A sometimes overlooked remedy for stress is humor. I went to see Earth Wind and Fire at the State Fair. The warm up was the comedian Sinbad. I don’t go to a lot of comedy shows, but I usually leave feeling better.  He was great.

I cut the cord to my cable on June 1st for many reasons, I have not watched any TV at home all summer. Some of the comedians I saw on TV in recent years were very negative with comedy at the expense of others. Ellen DeGeneres summed up the way I feel in this quote

“I think it is a fine line to find the edge of being cruel with comedy and most comedy is based on getting a laugh at somebody else’s expense. And I find that that’s just a form of bullying in a major way. So I want to be an example that you can be funny and be kind, and make people laugh without hurting somebody else’s feelings.”

I love comedians and comedy shows that look at some of our absurd human experiences. When I had TV, I watched re-runs of 3rd Rock from the Sun. It made me laugh at our strange actions on this planet.  The premise is aliens are posing as a family to observe the behavior of human beings.  I found many very funny and also some touching moments about what it means to be human. Here is an example from the alien who is the son, a teenage boy named Tommy Solomon, in his gym class.

Coach Strickland: Solomon, climb the rope!
Tommy Solomon: What’s at the top of the rope?
Coach Strickland: Your self-esteem.
Tommy Solomon: My self-esteem?
Coach Strickland: Now climb the rope or you get to go sit with the girls.
Tommy Solomon: So if I don’t climb the rope, I get to go sit with the girls? You’re going to have to help me out here, I’m failing to see the downside.

I also like the recent comedy The Good Place. A woman wakes up in the afterlife and is in Heaven in reward for her righteous life. She realizes that she was sent there by mistake and must hide her extremely bad behavior so she can stay. Non human beings are also trying to figure humans out.  I won’t tell you more about the plot twists in case you want to watch it.  Without TV, I’m using YouTube and my Netflix and Amazon subscriptions to see comedies.  How often do you use comedy for stress reduction?