One of the best feelings has to be when you start laughing and end up laughing so hard that you feel like you're not taking in enough oxygen, your stomach muscles are burning, it feels like there is some internal damage going on, eyes are watering, it's not good if you need the loo, you literally end up creasing up and getting nearer to the ground.. It can be painful but it just doesn't matter!
It's the kind of laughter where something doesn't have to be amusing. It's like there is a ping pong ball of whatever is funny - wherever the ball lands that's what will be hilarious next - even if it's something that really isn't that funny normally.
It says in the Bible 'Laughter does good like a medicine' - Proverbs 17:22
One definition expresses Joy as being from 'Extreme Hilarity to Calm Delight'. I like that :)
Laughter is good exercise, it gives a full work out for the abdominal muscles, diaphragm, intercostal, respiratory, and facial muscles. Depending on how someone laughs they may even work out their back, legs and arms. Laughter can boost the immune system, lower blood pressure and increases the heart rate. Whilst laughing, the body's natural pain killers are released into the brain - Endorphins! So we feel relaxed.
Do we laugh because we are happy or are we happy because we laugh? Both are probably true yet we only really do the first.. Maybe we should try to do a bit of both and see what happens! I certainly find if someone is laughing it brings a smile to my face, if not a slight laugh on my part aswell, it is contagious. Obviously there are times when it's really not appropriate [which I find quite funny], but in other times we can try to shed a lighter note on a situation and laugh about it. Source: Emma, http://beyondtheeyeball.blogspot.com
Facts & Tips •”True creativity is derived from simple formulas and the memorization of data” - Comedy By The Numbers
•Many comedians got there starts as magicians - Johnny Carson & Steve Martin are examples.
•A sense of humor is the #1 turn on for many women.
•Things that make people laugh: Pain - look at cartoons, movies, real life - we laugh at pain. Out of Place - we laugh when something is out of place - a huge man hiding behind a skinny pole is funny, but a skinny man hiding behind a big man isn’t funny. Funny Speech - we laugh when someone speaks oddly - with a lisp, with an accent (get an Aussie to say ‘aluminum’), goofy Unexpected - we laugh when the result is unexpected - it was funny when Indian Jones shot the guy rather than fighting him with a sword the 2nd time.
JACK (age 3) was watching his Mom breast-feeding his new baby sister. After a while he asked: 'Mom why have you got two? Is one for hot and one for cold milk?'
STEVEN (age 3) hugged and kissed his Mom good night. 'I love you so much that when you die I'm going to bury you outside my bedroom window.'
BRITTANY (age 4) had an ear ache and wanted a pain killer. She tried in vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her Mom explained it was a child-proof cap and she'd have to open it for her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: 'How does it know it's me?'
SUSAN (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. 'Please don't give me this juice again,' she said, 'It makes my teeth cough.'
DJ (age 4) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: 'How much do I cost?'
MARC (age 4) was engrossed in a young couple that were hugging and kissing in a restaurant. Without taking his eyes off them, he asked his dad: 'Why is he whispering in her mouth?'
CLINTON (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried. When his Mom asked what was troubling him, he replied, 'I don't know what'll happen with this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in it?'
JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read: 'The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt.' Concerned, James asked: 'What happened to the flea?'
TAMMY (age 4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her Mom knew. Tammy looked at her for a while and then asked, 'Why doesn't your skin fit your face?'
The Sermon I think this Mom will never forget.... this particular Sunday sermon...'Dear Lord,' the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. 'Without you, we are but dust...' He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little four year old girl voice, 'Mom, what is butt dust?'
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal and a bottle of wine, they lay down for the night, and went to sleep.
Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend.
"Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
Watson replied, "I see millions and millions of stars."
"What does that tell you?" Holmes asked.
Watson pondered for a minute. "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.
Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that God is all-powerful and that we are small and insignificant.
Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
What does it tell you?"
Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke.
"Watson, you idiot. Somebody has stolen our tent!" Author - unknown
14 Tips to Being Funny •Relax - they only throw tomatoes in old movies. Give yourself a break and at least try.
•See the humor in things. Don’t take everything so seriously. You can find humor in almost anything. It wasn’t funny when I had a stroke or went through a couple years of rehab, but there are all sorts of comedy bits I could come up with now - loss of use of my right side, slurred speech like a drunk, incontinence, rehab, etc.
•Gain knowledge. Keep up to date with pop culture. Know what the general population knows. Know the subjects you will be talking about. It is easier to be funny and make off the wall comments if you know what you’re talking about.
•Don’t get caught up always using someone else’s material as your own. If you copy a bit from someone famous or recognizable, do the routine imitating them. You will still get a laugh. The more so for giving a good mimic.
•Create your own style. If you are not loud and obnoxious like Chris Rock you won’t be believable in the style. Use ideas from others but adapt them to your personality. You will be more at ease and less pressured to be funny.
•Develop a treasure chest of jokes, one-liners and witty comments. You never know when the right situations will arise to make you the life of the party.
•Know your audience and the types of jokes that are appropriate. Your in-laws may respond to certain jokes differently than your close friends.
•Telling a good joke or funny story is more than just speaking, it also includes your expressions, bodily movements, intonations, attitude and mannerisms.
•When appropriate involve other people in your story - not at their expense because no one wants to be the butt of the joke - but to enhance the story and get more people involved.
•If the joke or story bombs don’t keep trying to revive it. Just let it go.
•Smiling is infectious. Smiling while telling your joke will often enhance the laughter in response.
•Be animated and energetic. It will enhance your storytelling tremendously.
•Don’t laugh before the punch line.
•You don’t need to be the life of the party. Being humorous will help you in awkward situations, let others know you are approachable and makes you more sociable and at ease.
Pete and Larry had not seen each other in many years. Now they had a long talk trying to fill in the gap of those years by telling about their lives. Finally Pete invited Larry to visit him in his new apartment. "I got a wife and three kids and I'd love to have you visit us."
"Great. Where do you live?"
"Here's the address. And there's plenty of parking behind the apartment. Park and come around to the front door, kick it open with your foot, go to the elevator and press the button with your left elbow, then enter! When you reach the sixth floor, go down the hall until you see my name on the door. Then press the doorbell with your right elbow and I'll let you in."
"Good. But tell me...what is all this business of kicking the front door open, then pressing elevator buttons with my right, then my left elbow?"
"Surely, you're not coming empty-handed."
JOKE A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.
The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?"
Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."
"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud. He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then the Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"
"You're a Congressman for the U.S.. Government", says Bud.
"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"
"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep. .... Now give me back my dog.
'Laughter does good like a medicine' Proverbs 17:22
Why did the duck cross the road?
Because the chicken retired and moved to Florida!
Laws 1. Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to use the bathroom. 2. Law of Gravity - Any tool, nut, bolt, or screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner. 3. Law of Probability - The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act. 4. Law of Random Numbers - If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal - someone always answers. 5. Law of the Alibi - If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire. 6. Variation Law - If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now (works every time). 7. Law of the Bath - When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings. 8. Law of Close Encounters - The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with. 9. Law of the Result - When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will. 10. Law of Biomechanics - The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach. 11. Law of the Theater and Hockey Arena - At any event, the people whose seats are farthest from the aisle arrive last, and they are the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, drink, or the bathroom and who leave early before the end of the performance or the game is over. Those in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs or big bellies, and stay to the bitter end of the performance and beyond. The aisle people also are very surly folk. 12. The Starbucks Law - As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something that will last until the coffee is cold. 13. Murphy's Law of Lockers - If there are only two people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers. 14. Law of Physical Surfaces - The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor covering are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet/rug. 15. Law of Logical Argument - Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about. 16. Brown's Law of Physical Appearance - If the clothes fit, they're ugly. 17. Oliver's Law of Public Speaking - A closed mouth gathers no feet. 18. Wilson's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy - As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it. 19. Doctors' Law - If you don't feel well and make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there you'll feel better. Don't make an appointment and you will stay sick.
THE POTATO STORY
Well, Girl Potato and Boy Potato had eyes for each other, and finally they got married, and had a little sweet potato, which they called 'Yam.' Of course, they wanted the best for Yam. When it was time, they told her about the facts of life. They warned her about going out and getting half-baked, so she wouldn't get accidentally mashed, and get a bad name for herself like 'Hot Potato,' and end up with a bunch of Tater Tots Yam said not to worry, no Spud would get her into the sack and make a rotten potato out of her! But on the other hand she wouldn't stay home and become a Couch Potato either. She would get plenty of exercise so as not to be skinny like her Shoestring cousins. When she went off to Europe, Mr and Mrs. Potato told Yam to watch out for the hard-boiled guys from Ireland and the greasy guys from France called the French Fries. And when she went out west, to watch out for the Indians so she wouldn't get scalloped. Yam said she would stay on the straight and narrow and wouldn't associate with those high class Yukon Golds, or the ones from the other side of the tracks who advertise their trade on all the trucks that say, 'Frito Lay.' Mr. and Mrs. Potato sent Yam to Idaho P.U. (that's Potato University ) so that when she graduated she'd really be in the Chips. But in spite of all they did for her, one-day Yam came home and announced she was going to marry Tom Brokaw. Tom Brokaw! Mr. and Mrs. Potato were very upset. They told Yam she couldn't possibly marry Tom Brokaw because he's just......
A COMMONTATER
These bear hunters were sitting around the cabin the night before the hunt bragging about their pass hunts.
The cabin boy was listening and went over and said "you guys make it seam pretty hard on capturing a bear".
They all laughed and said "it is hard; do you think you could bag one"?
"I can go out and bag you 2 if you will skin them, and I will bet each of you $100.00.
They agreed and off he went out into the night.
Soon he spotted a big grizzly; he waved his arm and started hollering the big bear started after him and he started running for the shack. When he got close to the shack he started yelling. "Open the door".
They looked out and saw the bear chasing the boy. Just as he got to the door they opened it and he stepped aside and the bear went in. He slammed the door and locked it and shouted. "OK skin him I'll go and get the other one".
