“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.” Erma Bombeck
Stand Up at Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop 2014
Women’s humor is humor with a wink, a side stepping way of expressing affection. It is not mean-spirited. When Erma Bombeck wrote about her doddy husband, her potty children, her fickle plumbing, and annoying travelers, readers (mostly women) knew that she was really writing a love story about her life. When Bailey White writes about kindergarten teachers or gardens, it’s funny, but affectionate. Nora Ephron’s recent volumes on theindignities of aging, I Feel Bad About My Neck and I Can’t Remember Anything, are really celebrations of the rhythms of life and womanhood. Tina Fey’s book, Bossypants, is a comic expose about steering your life professionally and personally. Humor is a shorthand that connects women.
Your child throws up in your mouth. The contents of the toilet flush up into your bathtub. Your bosoms are squished flat in your mammogram. Your husband is scared of his mother. Your boss rations copy paper. How better to approach such challenges than with humor.
Your mother has Alzheimer’s. Your best friend has cancer. Your ex-husband wants to give your cemetery plot to Buffy, his new wife. You find yourself bussing tables at Bob Evans in middle age. Women can even write with humor about life’s tragedies. That writing doesn’t trivialize the calamity or disgrace the players. It’s a choice to smile a little when mostly you want to cry.
I find so much of life pretty darned funny. Parenting can be painful, but also hilarious. Aging is nothing if not comical. My husband is next to me right now fretting about his next online Scrabble play, and this is positively ridiculous. My purse, my closet, my doorman, and even my uterus can be quite amusing. In terms of achieving world peace, we could go a far way just by sharing a chuckle.
Today, my fondest wish is that my writing makes you giggle a little or even guffaw. Then pass that laugh on.
Watch my stand up act from the Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop 2014:
Watch my stand up act from Night of Female Comics 2015 at Go Bananas.
Copyright © 2016 Sandy Lingo, All Rights Reserved
Wow! This is a perfect way to describe our humor….I just couldn’t say it so well!
You are killing me Lingo!!! What you wrote is all you and all true.
you are so funny! I love it!
Great job, Sandy!
Glad to see you launched your blog. Love the title. Your stand-up brought back nice memories, you were terrific. Have you performed again? You should. You already made me laugh over your uterus. Go get your funny on!
You were very instrumental in this, Stacey. When you and others at Erma Bombeck talked about your blogs, I thought I better get in the saddle. Thanks for your encouragement.
My kind of humor.
This is great, Sandy! What a great way for you to be yourself and keep us all in the loop and entertained at the same time. Have a blast doing what you love to do!
Keep it comin’ Sandy . . .you brighten my day1
Keep them coming.
I fear that I have signed up 3 times!
You are subscribed, but only once! Thanks, Judy.
Thank you for putting the smile in my day.
And now you put a smile in my day!
Loving reading this at 2:30 a.m. Know I have good company. You are funny!!!