We’re well over four months into the deep disruption that the year 2020 has become. We’ve probably cycled through the emotional wringer a few times. From being caught off guard, to fear, to anger, frustration, boredom, detachment, and even acceptance, our emotions have shifted like the stories of a teenager being caught busting their curfew. We’ve been marinating in this madness for a while. Hopefully, we’ve found some pockets of positive periods. Perhaps, we’ve found humor helps? Comedy can be cathartic. One of the benefits of lockdowns has been an explosion of hilarious COVID content creation. If necessity is the mother of invention, we can see that comedy fills a needed function.
“Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment. —Grenville Kleiser”
One of the worn out phrases that has embedded itself on our virus vocabulary is “We’re in this together”. Humor helps us relate and bond. Sharing comedy is a way to help decompress difficult circumstances. Watching funny movies or shows helps us feel better in uncertain situations than watching scary, dramatic, or sad shows.
Consider this note a curation of COVID comedy highlights.
28 Dad jokes related to Coronavirus can be found here. A couple of the funnier ones include:
“Did you hear the joke about the germ? Never mind, I don’t want to spread it around?”
“Why do they call it the novel coronavirus? It’s a long story…”
“What types of jokes are allowed during a quarantine? Inside jokes.”
“I’ll tell you a coronavirus joke now, but you’ll have to wait two weeks to see if you got it.”
When a medical school at one of our own Universities has consolidated a bunch of COVID humor, we can be assured that finding something to smile about is a healthy approach. This link has some great resources. My favorite is a two minute video of an in person parody portraying the pain of conference calls.
This Bohemian Rhapsody makeover would make Steve Perry and team proud. Six minutes of taking a classic rock ballad and making it current. This was an early one that surfaced back in March. Many others have since been whipped up.
We’ve found some fun making up a game with our family and friends in recent months. We try to come up with a list of phrases or vocabulary that vaulted from the virus. For example, flatten the curve or moist talking. We also include words that have been around, but we’re now using much more often. For example, exponential. After spending time building out our list, we then write some of these words out on pieces of paper. One person picks a word and then we each come up with a creative definition of the word. The definition doesn’t have to have any connection with reality. We then each put the crafted definitions into a pile. A designated person reads each of these out and we vote for the best result. The author of the best result gets a point. We continue until the wine is gone or we run out of words. We haven’t yet run out of words.
Apologies in advance to any of you that lose the better part of your lunch break chasing down a few laughs. Have a great Heritage Day Long Weekend. Play safe.
