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You gotta laugh
Published: 8/31/2012 4:21 PM
Last Modified: 8/31/2012 4:21 PM

The three words at the top of this entry make up half of a six-word philosophy about human behavior that has helped me get through more than a few unpleasant situations.

It was conceived in jest, but it's proven to be remarkably effective. It's a natural response to so much of what is thrown at us in life, from minor inconveniences to life-altering tragedies -- at some point in time, you gotta laugh.

One of the first major crises I shared with the woman who became my first wife -- and who continues, some 26 years later, to be my current wife -- was the death of her beloved grandmother.

Yet, the things that we recall most forcefully about that time -- which for my wife was a truly traumatic thing -- are the things that made us laugh that day: the fact that the funeral director's very slow and deliberate way of speaking and moving was due not to any excess of solemnity but rather the alcohol fumes that seemed to rise off him, to name one example.

A good deal of comedy arises out of some kind of pain, be it the surrealistic slapstick of the Three Stooges or the more subtle, deeper pains that bring forth the laughs in something like Alan Ayckbourn's plays.

Terry Teachout, the drama critic for the Wall Street Journal, has a column about comedy can often get to the truthful heart of a situation more effectively than tragedy. You can read the column HERE.

In his piece, Teachout mentions Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," which coincidentally Theatre Tulsa is opening tonight at the Tulsa PAC. Teachout refers to it as a "farce," preferring Simon's more mature work, such as "Lost in Yonkers."

But "The Odd Couple," for all its cleverness and rat-a-tat wit, has at its core more than its share of pain. Of course, it's often played broadly and for laughs, but it's there.


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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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