The funny thing about Humour

The funny thing about humour is, how very different it is from one person to another. One man’s humour is another man’s sorrow. One woman’s humour is no humour at all to another. A third person’s humour might make him a celebrity, with people rolling over laughing when he says ‘hello’. I would say very broadly speaking you can group humorists in three broad categories. Usually people are a mix of all three, only the proportion of each varies.

Type A: those who mask their spite with humour. They will make jokes at everyone’s expense but their own. But the moment someone turns their wit on them, they are very, very bad sports. Almost without exception. “ When I said that I was JOKING, OK? You, on the other hand, are just plain offensive.”

Type B: Those who always make fun of themselves, to get a laugh. Sad thing about these poor saps are that people think it’s fine to join in, and that’s when all hell breaks loose. “Even I”VE never said that about my mother!!” they’ll sob after the fight has dispersed.

Type C: The ones who don’t have a humorous bone in their body. “Hahahaha…you’ll die laughing when I tell you this…hahaha…I just saw, gasp…a man…giggle…fall down the stairs. He just lay at the bottom of the stairs…hehe..GROANING. They say he may have a….concussion. HAAAAAhahaha..”

I think the test to know which one you are is if you think back on the last joke you cracked today and ask yourself:

a) Was it something hurtful about someone else?
b) Did you laugh much more than the target of the joke?
c) Did the person stop talking to you right after?
d) Would you never make the same joke about yourself?
e) If someone else made the same joke about you, would you report him to the office HR for unprofessional behaviour?
f) If you make the world’s worst gaffe do you run to tell your friends about it?
g) Are you pleased when they laugh?
h) Do they call you a clutz and a loser?
i) Do you wish you hadn’t told them?
j) Did you find the Type C joke funny?
k) Were you one of the people in PVR on April 27th who laughed when the kid in Taare Zameen Par got bashed around for flunking his exams?
l) Did you just think as you read this post that it was frivolous and redundant, and that the author was at a loose end when she wrote this?

Scores:
(a) to (e) -more than 4 ‘yes’s You are SO type A. I hope I don’t meet you at a party on a bad hair day.

(f) to (i) – more than 3 ‘Yes’s. Type B. You are asking for what is coming to you. Stop clowning around if you don’t want people to call you a clown.

J, k, and especially l - all three ‘Yes’s. Resoundingly Type C. I would recommend a book list that includes ‘Roots’, ‘Diary of Anne Frank’, and the ‘Kite Runner’ should you need a few giggles on a dull day.