LOL

Tuesday

Channel flipping while having dinner, and saw there was a documentary on the History of Comedy.  Think it was an episode called "Gone Too Soon" and it was mostly about comedians who had passed on.  Not that all of them were young like Bill Hicks or John Belushi.  It was also about the sentiment that these legends were missed no matter when they passed on, because they managed to connect with their audience and bring a smile to faces, some joy to lives.  Like Joan Rivers or George Carlin who had long careers.  

Gary Shandling even made fun of his own future demise.  He said he wanted a boxing referee at his funeral, to count down from 10 in front of his casket, and when he reached 5 he would wave off the count and say "He's not getting up".  That's brilliant.  And that's why comedy is so important.  It allows us to deal with some of the darkest moments of life, by talking about it and best of all, laughing about it.  And some manage to make us laugh even after passing on.  Like the late Graham Chapman, of Monty Python fame.  The rest of the cast appeared as guests on a show after he had died - and brought in an urn that they said contained his ashes.  One of the cast crossed his legs and knocked the urn off the table.  I burst out laughing.  I am pretty sure that was not really the urn with his ashes in it but it was hilarious.

As one of the comedians said, you always remember someone who makes you laugh.  And that's one of the most human desires - to want to be remembered, the need for significance. I heard this quote during a recent webinar

Jean Varnier - "All of us have a secret desire to be seen as saints, heroes, martyrs. We are afraid to be children, to be ourselves.”  (Doing a google search on him reveals many others - “We are not called by God to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things with extraordinary love. ”)

But I was also suddenly struck by how strange it was to laugh out loud alone.  Though sometimes we don't laugh at the same things, which is funny in itself.  Some of us like inside jokes, some like silly puns, some love lame Dad jokes (and it's not me). I love it especially when we share referential humour that you get immediately (well some of you anyway).

(From the TV show 'Community': "I think if you said "Jump", he'd say "How high?". If you said "Stop", he'd say "Hammer time!".)

Random favourite photo of us.  I wonder when we might all travel together again - I pray and hope that it's while I am still here in London.  My favourite holiday was when we went to Japan and read the Gospel of Luke every night - was this photo from that trip? Could be.