Ten for Ten – Part 5: Laugh

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

A bit ago, I wrote a piece about grief and work and titled it Saturday’s child.  I have been industrious since an early age and when I entered the work world, I thought that it had to be a place devoid of emotions except the controlled and on-purpose ones.  Kind words at retirements, that kind of thing.  

All work and no play was an approach supported by more than a few – an ex-boss of mine once laid into a group of us for chuckling about something silly (grumpy cat?) during a tense time and said “Are you laughing or working?”.  We felt duly scolded but our productivity didn’t shoot up when we stopped laughing.  If anything, we had gotten a lift of energy from a tiny break to goof around for a bit.  

Then I had the good fortune to work with some very funny people.  They got all their work done and still managed to crack jokes that lifted the day.   Public service life is often tense and hard work is the norm but tiny respites are such a balm. 

Turns out, humour in the workplace increases psychological safety and increases creativity though it’s not a straight path to effective humour.  Women may hurt their credibility with humour it can be a minefield –  certain types of humour may backfire.  

That said, I have invested in bringing more laughter into my life at work and at home and more so since suffering some significant losses in my life.  

In the spirit of humour lighting our lives, I have generated a list of things that have made me laugh over the last many years.  It’s not nearly a complete list – I loved the list of “Tips for Russian Travellers” in Harpers’ in 1992 – things like: If you find a VCR on the street, stuff it in your suitcase. Do not laugh. It can happen – but a decent smattering of things that have lifted me.

1. Hyperbole and a half – a hilarious graphic memoir for dog owners/lovers and people who like silly.  
2. Bossypants – Tina Fey’s memoir – not just funny but also has some good leadership lessons – my review was one of the first things I wrote for the blog.  
3. The annual comedy wildlife photography winners. Here are the ones from 2021. 
4. The annual advertising festival winners.  Here is one about imagining if Carribeans took life as seriously as the rest of the world and this excel gum ad about returning to normal. 
5. Many things by David Sedaris including his performance at Carnegie Hall.  
6. The travel writing of Bill Bryson – I  especially liked “A walk in the woods”
7. David Rakoff’s writing including Half Empty
8. Samantha Irby’s first book – We are never meeting in real life. 
9. Fran Leibowitz.  She hasn’t written a book in a long time but I still find her very funny.  
10. Though made decades apart, the movies Booksmart and This is Spinal Tap
11. Stand up including Trevor Noah, Seth Meyers, Marc Maron, Wanda Sykes, John Mulaney, Tig Notaro, Hannah Gadsby.  
12. New Yorker Cartoons – I hope, now and forever.