The title for this blog comes from the mouth of one of my favourite stand-up comedians, Rich Hall. (See him say those words live at the Apollo on YouTube from 6:31 to 7:40). They came to my mind as I read an article about how creative minds ‘mimic schizophrenia’. Apparently, high levels of creativity can be associated with mental illness and lead to it. Read more…
…is that it can be treated with humour.
Regular readers of this blog will know my interest in this topic. In March this year I delivered a 1-day workshop on the power of humour as a personal development tool. Read about the hilarious antics that ensued in Borat Comes to Queen’s University, Funny Peculiar or Funny Ha Ha?, and All Hail the Comedians!. Read more…
What kind of people do you most admire?
For me, it’s comedians. Maybe this is because I’m not naturally much of one myself, or maybe it’s because, deep down, I want to be one. Whatever the reason, I love watching them at work and going to live stand-up when I can.
Last month – March 14th – I got a chance to test myself out a little. I delivered a course at Queen’s on the psychology and practice of humour. Apart from being a blast, I think I got to give the class a new perspective of the comic side of life.
For instance, I showed the relation between joke-telling and problem-solving. According to Edward de Bono, they both require the same set of skills – the reconstructing of existing patterns of thought. Also, I talked about the place of playfulness and humour as one of the 24 ‘signature strengths’ of positive psychologist Martin Seligman. Finally, my main man Dan Pink got a mention, as the ‘sense of play’ – explained in terms of games, humour and joyfulness – is one of his six senses of out new, right-brain world. Read more…
