No Laughing Matter

In her terrific book The Joy Diet: 10 Practices for a Happier Life, life coach and well-being guru Martha Beck instructs readers to laugh on a daily basis. And not just a couple of guffaws; Beck prescribes a minimum of thirty laughs a day. Clicked off on a pocket counter, if necessary.

So, maybe I won’t ever be ready to join a laughter club, but I have to confess — I’m not laughing anywhere close to thirty times a day. It’s time to up the ante on the funny. And what do I find funny? My children’s antics. Monty Python. Anything John Cleese. Will Ferrell. Seinfeld, of course. The Daily Show. Stephen Colbert. William Shatner. Zach Galifianakis. Jack Black. Sometimes stand-up comedy can get me: Chris Rock, George Carlin, Lewis Black, Eddie Izzard. The Princess Bride. Airplane. Napoleon Dynamite. Writers often make me laugh out loud: Anne Lamott, Shirley Jackson, Armistead Maupin. Old (as in, from decades ago) Garfield comics. Without fail, every time I watch J-T and Andy Samberg’s Dick in a Box and Motherlover I can’t help myself. I should really watch those two every day.

In whatever form it comes, I definitely need to start laughing more. How about you? What makes you laugh?