8:} Humor Code Deciphered!

In the second half of the 1970’s,
I managed valet services at St. Botolph
St. Restaurant, behind the Colonnade Hotel
across from the Prudential Center, prior to my
'inheriting the door' of the exclusive Hampshire
House at the foot of Beacon Hill, above The Bull
& Finch Pub, and below ‘Quaffers’ discotheque!


I paid five dollars an hour out of my own pocket
to a now-famous and very funny entertainer
who helped me park cars. With just me
as audience, and for my reactions,
he nightly performed jokes
developed over prior
late evenings.

I could never ‘get’
much humor back then, and always
felt terrible whenever he stood before me in
astonishment, disbelief popping his eyeballs straight
through the lids, incredulously repeating, ‘Really, Mike?
Seriously?? How could you not think that one was funny???
I spent all night working on that, until 4 o'clock this morning!
This is a serious problem for me if no one thinks it was funny.
Are you fucking kidding me?? You didn’t think that was funny?
I'm sorry but I have to give my notice, I'm moving to California
to become rich and famous.' Those were his last words to me.
I felt sad while wondering how one could decide such a thing.
It wasn’t 'til my early fifties, just a few years or so ago, that,
as is usual in the clockwork gunk of psychiatric treatment,
I slowly pieced together, with the help of my therapist
of several years, the puzzle that kept my life apart
from rhyme, reason, and other people. I may
never find all the missing pieces, but can
see enough of the picture to know
which way to walk forward,
slowly, once again.

Humor is
prescribed as
the best medicine
for what ails, pales
or makes one want to
cry out loud but cannot.
Until mental conditions,
especially depression, can
be removed from the mix,
it's impossible to understand,
see, recognize, appreciate or
‘get’ humor in its many forms.
I believe that humor is the main
springboard from which one dives
head-first into a life desirable and
worthwhile. I may not experience
humor at its fullest, but make
progress in starts and
chuckles!

‘Getting’ or
appreciating humor
can take place only when
realities of life can relate to it.
Instead of being able to laugh with
others, we could only weep and cry inside.
We may have confused humor with sarcasm,
cynicism and pessimism, becoming detached from
its true nature. Through negative beliefs humor fails
to penetrate the despair of taking life too seriously.

Negative emotional conditions
bestow upon us impressions
of life, colored in black
and white, by
depression
and other
nasty
things.

Ceaseless
ruminations
that plagued my
past have become
simply bothersome
nuisances. Reminiscing
from varying perspectives
along with the distress of living
have been both replaced by a vital
dimension to life, formerly elusive and
incomprehensible to me due to depression.
Without it there can never be true happiness.
This most treasured gift I possess today is ability
to feel humorous with real heart and soul laughter;
at nothing at all, or most importantly today, myself!
I aim to laugh more often as time marches forward.
Steve, I am very sorry for not 'getting' your humor
during the very short time we worked together.
But I am truly happy for you and your gift
that can make millions of people
{except me}...

LAUGH!


Once
the shell of
discovered recovery
cracks open and we begin
the struggle to wiggle our way
free, it matters not that we become
chickens or turtles, alligators or snakes,
fish or pink flamingoes: The future can no longer
hold for us despair, mistrust, misery, dread or panic;
A cursory glance at the past strengthens knowledge,
hope and faith in our ability to conclude,
with certainty, that there is
nothing left
in life
to be
afraid of…

The Laughin' Man

They call him the laughin' man, with the laughin' plan.
He's got a laughin' place and a laughin' face.
If trouble tries to trouble in and tries to snake its rattle in,
the laughin' man begins to grin and trouble runs away.
And when the devil tries to creep
into his dreams and tries to sleep
The laughin' man a dream away a slack, a slack a day
But the laughin' man uses his laughin' plan
He's got a laughin' place and a laughin' face
So the Laughin' man uses his laughin' plan
He just grins and smiles the laugin' man's way
Then he makes the devil curse and run away
So when you're feeling down and feelin' blue
Just think of what the laughin' man might do
Just draw yourself a nice and cozy bath
Then look in the mirror and laugh, laugh, laugh!
By Harry Nilsson
From 'Knnillssonn'.

This album was

released in 1977,

the year I bought it.
So far ahead of its time,

it took over 20 years for his

critics to appreciate his genius!
The Beatles were once

asked during an interview:
'If you weren't The Beatles,
who would you be?'
They ALL replied:
'Nilsson!'