Thank God for Jokes: How Christ Redeems Our Ridicule
“Every man is important if he loses his life; and every man is funny if he loses his hat and has to run after it. ”
Humor, as we like to say, is one of the minor fruits of the Spirit. It is, as Kierkegaard said, “the joy which has overcome the world.” But comedy can have a surprisingly volatile nature about it. Is it any accident that the conclusion of a joke is called a punchline? Any comedian worth his salt will tell you that almost every joke has a target and almost every laugh comes at someone’s expense. As Mike Birbiglia says in his special Thank God for Jokes, “All jokes are offensive … to someone.” A comedian will often begin a routine by offering himself up as the sacrificial lamb, telling self-deprecating jokes to soften up the crowd, but it’s only a matter of time until he executes “the flip” in which the tables are turned and the audience suddenly becomes the subject of ridicule. I cringe every time someone is picked out of a crowd during a stand-up routine. It’s essentially volunteering to be the butt of a joke. Whether or not the person can laugh at himself depends on his ability to accept his own ridiculousness…………………….