Being Funny Is Not The Same As Being A Funny Person

Knowing the difference can make you a better person

If you want people to laugh at your jokes, you need to have a reputation for being funny.

No, I didn’t write that backwards, even though it looks that way. It’s just how it is: it’s not simply funny jokes that make us laugh, it’s funny people.

That’s why comedians talk so much about how hard it is when they just start out: the real work is not saying funny things, it’s establishing a reputation as a funny person.

If it was just about being funny occasionally, anyone could do that. I’m not even trying to encourage you, it’s just true. You just need to say the right thing at just the right time, even if it’s by mistake, like one of my cousins once did. She was in primary school then, and I was explaining about eclipses using little, different-sized plasticine balls for the sun, moon and earth — when the earth-ball fell out of my hand. Without thinking, she cried, “You broke the world!”

I laughed hard for five minutes.

But she didn’t say that to be funny, even though she was smart enough to get her own unexpected joke. It just happened. And it can happen for anyone, including in those horrible moments when you realise people are laughing, not at…