Corona Diaries 19: Dollops Of Humour In Time Of Despair

Humour is therapeutic. It heals the mauled heart and singed soul like no medicine can. Amid times of gloom and despair, it is the balmy touch of sunshine. It is mankind’s way of finding hope and optimism even in irredeemably dark circumstances. No wonder people trapped in their homes for more than 40 days have found humour an escape from the misery they are in.

They have been busy lifting the spirits of fellow sufferers and their own with dollops of humour. There have been memes, videos and jokes for every situation. From men trying hard to fit into homes to lamenting the loss of freedom to wives and kids making finding ways to tolerate the full-time presence of the patriarch to policemen wielding the stick to rein in the wandering habit of people–the subjects are varied and relatable.

Not all work though. For humour is a difficult art to master. Yet the effort to get it right is commendable. Smile is a curve, goes internet wisdom, that sets everything straight. It is heartening that a whole lot of people are eager to bring the happy curve to the faces of others. They make life a lot easier in these uneasy times.

CANNED LAUGHTER: JUNK IT PLEASE

What would count as the most annoying experience during the lockdown? It has to be the canned laughter in TikTok videos. For those expecting people to get in touch with their creative sides and let loose imagination to produce something brilliant during the long period of isolation and silence, the wait has been largely disappointing. Instead of an exciting burst of creativity we have a surfeit of insipid videos, a miserable attempt at capturing reality through humour. The canned laughter is a way of informing the viewer that the scene on display is supposed to be funny. They must acknowledge it. It’s like a stand-up comic telling his audience “Hey, I cracked a joke just now. Laugh.”

Going by the quality of videos, our creative faculties require lot of polishing and fine-tuning. There is a difference between being laughable and being humorous. Once we get this point we can make a good beginning. The horrible canned laughter-one comes close to a rooster’s mating call-can stay in the can forever.

OF TEXT & CONTEXT

The experiments at humour through words have been a lesser disaster. A good amount of jokes – from vulgar to subtle and from slapstick to cerebral – have been going around on the social media and all of it is not awful. Some evoke a smile, some a chuckle and some a hearty laugh. In short, they are forward-worthy, certified as good for consumption of friends.

The only problem though is plagiarism. In most cases old jokes are being rehashed and passed off as original. In some cases the ‘inspiration’ is clearly noticeable. In some, the sense of context is amiss. For example, baldness jokes. Why revive those now when there is so much to laugh about and make fun of during the lockdown? Forcing a context, like someone’s hair standing up on hearing corona horror stories and making the task easier for the barber, doesn’t help. The staleness stands out.

Smileys are to text jokes what canned laughter is to Tiktok videos: they nudge the reader to take note of the punchline. A good joke can stand up for itself. The smiley at the end of it is an avoidable distraction. It only betrays the joke-maker’s lack of confidence. The ‘like’ count is unlikely to change because of it.

MAKING A SILLY POINT

Why, someone might ask, the gyan on humour when you cannot even crack a joke? Isn’t your glumness an extra burden on the world already depressed due to corona? Valid questions. The ability to tickle the funny bone is a gift from God. You are either born with it or not. You need to get so many things right to make humour work. It’s not easy. So inferior souls play safe and stay off it altogether. Abraham Lincoln got it spot on: “Better stay silent and be thought of as a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” Of course, the context was a bit different.

Moreover, to recycle an insipid joke, whoever said you have to lay eggs to judge an omlette?