TEXTO I

A few notes about humour

Charlie Chaplin said it best: “A day without laughter is a day wasted”. Money might be what makes the world go round, but humour is what makes the journey tolerable. What better way to acknowledge something than to consume it in jest?

Humor is the spice of life. Fun and laughter help reduce stress, and also help to keep you happy and healthy. Everybody loves a good laugh, and everybody needs a good reason to laugh once in a while. I have always enjoyed listening to people tell jokes, and enjoyed telling jokes too. There are many ways in which comedy can be used in life, but my personal favourite is undoubtedly observational humour.

Observational humour is the sort where people make fun of life in general, turning the run-of-the-mill day into something people can laugh about. It takes a good amount of story-telling skill to turn a mundane, silly instance into a funny and witty${}^1$ remark. Some of the comedians who have this skill are Mitch Hedberg, Dylan Moran, Louis C. K., George Carlin, Ed Byrne, and the list goes on.

Many people can manage to get out a laugh or two about aspects of life that pertain to a specific audience - for example, an in-joke that only locals will understand. But it takes something else to execute a brilliantly funny story about people in general, something that manages to creep past the cliché bin, which is why I have a good deal of respect for those comedians.

A sub-section of observational humor is when comedians, or regular folk, poke fun at current affairs, generally serious current affairs, and turn them into something satirical. This is significantly easier than compiling a whole show (1), and only requires you to follow current affairs and have a bit of wit about you. Besides this, with some skilled wordplay and a good performance, many a situation can be turned into a joke. The more grave the actual situation, the funnier and darker the spin-off story can be, if pun permits.

Twitter is one of the current hang-outs for the exchanges of these situational comics, and word plays spread like wildfire${}^2$ once they’re out - like they did during the rescue of the Chilean miners (2), in october, 2010, for instance. Many of the jokes come from dedicated comedy spots (such as Sickipedia or Uncyclopedia), but the point is that there are many healthy communities and opportunities for people to express their farce take on things.

After a while, your mind is always ready to come up with a quirky statement about anything; it actually becomes habitual - which could be detrimental to your reputation if you’re not careful. It’s also really fun as it keeps you on your toes.

(theamateurobserver.wordpress.com)

${}^1$ witty - espirituoso (a)

${}^2$ spread like wildfire - alastrar-se

No $5^{\circ }$ parágrafo, o autor menciona quatro requisitos necessários para transformar quaisquer situações, até mesmo as sérias, em piadas.

Identifique esses quatro requisitos.