It's hard to make me laugh-out loud

Since forever I have found few things funny enough to merit actual laughter-tears running laughter is almost unknown to me and I will say-if I think its that funny it's unlikely anyone else will share my glee.

The proof that I am at some level British rests on the fact that I can watch Grahan Norton and laugh out loud often-not at him actually-I think he's a very good host and wonderful at getting others to be funny but as a comedian I find him too working class and obvious.

He knnws how to ask the questions that get celebs to tell their best stories and thankfully British telly isn't as repressed as it is in the USA so the juicy stories get told without nonsensical editing as they are here.

I saw an episode tonight with Michael Buble (who I sometimes find tedious in interviews) here's a bit of his conversation:

"I was signing CDs in London and a very young, well built woman came up to the table smiling to have her album signed and after some flirty talk she leaned over and whispered to me "Does your penis give lessons?"...I was so taken aback that I turned to my publicist and said 'This lady just asked me if my penis gives lessons", looking back at the young woman I sasw that she was red in the face an a bit chuffed-she quickly snapped at me " I didn't say PENIS I said PIANIST"

It's obviously a made up story that some publicity agent or comedy writer prepared for him so he would appear witty on TV but it is funny and it did make me laugh-his delivery was good BIT also on the show was SARAH McMILLAN who I had never heard of and she is HYSTERICAL.

She has her own talk show/comedy show and she makes me laugh a lot.

I watched a couple of her specials on You Tube and a few episodes of season three of her talk show-I noticed that when she does American TV she tends to do more scatological humor and in the UK it's more slyly sexual and less crude than say Kathy Griffen or Lisa Lampinelli.

There are times that I just need to laugh...growing up I occasionally would be sitting quietly and I would heave great, cleansing sighs which bothered my Mother-she never seemed to understand they make one feel better (you may know that I have pretty well controlled anxiety disorder).

My "go to" remedy for the need to laugh has long been STEEL MAGNOLIAS - the original movie is still hysterically funny but also allows one to have a good cry tempered by a good laugh right after.

Luckily I have discovered YOU TUBE and it is a wealth of so many things to watch (even including full length Broadway Musicals) and especially a great deal of uncensored British television.

Its really hysterical to watch Sarah interview a guest with the repartee peppered with her asides.

Her accent may give some problems and she has a distinctive voice that could be abrasive-luckily she uses a wide range of inflections-its worth it to give her a go if you (like me) need to laugh...

I have never found my sense of humor particularly funny-I am somewhat like David Letterman-my references are too obscure and I often drop one line zingers into conversations and move on so by the time anyone would laugh it's too late.

I do think I tell a good story and my friends say I need to tell my repertory of stored up anecdotes while I still remember them (thus the request for me to write my memoirs).

Interestingly I often come off badly in stories about myself and I admit that as a young man I was in many significant ways, insufferable.

The self awareness I was gifted with made me acutely attuned to when I was being boorish and help me learn social skills above my decidedly lower middle class upbringing.

That acerbic wit combined with good manners and some degree of talent also attracted friends and social contacts above what otherwise would have.

Still, I never understood why people found Jerry Lewis funny or Benny Hill for that matter-I "got" Monty Python immediately...I love Fawlty Towers (if I owned a hotel I would BE Basil Fawlty) and I enjoy the coy banter of "Are You Being Served" and "Keeping Up Appearances"-

Of course AB FAB is one of my favorites and I even liked the feature film released recently despite the pans from the critics.

We all need to laugh and reading social media tells me that people need laughter and humor in their lives- Way too much anger, depression and poor health going around-we have become much too serious about the state of the White House-yes something needs to be done but no one seems to be doing it and removing the current twit in charge will get us a religious extremest whose best friend is also powerful in government (unless we can prove that the election was tampered with in which case the whole administration will be removed...what a mess that would be.

For this reason and so many others find something that is funny, shut the rest out for an hour or so and laugh...it will give you the strength to go on until things get better.