Opinion: Just lighten up and laugh with me

They say laughter is the best medicine. Maybe it’s because it keeps you young at heart by having situations filled with humor instead of angst and worry. Those who know me well see me laugh often. I feel young and I act young.

Sometimes too young. Just ask my wife.

I’m not ashamed to admit I like to laugh. Guys like me keep Adam Sandler around. We keep America’s Funniest Home videos running. We laugh at cats falling off curtains and baseballs hitting people in the groin. Some would say that’s just childish and I always cringe at that. I mean, I’m witty enough that I could craft humor around Robespierre, Einstein and Emerson walking into a bar, but in the 25 minutes it would take to appeal to the intelligentsia, I could have watched a whole Three Stooges episode and laughed 10 times over.

Really, the one thing I don’t laugh about are humor snobs. Those who say faceplants appeal to the lowest common denominator miss the mark. They assume a certain doltishness exists where one must turn to comedy hour on PBS to have refinement.

Can you imagine if we applied the same logic to sadness? Death brings out tears in a lot of people. I can’t fathom a reporter sneering, “Today we lay Mother Theresa to rest, the wails of the lowest common denominator can be heard throughout the world.”

Humor can unite. Heck, I was at a gathering last weekend with people ranging in age from 14 to 74. It was a clear night and as people marveled at the shine off the moon and the different constellations we could see, somebody said, “And there’s Uranus.” Half the kids, most of the adults and everyone drinking an alcoholic beverage erupted in laughter.

If my grandfather were still among the living, his dentures would’ve fallen out from cackling, causing another ripple of bellyaches from the crowd.

There shouldn’t be a hierarchical ranking for humor. If something is funny to you, laugh. You don’t get bonus points in life for stoicism. I cut my comedic chops watching Monty Python. For those unaware (though I’m not sure how that’s possible!), it is a British comedy group that used to have a BBC show, “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” that aired on PBS here in the States. Later, they made a string of hit movies, including one that morphed into a hit Broadway play. Some of their bits and key lines long ago entered the lexicon.

The supposedly stuffy and stodgy British. Ha! To this day, you might hear me calling out “’Tis merely a flesh wound!” if someone nearby gets hurt, especially if there’s blood leaking – or spurting – from the wound.

But maybe that’s not your cup of tea.

People can have different tastes. If you don’t find something funny, no one’s making you laugh. But there’s no reason to look down on me if I do. So if I’m cracking up at an episode of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” you don’t need to call me a moron for howling. Just move along.

Nothing to see here. Nothing to laugh at….or is there?

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Opinion: Just lighten up and laugh with me."