I need to make you laugh.
PS: My show ‘Unladylike: The pitfalls of propriety’ is back onstage June 16 @ 8pm. The Producers Club 358 W 44th Street (b/w 8th & 9th Ave). Tickets at www.unladylike.eventbrite.com
[...] Last week a friend of mine asked me, “Do you feel pressure from other people to be funny all the time?” I lied and said “Absolutely not.” This is rubbish obviously. I do feel pressure to be funny at all times, in the shower, at the gym, at work, on stage, at the Chiropractors office, and later this week on the flight to Hawaii I know I will, at some point, feel the need to entertain a fellow traveler, or flight attendant. However, I have learnt o … Read More [...]
Radz we know you are going to Hawaii … everyone does!! Please don’t rub it into those unfortunate ones.
Look forward …. !!
PS for those who don’t know: I live in HI.
Hilarious!