humor – Grigori T. Cross

Jokes are wonderful and joyous things that imbue my spirit with mirth. I love hearing jokes, but I regret to inform you that I am certain I told none of them in 2020. Tempting though it is to add drama to my words and claim said lack of levity was due to the nature of the year and all its woes, I am overwhelmed by a greater urge, namely: to tell you the truth. What is the truth? The truth is that I am not much of a joke-teller. So that I might reassure I am not making any attempt to weasel out of putting in the effort of recalling a memory, allow me to offer an anecdote to demonstrate my consistency.

Satanism is a carnal and liberating religion full of all the life-affirming glory imaginable. Anton Szandor LaVey codified it in The Satanic Bible and the same Church of Satan he founded is the only organization to this day that has consistently and with efficiency provided clarity of Satanic thought in response to public inquiry for over 50 years. Applying for active membership in the church means paying a lifetime membership fee and then answering a series of questions demonstrating not only the applicant’s understanding of Satanism but his application of its principles to his life in the pursuit of manifesting his desires. Among the questions in the application is: Tell one of your favorite jokes. Careful not to offer a false impression of myself, I admitted I didn’t have any; the way I made people laugh was through witty retorts, ridiculous turns of phrase, and so on.

The Church of Satan accepted me as an active member in 2016 and I’m grateful for all the times I’ve made my dearest friends laugh during the year that tried (and ultimately failed) to break me.

With care,

~ Grigori

ANSWER TO INTERPRETATION I, in which “humorous” is a humorous spelling for the plurality of the humerus:

I have two exactly. I have thus far been fortunate enough to avoid losing one in some horrific accident and I have not as of yet been exposed to enough nuclear radiation to encourage, prompt, or otherwise promote the growth of a third.

ANSWER TO INTERPRETATION II, in which I am being asked about my sense of humor and how many comedic styles I find funny:

A quick perusal of Wikipedia’s page on comedic genres tells me I have an affinity for approximately 21 of the 26 styles listed. They are, in order of appearance:

Anecdotal comedy
Anti-humor
Black/dark comedy
Blue comedy
Character comedy
Cringe comedy
Deadpan comedy
Improvisational comedy
Insult comedy
Mockumentary
Comedy music
Observational comedy
One-line joke
Physical comedy
Shock humor
Sitcom
Sketch
Spoof/Parody
Surreal comedy
Topical comedy/Satire
Wit/Word play

I included only those styles the examples of which were more known and liked by me than known and disliked. Jerry Seinfeld’s observational humor falls flat for me, but George Carlin and Louis C.K. are comedic geniuses. Rodney Dangerfield’s jokes seem loud and obnoxious, but Mitch Hedberg and Groucho Marx have brought me the best medicine during some of my darkest hours. Music’s role in my life has been so consistently to inspire awe that I seldom appreciate comedy’s value within it, but “Weird Al” Yankovic is a national treasure and Ninja Sex Party will forever have a special place in my heart because I’ve invested so much time in enjoying the Game Grumps. Topical comedy can be uproariously funny because we need to have some levity about such matters lest we die of embarrassment, but it also all too often falls short. I chose to single out these styles because they’re just a few of the many that are often hit-or-miss for me, as opposed to black/dark comedy, which almost always works.

Good comedy is always a good-faith engagement with the topic at hand. Even insult comedy assumes in its audience an understanding that the comic is offering good-natured ribbing more than he is condescension. Good comedy comes from a place of respect. Murder is most often a reprehensible act, but a perspective that understands and respects the devastation inherent in the act can find something morbidly absurd in dread chaos to use as fuel for humor so it doesn’t lose itself to insanity. Good comedy frames even the most familiar and comforting of topics in unexpected ways. Predictability is the death of comedy.

That’s how many humorous I have.

With care,

~ Grigori