POWER OF A PUNCHLINE
Health benefits of a good laugh are no joke
Health benefits of a good laugh — especially in times of personal or social crisis — are no joke.
“With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh, I should die and you need this medicine as much as I do.”
Forests ronavirus fearful burning, strains. pandemic, hurricanes election multiplying, worries and America’s economic racial woes history — people haunting today us, are the facing ongoing our own co■ Yet, while some of us might be hesitant to crack a joke or share a funny animal video, we need humor now more than ever. ■ Among its many health benefits, laughter can increase how much oxygen you breathe in, which stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and relieves stress. ■ “We’re able to take in more air when we laugh,” said family medicine physician
Hans Crumpler of SharpCare Medical Group, Chula Vista. “While someone’s telling a joke, think of the tension that builds up before the punchline — the ‘ha-ha’ moment is the release of that tension.” ■ Handling stress with a chuckle can also help your memory and focus.
Abraham Lincoln, speaking to his cabinet members, 1862
“How many times do you get to the grocery store and someone takes your parking spot, or someone cuts you off in traffic? The stress response to those kinds of aggravators can distract from why you were there,” Crumpler explained.
“The brain focuses on the aggravation. You arrive home to realize you’ve forgotten the bread or the eggs. Adding humor to the situation can distract you from that and allow you to retain your memory and primary purpose.”
Laugher can also have long-term effects, releasing stress-fighting neuropeptides that help stave off potentially more serious illnesses, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Other advantages of laughter include improving pain tolerance and easing anxiety and depression.
Laughter is contagious
“The brain focuses on the
Comedy is available to us on the Internet, through streaming services and on television. But many prefer their laughs live. The market size of the comedy-club industry had increased almost 2 percent every year from 2015. Then came the pandemic, and subsequent restrictions — and this steady growth came to an abrupt halt.
In San Diego, some comics were experiencing withdrawal from making people laugh — or hearing people laugh, in the case of virtual performances.
Three local stand-up comics — Alexander James, Jim Pine and Chris Espinoza — created Drive-Up Comedy, where the audience stays in their cars.
Working with the city of Escondido, Drive-Up Comedy has been presenting shows at Kit Carson Park since July. Aware that both the coronavirus and laughter are contagious, the events follow safety protocols.
“Compared to doing comedy on Zoom, there’s more response at the driveup,” said Espinoza, a San Diego native and Lemon
Grove resident. “With four people per car in 100 cars, that’s 400. You hear the honking and muffled laughter in response. It’s the closest to doing a show that you can get.”
Drive-Up Comedy started with a casual openmike format, but it soon morphed into a drive-in comedy club, featuring comics with national profiles, as well as stand-ups from both San Diego and Los Angeles.
The next performance will be Nov. 14. For details, go to driveupcomedy.com.
The California Center for the Arts, Escondido is also presenting comedy in a drive-in format, now at
California State University San Marcos. It will host the national tour of popular Netflix comedian Iliza Shlesinger on Oct. 24. For details, go to artcenter.org.
“Our Drive-Up Comedy performers are ecstatic,” Espinoza said. “As much as we need it, the audience needs it. If you’re in a good mood, you’ll live longer.”
Many medical professionals back that up, saying that a sense of humor is a contributing factor to longevity. Just look at comedians Betty White, 98, and Mel Brooks, 94.
Sharing commonality
Another big plus of humor is that it encourages human interaction. Sharing a chuckle — even virtually — can create a feeling of connection.
“When you have a similar response with someone to a stressful or absurd event, it’s a sharing of a commonality,” Crumpler said.
Audrey Hebert, who’s been doing standup for three years, agrees — in terms of both the audience and the performer. A senior at the University of California at Santa Cruz, the San Diego native splits her time between the California beach city up north and her family home in Encinitas.
Hebert won the “Funniest Student in Santa Cruz” prize at a pre-pandemic competition at a club there. She finds satirical sites like The Onion and ClickHole good at finding “the absurdity in the hellhole of 2020.”
“One thing that’s cool about comedy is the relative lack of gatekeeping,” Hebert said. “You don’t need to spend a lot of money or have any training to try standup.
“Comedy attracts people of a lot of different ages and backgrounds who might not otherwise be in the same room together.”
In this year of many controversies, how should comedians tackle pertinent topics?
Drive-Up’s Espinoza said he knows that out of the several comics he performs with at each show, one will bring up politics or current crises.
“There are comedians that do it better than I do. I respect them for that,” Espinoza said. “I like being silly and giving people an opportunity to forget and enjoy the moment.”
Hebert finds that joking about national tragedies is difficult. While it’s a way to cope with tragedy, it can possibly come across as glib or unsympathetic.
“Often the humor that springs from a horrible event is less about the event itself and more about the way people react to it, or the way that people enabled it to happen,” she said. “I have jokes in my set about working in customer service during the pandemic, which is its own weird and sometimes frustrating experience that a lot of people can probably relate to.
“It helps if you can make it personal and offer your own angle on the situation.”
Sharp’s Crumpler noted that when people are going through the same experiences, such as financial problems and even the tragedy of death, laughter may feel awkward, but it is crucial.
“We need to not forget those things but not let them overwhelm us,” he said. “Humor’s a unifying factor that can point out differences of opinion in a constructive way. We need to cooperate and become communal.”
aggravation ... Adding humor to the situation can distract you from that and allow you to retain your memory and primary purpose.”
Dr. Hans Crumpler,
SharpCare Medical Group