That’s Funny

I’m a comedian. I’m also a mom, and my son Josh has autism. It was a surreal experience to be making my living by making people laugh, while at home I had a son that didn’t understand humor.

So, I did what I knew to do, and set out to teach him about the funny. We talked about the nuances of humor – the timing of it, what makes something funny, how to use it, when to use it, why it makes conversation more enjoyable, what it feels like to make other people laugh, and how to use it in his own life.

On many, many, many occasions Josh would attempt to be funny.  He worked at it, but most of the time he ended up offending people, or the jokes were ill-timed, or inappropriate, or fell flat. As a comedian, I empathize with every single one of those experiences.  As his mom I was thrilled that he was finally attempting to use humor, and just continued to encourage him in finding his funny.

Then, one day my husband came in and said pull my finger and Josh did, and when he heard the noise that accompanied the pulling of said finger, they both laughed and laughed and laughed.  Ah…the amazing power of a fart joke.

I wish I had thought of that.

Listen to the Podcast: JHA029: Humor | http://www.sonyaking.com/jha029-humor