It's Always Funny...

I have been told all of my life that I am funny.  I have the ability to make people laugh.  I guess that’s true, but here’s my quandary:

When I write…no one laughs.  I have funny thoughts, or so I think, yet when I sit down to write I rarely have something truly funny to share.  This is something that has haunted me for years.

Several years ago I wrote a screenplay with my brother-in-law, Ed.  It was funny.  It was in fact hilarious.  And while I physically did all of the writing, the creative process was probably 60/40 in Ed’s behalf.  Maybe even 70/30.  But writing for television or a movie is different.  Because not only do you get to set up the scenario, but you also get to set up the actions and reactions of everyone involved.  Writing a joke or humorous story, to me, is different.  Why?  Because I just don’t think that way.  I cannot imagine what the audience online is thinking, or how they are feeling, or what they are going through.  Give me a crowd of people, however, and I can sense what is going on.  I can read a room like no other.  The weight (or intensity) of the room is the first thing I notice and when it is right…I can be funny.  When someone makes an innocuous comment I can be right there to turn it into something classic (albeit sick, perverted, or just downright wrong).

But when I write - my mind is in a different place.  I often think about the needs and ills of the world around me and it begs me to be more sincere and compassionate.  These are the times when I don’t feel the need to be “ON!”  I can just reflect and turn it into words on a page.  And to be honest I like that side of me.  And this (blog) gives me a chance to share it.  That doesn’t mean that every topic has to be serious, but the humorous ones will definitely tend to be true and those are often harder to share.

I guess what it all boils down to is that I fancy myself more of a philosopher type than a storyteller.  It’s sort of a part of my “soul DNA.”  But that is a completely different story and it MAY be one that you find funny as well.  Ah, someday!