Humour Synonyms

Published November 2008


Not too long ago I was conducting an online interview with a one Mr. Nury Vittachi. Easily South East Asia's most prominent columnist and general poker of fun at all things Asian-centric, I asked Mr. Vittachi what inspired him when it came down to finding the humour in everydayness.
"In Asia, you don't have to make up jokes," he replied. "You just have to follow the news and write it down."
A sound bit of advice from a man who was a joy to interact with and whom I learnt a great deal from. But he got me thinking in the way that writersdo, if you may permit me a small bon mot. Okay then let's be realistic. I'm a budding scribbler with daydreams of becoming a published author in my own right. But in the meantime I get to flex my figurative muscles and somewhat predictable wordplay out on the gentle readers of this fine column who are quite possibly groaning aloud by this point my inconsequential fluffing. Cough.

I suppose what I am trying to get at is that I would like to be a better humour writer. Comedy isn't easy guys. Believe me when I say that as I have a whisper of experience in this department. Sometime last year I had signed up for a 10 week online humour writing course with New York based and world renowned Gotham Writers' Workshop. My dalliances with comedy of the literary sort were truly an experience that I still have very fond memories of. And the open praise from my lecturer Siobhan Adcock in stating that I was the "reigning gross-out master of the class" is a moniker that I still have fond memories of. As I was reminded several times over, humour is a skill that requires effort, study, work and lots of practise. And a pretty bizarre take on life I suspect.

Not too long ago I was given a quote which I play over in my head every so often : "Everyone likes to think that they have a sense of humour. Just as they like to believe that they are good drivers." I conducted a little experiment of sorts on several upstanding individuals and the results were interesting to say the least. Now whether or not said individuals are indeed fine comedians and possess the skills and prowess that would put Massa to shame on the F1 circuit is irrelevant. The point to my little analytical observation on the human psyche is that the above-mentioned statement is indeed true to a point. We all think we're pretty funny. And that and we're awesome drivers too.

Whenever I'm feeling a little blah and a bit too serious (which never helps budding comedic writers unless you're Woody Allen), I turn to a fine, shining example of writerhood ; Mimi Smartypants.
Ms. Smartypants is a pseudonym for quite possibly the most hilarious Chicago native unleashed on the literatti in a very long time. A wife, mother and author of her very own book, The World According To Mimi Smartypants, (solely based on entries from her blog) publishing house paragon Harper Collins felt she had enough chops to be put on paper and so they went ahead and the rest, as they say, is history. Mimi Smartypants exhibits humour, hangovers and a touch of hypochondria all rolled into some very easy, laugh-out-loud-variety reading.

A small excerpt from one of her recent postings :

"Today I decided that I really hate my laugh. I was laughing at something and for one terrible self-aware moment I clearly heard myself, and I had the high-pitched giggle of an unhinged Muppet. So I played around a while with ways to change it, but I quickly ran out of funny stuff to laugh at so the experiment was abandoned. Right now I am alone in the house and drinking a lot of tea, having a maniacal typing and reading marathon. Something struck me funny in the middle of this caffeine-a-thon and I found myself laughing by actually saying 'Ha Ha Ha'. This is not an improvement over the Muppet thing so I give up."

Mimi Smartypants may be found at www.smartypants.dairyland.com