Laughing MATTERS

Humor connects us to one another. But how has what we find funny changed over the past 100 years?

- David Steinberg

Making people laugh connects us to one another. But what humor endures? For me, it’s personal life stories and experiences. Life, twisted and molded until you find the funny, will always evolve, and therefore endure. I’ve found that the closer it cuts to the bone, the funnier it is. The beauty of life is that everyone is similar in some way. While we may not have the same experiences, everyone can relate to observations on life, family, and the varieties of behavior we all encounter every day as we go about life.

Humor is very helpful in one’s every day life. It can end tense situations. In my life, humor has ended arguments at home and on too many working sets to mention. Finding the humor can break tension immediately. My dad was a rabbi, and he found humor so important during his sermons. It always broke the ice and brought the congregation together. At home, being funny brought the family closer.

Jerry Seinfeld once told me how his dad collected jokes in a box. He would write them down on cards so he wouldn’t forget them and then tell jokes at the dinner table. I could relate to that. My older brother Fishy used to bring home joke books and read them to me when I was 10 or 11 years old, and it had a great impact on me.