Day 8: Turning Anger into Humor
Laurel Bacon on getting mad (for comedy)
Welcome to day 8 of One Funny Line!
Today’s prompt comes from comedy writer and performer Laurel Bacon who writes the.
Think of the last time you felt insecure. Chances are, other people have felt this way too (spoiler alert: everyone has). For me, it was last night at an open house for a private preschool because they kept mentioning types of “play” (associative play, parallel play, nap play?) and I had no idea what they were talking about.
My first thought was, “Wow, am I a bad new mom because these people seem to be into early childhood development real deep, and my son and I mostly dance to Last Christmas by Wham!?”
Then I got defensive and thought, “I’m sorry, Rebekah Keith (see: We Crashed), my son/alarm clock wakes me up at 5 am, I have a full-time job, a dog to walk, Christmas cards to write, presents to buy, and oh yeah, the gym to hit so maybe I can keep my sanity and my size 25” jeans – I got things to do, you Vegan-Brooklyn-helicopter parents-subjects to King Baby (see: excellent non-fiction kids book, King Baby), so you can just eff off and let us get back to dancing to 80’s pop.”
Like that. Get mad.
Get yourself all worked up and then spew out whatever you wish you could say to the boss/MIL/roommate/dog next door. Take ten minutes; I doubt you’ll even need it. Then read through what you wrote and I bet you’ll find something funny. The best humor (in my, entirely subjective opinion) lives in the space between polite society and Gilbert Godfrey.
Laurel Bacon is a comedy writer in New York City. She has worked at Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Bravo. Her writing has appeared on Comedy Central, The Onion News Network, Reductress, McSweeneys, and her live comedy show, “Free Puppies Comedy Hour.” Follow her on Instagram and her Substack, The Bacon Beacon.
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