Incipient Humor On The Rise

Humor has conferred a sense of freedom within me, a kind of intellectual exuberance that evokes unhindered emotional responses. Composing a daily dithyramb allows me to recite, among other things, the pleasures found in lightening up. 

As I've recently discovered, the distinction between humor and comedy is as such: "Humor is considered the broader term that encompasses all types of humor material, such as satire, sarcasm, irony, and parody. Comedy is the performance of humor." 

This blog, as such, is a comedic presentation of humor studies. The preconceived notions I carry into this exploration into humor consist of personal preferences for things I consider funny, which can range from the black and white slapstick comedy of yesteryears to Conan O'Brien's late night talk show. 

Conan earns $12 million bucks a year for his efforts. Unfortunately, his viewership dropped from 2.4 million viewers during the show's first month on the air to 958,000 viewers this last July. Hence forth, NBC's recent actions.

Looks like Conan might need to contact Tiger Woods 

for some much-needed PR advice...

 . . .

A consensus in the field of comedy is that you can't teach anyone to be funny, and from Conan's drop in ratings, it appears that you can't make people enjoy it either. Perhaps it's not that people "can't be funny" or don't enjoy comedy, but rather just don't want to... 

Right now, given the economic disasters for millions of people around the world, comedy isn't top priority. It IS when you need to blow off steam, supporting Freud's "relief" theory that humor is a way "to release energy generated by repression."

However we define humor, whatever comedic packaging appeals to the masses, I'm committed to expanding my own humor-writing skills by Tweeting quotes, some of which are even humorous, posting cartoons and witticisms on my Facebook page, reading and digesting an abundance of writing on the subject, sharing what I learn in my blog, and as always, watching funny TV shows. 

Conversely, if I can't master the art of writing humor, if I can't get myself on and then kicked off of a late-night talk show, I can at least blog about my failed efforts here and then go out and buy some software to fake my way through the insurmountable task of understanding and then delivering humor to a much deserving audience who will eventually pay me to do so.