Hopefully we can agree that we’re anxious, worried, and preoccupied with worst-case scenarios that are unlikely to materialize. We are told we are in an existential crisis, journeying in uncharted territory, and voting in the most consequential election of our lifetime. It all feels heavy and dark. We’ve become apoplectic about the apocalyptic.
It might make you want to cry.
I’d recommend laughing instead.
Why is it so hard to laugh right now? Some say that the world is just too full of bad news. Perhaps. Without question, it’s necessary to mourn the brokenness of the world. But has an obsession with other people’s pain inadvertently broken our own funny bone? I’m with Madeleine L’Engle; “A good laugh heals a lot of hurts.”
Is it possible that the problem is not the presence of pain, but instead the absence of joy? Did news addiction make us forget how to smile, while doom scrolling curbed our appetite for amusement? Put simply: did we forget how to laugh?
Let’s consider that flat, plastic box hanging on the den wall. In 2023, the highest-rated television shows were live programs and dramas, with football leading the way: Sunday Night Football (1), Monday Night Football (2), and Thursday Night Football (3). In fact, Young Sheldon (6) was the only program in the top-15 that might garner many laughs. Otherwise, all we know is that Illinois needs help, as emergencies occupied Chicago Fire (8), Chicago Med (12), and Chicago PD (13). What’s up with the Windy City? Is everyone there afflicted, arrested, or aflame?
Has it always been this way? Not really. In 1997 eight of the fifteen highest-rated television shows were comedies: Seinfeld (1), Veronica’s Closet (3) , Friends (4), Home Improvement (10), Just Shoot Me! (12), The Drew Carey Show (13), Frasier (14), and King of the Hill (15). Wait, more people watched Veronica's Closet than Friends? But I digress.
The problem isn’t just in prime time. Late night comedians have pivoted to the political, which can be dark and preachy. Political comedy was funny when people could laugh about politics, but now that terrain isn't very fertile for funny. Saturday Night Live is the longest-running comedy in history; the recent cinematic depiction of its tumultuous first season is a drama. That’s right: a drama about a comedy.
Hopefully we can find time for laughter; it's sustained us for all of human history.
God tells Abraham to name his son Isaac (one who laughs) to remind generations that Sarah viewed her pregnancy as a punchline (Genesis 17:18-19). That was God telling the original Dad Joke. And while Jesus wasn’t exactly polishing his standup act, he occasionally peppered his greatest teachings with zingers, like the time he accused hypocrites of hauling a log in their own eye while pointing to a speck in their brothers’ eye (Matthew 7:3-5). Even the serious Paul could break character to be hilariously sarcastic, like when he told those who enforced unreasonable circumcision rules that he wished they would, “go the whole way and emasculate themselves” (Galatians 5:12).
Of course, comedy can have some rough edges. Sometimes we laugh at people rather than with them. Too often, jokes are at the expense of marginalized groups. And sometimes a poorly-timed chuckle minimizes the gravity of a situation. There are events in history and current realities that demand our full, straight-faced attention. Everything in life is not a joke.
However, knowing how to make and take a joke can help us live a longer life. It can reduce anxiety, improve heart health, and block infections. A cackle ignites mini fireworks in the brain that lead to calmness and good vibes. Laughing with others (or better, at ourselves) attracts friends, which shields us from the greatest epidemic of our time: loneliness. Patch Adams and the writer of Proverbs can agree on one thing: “a cheerful heart is good medicine” (17:22).
A sense of humor can help us to be more patient and compassionate toward others. Sometimes humor releases us from the bondage of the serious. Laughing can help us prioritize our lives, being able to separate annoynances from urgencies.
We all need to laugh sometimes.
When we take life too seriously, the joke is on us.
