Yeah, so I have a comedy sketch show... which I created. Does that mean I think I'm funny? Not really. I've never particularly thought about myself in that way and I've never really 'tried' to be funny. I just spent way too much time watching SNL and sit coms and went that looks fun. I want to do that. It was always way more about the fun element, rather than trying to make people laugh but you have to market it somehow, by Rosa Fairfield.
Photographs by Linda Smith
Are people awkward about it?
It just seems way more acceptable to go to people, 'I'm outgoing' ... 'I'm nice' or even 'I think I'm pretty' than it is to say, 'I'm funny'. I remember this one time at school. I was feeling just really happy in English class and I started doing this weird over the top impression for a presentation and it made everyone laugh. Afterwards, a lot of people felt the need to tell me that they weren't laughing with me, they were laughing at me. I hadn't really thought about it at all until that point, I was just enjoying myself. It was the fact that people almost jumped to the conclusion that I must have inflated self-worth from making people laugh, that they felt the need to try to extinguish.
What does funny even mean?
Mmm... but that's the thing, a lot of humour actually tends to be self-depreciatory. It's not normally 'haha, look at how amazing I am' ... it's often, 'hey, I'm a bit weird & it's a bit sad really but laugh with me about it' ... or 'this bad thing happened too me but I'm going to laugh instead of cry and hopefully you can relate to it.' A lot of the time comedy is actually a bit sad really and doesn't nessecially equal inflated self-worth... and so many comedians have often had tricky lives.
Humour is so subjective
A lot of the time one person could find something or someone funny and someone else might not. Humour is a very fickle and strange thing. So by default, thinking yourself funny, just means if you just amuse yourself. That's not nessecially a bad thing, I definitely made myself laugh a few times, it's a great way to cheer yourself up. Plus, humour is often about energy and that energy is catching.
Does something that's 'supposed' to be funny have to be funny
See, there are some films that I've watched that are advertised as comedies that haven't made me laugh, I still really enjoyed watching them though. It didn't make them bad. I often find that once I've watched something once or twice the effect seems to wear off but I'll still continue to watch over and over again because I love the characters and story. So, yeah, even if something doesn't make you laugh it still has worth. That's why I think there doesn't have to be this taboo about being scared to try something incase it doesn't get laugher... so, what if it doesn't, there could still be enjoyment to be made out of it.
I'd be interested to get some different opinions on this... do you think saying you're funny is a taboo?
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