God, That’s Funny
By David Drury
I love to laugh. The other day I realized that the best part
of my day, any day, is the part where I’m laughing. It doesn’t matter if I’m spending it with my
family, my coworkers, or 1,000 strangers at a boring conference, the best
moment is the biggest laugh. It’s not
the deepest thought. It’s not when I
rest. It’s not getting a lot done. And being that I work “for” a church I’m
ashamed to say that the best part of my day usually isn’t when I am praying or
reading my Bible or worshipping in Church.
Unless, that is, I laugh at something when I’m praying or reading my
Bible or laugh during worship at church.
Does this make me a bad
person? A trivial
person? A court-jester destined
to only prowl the sidelines of conventional life? If humor has such an important role in my
life does that make my life less serious, less consequential?
In search of the answer to
this existential humor question I will consult one of the greatest philosophers
the Miami Herald has ever brought us, columnist and author Dave Barry:
“Well, I have this theory that
basically the fundamental reason for humor is a… human need to deal with the
fact that the world is irrational and dangerous and random and that it ends in
death. … penguins don't know that, which is why so few
penguins get into the humor field. I'm not saying they're not funny, but, you
know, just being professional. But animals in general just don't seem to figure
that out. But humans figured [this out] --
I mean, even though I live a wonderful, good life, I could be killed at any
minute or horrible things could happen. And even if everything goes great, I'm
going to die, probably without any teeth.
So there are two basic ways that we deal with that. One is religion --
OK, it's not really going to end, and it’s going to go on and on. And the other
is to find humor in it, to laugh at it. I really think that most jokes in the
end, when we laugh, we are releasing a tension that we feel about something
that's a little scarier and incongruous and insane about our lives around us.
So that's my humor theory.”
So Dave Barry’s “humor
theory” is that the existential, deep and tragic experiences and realities of
our world make us turn to two responses: religion and humor. What does it say about me that I have turned
so repeatedly to both? Perhaps I’m deep
and tragic and I’m looking to plumb the depths of religion while wading through
the shallow waters of humor? I want to
double-ring the funny and the spiritual at the same time.
Anne Lamot
in her wonderful book on writing, Bird by
Bird, says that the best writers are those who find a narrator’s voice in
themselves. A good narrator is like a
good friend, whom she chooses because of their interesting and humorous take on
life. I’ve begun to think of this as
being a “life-narrator.” Instead of just
living life, a life-narrator looks to find the meaning, the humor, the seam
where the cloth of living is sewn together.
A life-narrator, like an autobiographer of the present, is always hoping
to bend light and box time, even if only for the 5 minutes it takes for you to
read their blog entry. Yes, I think the best blogs
are just this: people choosing to narrate their own lives, like the on-line
version of the Wonder Years guy in all our heads. Some day soon people will be dying and it
will be profound and funny and meaningful for us to read their blogs post-mortum. They will sit un-altered until the Second
Coming so we can crawl into their minds like so many worms still seeking the
nourishment in their head six feet under.
Blogs are likewise messy. But so is life. Now that I think of it maybe Jesus will let
the blog stay online after the Second Coming. Maybe he’ll do one too.
I want to be a
life-narrator. I have an inner desire to
bend light and box time and post funny links.
Speaking of which, you really should go to this satirical article in The
Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40976.
Satire is the most difficult
form of humor. The satirist must make fun of bad things to
make bad things more fun even though they are still bad. What's more,
humor may be the most difficult form of writing. The humorist must
translate laughs into mechanical words and paragraphs, like pasting a flower into
a photo-album and calling it beauty. But even more, writing is the most
difficult form of communication. The writer must record what has likely
already been spoken aloud and to say what has already been thought but in such
a way that while reading it the thoughts become living and active, and new
worlds are explored. Every writer is a sub-Creator of new worlds.
Every humorist is a sub-Creator of a hilarious new world. Every satirist
is a sub-Creator who sub-Creates another world within this hypothetical world
to make fun of the real world. And so, this is why most satirists
eventually kill themselves.
With this in mind perhaps satire
is over my head. I still want to make people
laugh. I still want to laugh myself, and
to laugh at myself.
The religious and spiritual
for me should not be out of rhythm with the humor of life. On Sunday the best part of my worship experience
was when acoustic guitar player in the back of the stage jumped off a set-couch
and did a flying Van Halen kick followed by some
violent long-haired head-banging. Then
the teens to my right went “whoooo” in a suprise high-pitched yell when the song had the phrase “make
a joyful noise” in it. They must have
taken the words seriously—and themselves less so. And I laughed so hard when our pastor
misspelled the word “inadequacy” after trying four times on the marker board. Irony is such a great form of humor. Then he replaced it with an easier word to
spell that had the same meaning as inadequacy and then he misspelled that word
too—totally losing control of the discussion.
And then near the climax of the message he refered
back to his misspelling and the whole crowd laughed with him instead of just at
him.
Jesus wept. But Jesus also laughed. Walter Wangerin’s “Book
of God” helped me see this human part of Jesus… the part that I can relate to
best as someone that loves humor so much.
I know I’m projecting myself onto Jesus, which is a dangerous thing to
do. Jesus is all to
often just a mirror with legs for us these days. But the hilarious Jesus is easier for me to
be friends with than the He-Man Jesus
or the Rabbi Jesus or the Trinity Jesus that so many other Republicans or Emergents or Academics are into (respectively).
If he was tempted in every
way we are does that mean Jesus was tempted to tell dirty jokes at
inappropriate times? Is that sacrilegious
for me to suggest? I know he wasn’t
tempted to forward funny e-mail chains on to people (although his interchange
with the “dogs eat the scrap off the table” woman is forwardably
funny). But was he tempted to tell
stupid groan jokes right before his profound parables? It seems most preachers are tempted to do
this—and perhaps Jesus would be more relatable to them if he was tempted to do
this.
I’ve come to believe, God
has a sense of humor. It’s a belief
because I don’t have proof on it. It’s a
part of my leap of faith. Here’s what I
think. If the imago dei is true, then God has a funny
bone. Imago Dei, by the way, is not a new brand of Italian mini-car; it’s
Latin for “The Image of God.” Genesis 1
talks of God making Adam “in His image.”
Whether or not this means God has a prominent nose is less important to
me than the attributes this must mean God has.
When I survey the wondrous nature of humanity, I see the following positive
attributes: love, compassion, honesty, friendliness, joy, kindness, trust, the
ability to save money for the future, the ability to dream, the ability to
think for long periods of time, the ability to actually enjoy life, and even
the ability to still cheer for and love betraying teams like the Detroit Lions. I also see one attribute that is more
universally found than even these: humor.
Humans are humorous. We’re
funny. We like funny things. The smart ones among us can’t get enough of
the Daily Show. And even the stupid
people among us like attempted humor.
How else do you explain the fact that Jim Belueshi
still has a TV show? We like to make fun
of ourselves, our families and our workplaces.
To prove it just laugh along with TV’s recent best comedies: My Name is Earl (a criminal redneck
turned introspective karma-spreader), Arrested
Development (a dysfunctional family that makes us all feel more normal),
and The Office (a satire of a disturbingly
evil and incompetent boss). Or go to
these funny Christian sites: Lark News, Bluefish Commercials
and the Biblical
Curse Generator.
Whatever you I hope you’ll
believe, as I do, that on the 8th day, which was the second Sunday,
God created the funny bone and the snorting laugh. That’s why I might say “God, that’s funny”
and it’s not using the Lord’s name in vain.
It can actually be a prayer of thanksgiving.
© 2005 by David Drury
Find my attempts to make you
laugh at my main site: www.drurywriting.com/david