Have been inspired by several recent excellent newsletters (looking at you David Gilmore, Dave Harland) to try and be a bit more upbeat, a little less serious, and setting off in the morning by looking for the fun in the fundamentally hard work of work. Because frankly, I’ve been a right dour old b*stard recently.
There’s only so much gloom that even a ‘half full? You reckon?’ moper can bear; or to paraphrase Bette Midler (I think it was she?) only so long I can keep saying to myself that smile? Just a lid on a scream. If you’ve dragged your eyes across my typing recently I imagine you feel much the same. Not much cheer here. Am off to Marina Hyde’s column.
Which was maybe why I spotted - likely primed by knocking my funny bone against the web’s windows onto creatives who can make everyone laugh (even clients!) - and then buy stuff, in an article about the sale of the late Joan Didon’s estate.
In among the inventory was an apron being the unbeatable line;
“Maybe broccoli doesn’t like you either.”
Perfect. I can’t think of a client in the last several decades who shared my sense of humour enough to put it into a project. Serious? Check. Worthy? Yep. Belly laughs. Umm, no, that’s not really the tone we’re after Richard. I guess I may have just had projects (mine have been a tough crowd) who don’t like funny. Who hate the metaphorically broccoli. So humour never comes looking for them and they’re never in a receptive mood to receive it.
The sale of Didon’s stuff attracted a huge amount of attention (well. Relatively. In the writer’s communities) because anything owned by someone you admire has ‘contagion magic’ - “that an object might bear traces of those who come into contact with it” and by inference might just rub off onto your art.
Laughter has contagion magic as well. Adding a smile makes it infectious (in a good way. Need to tread carefully there, being light-hearted about contagions, tricky line.)
People who can actually make a living making laughs go to work - for them or their clients - get the most respect from me. Bring on the broccoli, I can’t get enough of food fun.
