Middle-Pause Pump-Priming Prompt

What Makes You Laugh? What Makes You Cry? What Makes You Do Both?

Do you do one of them more often than the other?

It turns out, that laughter and tears are kissing cousins.

They both serve to release and relieve stress and tension.

According to Pete Cann’s Canned Laughter website:

Cortisol is a hormone that is released in response to stress and low blood-glucose concentration. Adrenaline is another stress hormone. It is produced within the adrenal gland and it makes your heart beat faster, strengthens the force of your heart’s contraction, and opens up your lungs.

The fact that cortisol and adrenaline are both stress hormones is also the reason why crying when you laugh is really good for you. It doesn’t matter whether you are crying or laughing, but both responses ease stress.

Sometimes tears come when we laugh.

These are called reflex tears. They can be triggered when we scrunch up our faces. Or in response to physical stimulation like a gusty wind. Or our brain sends signals to our tear ducts in response to vigorous laughter.

I just learned that tears of joy and tears of grief contain different chemical compositions. Emotionally-driven tears have more hormones, including a natural painkiller, than reflex tears. Whoda thunk? Tears are one of the body’s important ways of eliminating toxins as well as releasing pain and stress.

Those of us, myself included, who were taught to try not to cry were done a disservice. We need to cry. Especially now.

Last night Trevor Noah helped me cry.

A comedian. Last Tuesday’s Daily Show’s opening was about gun violence, satirizing some of the absurd solutions pro-gunners are promoting instead of the forms of gun control 90% of us want. I wasn’t prepared for his gut-punch finish.

He said I sure hope that losing some of these…and he showed a picture full of automatic rifles…is worth it to prevent losing more of these, and he showed a classroom full of children.

I lost it. I bawled like a baby.

And so needed to.

Shootings are no laughing matter. And yet the masters of late-night comedy find the absurdities of those specious arguments to satirize. That’s their job.

They’re good at it and our laughter does not mean we make light of the tragedy. It means we’re letting these geniuses help us release the tension pent-up in our bodies from seeing one shooting after another after another. Thank you, Trevor and Stephen Colbert, and all the others. You’re healers, after all.

Whether you tend to laugh more, or cry more, keep doing it.

Which brings me to this week’s Middle-Pause Pump-Priming Prompt: What makes you laugh; What makes you cry? Do you do one more often than the other?

It’s okay if something makes you both laugh and cry.

I’ll go first since I’m right here.

What makes me laugh?

Trevor Noah and Stephen Cobert, as I’ve said. Map cap humor like the Marx Brothers, Mel Brooks’ movies like Blazing Saddles, and bedroom farces like Noises Off.

Blooper reels. Cute animal videos. Oh, my favorite is Cat Talking Translation of two cats meowing. Turns out they’re talking about how to look cute for the camera so they’ll be given treats.

Watching or doing improv. The drama kind. Comedians like Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, and Whoopie Goldberg. Or Trevor Noah. Watch his specials. He’s amazing. Or his riffs on accents. Humor with a point is still funny. Tracy Ulman and her many characters.

Being with my family. My sister and I have many in-jokes and expressions. My youngest niece playing with my grand-niece is a hoot and a half. And I have a cousin who’s made it her life-long mission to make me and my sister laugh every chance she gets. I’m talking snorting Kool-Aid up your nose laughter!!! Pure silliness. At 71, she’s still at it!

Julie Walters’ character in Mama Mia, especially when she crawls along the rooftop after Steven Skaarsgraud, singing Take a Chance on Me.

What makes me cry?

Ironically, there’s an ASPCA video showing adoptable animals using that same song, Take a Chance on Me, as a soundtrack while they hold up puppies and kittens. That one makes me cry.

Clowns make me laugh usually. But I adore sad clowns and they make me cry. I love playing the sad clown which also brings me to that teary place. I think it happens because I’m in character and the character has more permission from me than I do.

Sad movies make me cry. Terms of Endearment. Life is Beautiful. The death of a happy clown is devastating. Especially one who invents a game to protect his son from the horrors of Nazism. Sophie’s Choice.

Saying goodbye to feline friends when it’s time to put them down. Especially when they sense what’s happening like my cat Jeffrey did and started purring. As if to comfort me.

And of course, turning on the news…

But even so, I manage to laugh more than I cry. Maybe because I seek out the humor to keep from crying. Let me remember that’s when I need to cry.

Enough about me. Your turn! Again the prompt: What makes you laugh; What makes you cry? Do you do one more often than the other?

Don’t be shy. Tell us a joke. Sing us a sad song. We look forward to hearing from you and you and you!

Marilyn Flower’s the author of Creative Blogging: Ninja Writers Guide to Character Development and Bucket Listers, Get Your Brave On. Clowning and improvisation strengthen her resolve during these crazy times. Follow her Sacred Foolishness and Stay in touch!