Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a funny person?  You know, someone who makes other people laugh. I love being around individuals who have this particular personality, it makes me feel lighter and somehow it takes the seriousness out of life, for a short time anyway! I have to admit to seeking out people with humour and the ability to add a little zest to situations. Yep, a bit of silliness and a good laugh, food for the soul. I consider myself to have a good sense of humour but I don’t think I have the funny gift. I belong to the laughing variety, yes I laugh at other people being funny.

There must however, be a down side to funny making. I can’t believe that the ‘funny battery’ stays charged regardless. So, what about the funny person, when do they do serious or cranky or anxious or sad?  Are they cleverer than the rest of us?  Do these entertaining people have their internal emotional clocks firmly fixed on a permanent well-being switch or is there something else going on? I know when I’m a bit out of sorts I don’t feel as much like laughing at funny quips and jokes. So, is it the same in reverse for the joke makers?

Does being funny come from seeing the world from a particular angle or is it an acquired style that just feels better than serious? Well everyone has met an amusing person who makes light of situations, cracks amusing jokes but nearly always veers away from serious conversations. They can be hard to fathom at times. I have a relative who responds to every conversation with humour and laughter. Interestingly, he avoids sick people, funerals and any situation that has emotional sadness attached. Makes me think that perhaps some funny people don’t get enough practice at displaying sadness and concern. The rest of us (well, some of us!) whinge, laugh and cry our way through life, our friends know when we are worried or happy because we say it or display it. So maybe, the jokers don ‘t get the chance to say or display, perhaps they are too well practised at being funny.

Or is there another level to all of this. Sure, they may not be well practised at being anything except funny, but perhaps the joker is sad on the inside and uses constant humour to keep the miserable, worried or anxious feelings at bay. I don’t think it’s possible to feel funny on the inside and sad on the outside but I suspect that it is very possible to be funny on the outside and feel sad on the inside.

I’m not suggesting that people who are hilariously funny and the ‘life of the party’ are all troubled or sad. It’s just this; maybe we overestimate the happy-go-lucky personality and assume that funny people are always happier than the rest of us. I don’t think they are. We all experience feelings of sadness and despair as well as happiness and joy but I guess we have different ways of presenting ourselves and our feelings to others. Still, it must be a ‘hard ask’ to be funny when inner feelings sometimes contradict outer persona.