Like everyone
who heard the shocking news this week, I was horrified, outraged, and depressed
about the school shooting in Connecticut.
Dealing with these kinds of feelings can make it difficult for comics
and speakers -- and their audiences -- to continue as if everything were
normal.
In the face of
tragedy, how do we comics and speakers do our job? How can we get onstage
and make people laugh -- and is it even appropriate to do so?
The events of
last week took me back to another tragedy - September 11, 2001. I know
you know what happened on that day, but what you might not know is that
was also the day of the release of my book, “The Comedy Bible.”
The next day,
I boarded a plane for my tour to promote a book I had spent five years of my
life writing. In comedy, timing is
everything; starting a tour where the goal is to make people laugh the day
after 9/11 is not exactly great timing.
At first, I
thought my shows where going to be called off, but to my surprise they
weren’t. I was filled with dread.
How could I possibly make people laugh in midst of a national tragedy? That’s when I remembered the lessons learned
from one of my standup students.
Kathy B. came
into my comedy workshop looking very ill.
She had cancer and in the middle of her chemo treatments, she decided to
take my standup workshop. Looking at her
frailness, I gently suggested that perhaps she would want to wait until she
felt better. That’s when she stood up and spoke in a voice that came from a
deeply powerful place, “This cancer
has taken away my health; I’ll be damned if it’s going to take away my sense of
humor.”
On showcase
night, she stepped onstage with her head high and her voice clear and got
laughs -- and a standing ovation. Ten years later she is cancer free. She
triumphed.
Stepping
onstage on September 12th, I took a moment to reflect on the victims of 9/11 --
and then I went on with my act. What I
found was that people really wanted -- and needed -- to laugh.
There's a
healing power to laughter that helps us deal with not just small everyday
problems, but with the great tragedies and challenges as well.
(Kathy clearly
understood this; that's why it was so important to her to continue.)
Keep hold of
your sense of humor; sometimes, when it's the most difficult to laugh, is
exactly when the healing power of laughter is needed most.
Judy,
ReplyDeleteThat is so true. I remember some incidents in my own family-the loss of my dear Brother and Sister; they were so young and had so much to still give to their children and friends. At first I was angry and upset that I didn't even have a chance to say Goodbye. It was interesting because my Brother had just visited me while I was living in Los Angeles-just out of USC. IT took me a long time to get over it, but the final message was -LET GO. that is the same thing I have to do when i get too serious-LET GO. Life is too precious to let it get away. LET GO-whe I take myself too seriously or even the world too seriously. What will it all mean 1,000,000 years form now anyway. Won't we still be doing those BETTER THINGS.