The Funny Guy
What's the definition of a funny guy? Most obviously: A guy who makes others laugh.
But that definition doesn't answer many questions. What about the clumsy guy who stumbles a lot and unintentionally makes others laugh? What about the guy who unintentionally says stupid things and makes others laugh? They're not funny guys.
So we can narrow our definition to this: The funny guy is a guy who intentionally makes others laugh.
Alright, that gets us closer, but I'm not sure that's good enough, either.
What about the guy who makes only the meanest people laugh, the guy who gets his chuckles by hurting others? Is he a funny guy? Maybe, but I think most people would classify him as a jerk.
What about the guy who degrades himself to make others laugh? Again, it can be argued that he's a funny guy, but this person has traditionally been known as a fool.
Properly Funny
At this point, someone might ask: Why do we care about the definition of a funny guy?
Lots of reasons. Humor is one of the mainstays of the human condition, and (related to this) comedy is a huge industry. Although the examination of humor is one of the least humorous of topics, I think it's worth an examination since it plays such an important role in our lives and dominates huge sectors of the entertainment market.
But more importantly: Humor is one of the neatest things in the world. A treasure, but, like any good thing, subject to abuse and therefore subject to becoming a bad thing, a thing that culture begins to view with suspicion. Like MTV's jackass, for instance: a degrading spectacle that, though he has made me laugh, casts a shadow on humor in general.
It's for this reason that I insist that a funny guy be properly funny.
By this do I mean a guy who only pokes fun at sanctioned topics? So an English funny guy would never needle the queen, an American funny guy would never joke about democracy, and a Chinese funny guy would never jest about Mao? Absolutely not. Those are serious topics, and serious topics, G.K. Chesterton (a very funny guy) liked to point out, are the funniest.
To be properly funny, a person must merely intentionally evoke laughter with measure and balance. This is no different than any good thing. Hamburgers are good, but if we eat only hamburgers, we'll become unhealthy, just as the guy who constantly jokes becomes a clown.
This simple qualification sheds a lot of definition of a funny guy. The funny guy doesn't make jokes when the cost is too great. If it will degrade another person or if the situation (a funeral) doesn't call for humor, he will desist. Much of it is common sense and obvious.
But it's crucial common sense for the person who likes to be funny because it plays into everyday situations that aren't so obvious.
Prude or Lewd?
Living in my small hometown, I often run around with my old friends. Some are married, matured, and mellowed; many are untied, unrefined, and unruly. I enjoy being with both circles (circles that often overlap), and both seem to enjoy my sense of humor.
But the latter circle brings a special challenge: At what point do I forgo a joke because it's improper? When the conversation turns merely ribald, that's normally alright and I'll often participate (St. Thomas More did). When it turns risque, I feel a little uncomfortable, but will often play along. Sex, after all, is funny: man's dignity compromised. It's an incongruity, and the mind is moved by incongruity. But when it turns obscene? That's when measure and balance require me to desist.
Now, drawing that line is one of the hardest things in the world, especially when you're in the throes of a rollicking good time. If you draw it too quickly, you lapse into prudery. And if you don't draw it quickly enough, you lapse into lewdness.
I don't have the answer. Drawing the line in anything is always a matter of personal experience bolstered by study (reading the lives of the saints, for instance) and thought.
But everyone ought to endeavor to draw the funny line well, for few things in life are as enjoyable as a well-crafted joke and side-splitting laughter.
And if we don't draw the line well, the world of laughter will belong to the jackasses.
