I was pregnant when I taped this, but this issue has not died. How can I make my daughter understand the difference between laughing with and laughing at? And furthermore what strength it gives you when people can laugh at you? Not in a belittling way but in a “There is nothing you can say that hurts me because I am already aware of my shortcomings” way, which is the inner voice of all comics.
Well, she is only 3.
A couple of years ago, I was performing at the Comedy Store on Sunset Blvd. in LA. A male comic came on later and brought the house down, the kind of rolling, “I think I may pee” funny. I wish I knew his name to give him credit. He did a bit where he said, “You know, the only people who care about astrology are straight woman, gay woman, and gay men. Straight men would sooner have a discussion about how much money it would take for them to give another man a blow job than talk about astrology. Which, by the way, for me is $4,800 if I’m drunk, $6,000 if I’m sober.” I’m sure I’m getting a few words wrong, but this comic had us in stitches. A friend of my husband’s was undone, “OMG, I’ve had that conversation.” I wish I had written that bit because for a long time now this astrology thing has really bugged. about Here’s a vlog I did when I was still pregnant about astrology.
As I was working on an essay about using humor in your home for Parent & Child magazine today, I had one of my suggestions tested. Today I was the filling of the sandwich… as in, the sandwich generation. Vivien is being toilet-trained, and since it was my dad’s 80th birthday, he spent the night at my house. We had a great party for him the night before, but I didn’t want him to wake up in assisted living, away from kin.
Well, just because I’m on TV doesn’t mean I don’t spend my mornings cleaning up the urine of my many loved ones from the carpet or couch. I wrote in my essay that moms don’t have time to turn the tragedy into comedy. You have to go right to the comedy. As I scrubbed my hallway carpet – the most expensive carpet I have ever bought – I initially found this hard to do. Then I had my half-cup of coffee and the old funny bone started firing up. Also, I got some perspective, thinking of people in their own real tragedies. So what’s a little pee between loved ones?
