New Year’s Resolution: Humor Revolution…

Recently, I’ve been at work on a spec script for Law and Order SVU, but in the wake of Carrie Fisher’s death I’m thinking that I need to get back to writing more comedy. Aren’t we all in desperate need of a comedy infusion/revolution? Last fall, when I was in the Himalayas speaking at the Royal Palace in the Kingdom of Bhutan at an international conference on happiness, I realized that there were no lectures on humor — and said as much to actress and comedian Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) who was there with her husband Robert Kennedy Jr., the closing speaker. How strange, we laughed, to have left comedy out!

Happiness and humor go hand-in-hand. Instead of talking about upping our nuclear reserves, why not increase our comedy reserves? Instead of competing in which nation has the most weapons of mass destruction, why not compete in which country has the best jokes and comedians?

Laughing, for me, is one of the best parts of being human, being alive. Other animals can kill each other too, but they don’t have the luxury and gift of comedy. So why not tap into our unique human gifts, and make the world not just a better place, but a funnier one too?

When I spent a year interviewing Malcolm X’s mentors and friends in Sudan and Lebanon, I was struck by something they all felt compelled to share — Malcolm X had an amazing sense of humor. He used humor as a weapon diffuse tensions, bring people together, and make searing critiques. For me, Carrie Fisher and Malcolm X are two prime examples that from deep pain springs great humor. Struggles for equality and justice — be they against racism or mental health stigma — need humor as much as rage. We aren’t fully exploiting humor’s role as an agent of change. Comedy is subversive (and fun), and it costs nothing to make a joke.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with and meet some amazing comedic actors — Cheryl Hines, John Krasinski, Olympia Dukakis, Candice Bergen, Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick, Aasif Mandvi, Sandra Bernhard, Kirstie Alley, Jennifer Aniston, Faith Ford, Dave Walton, John Ritter, Tara Summers, and more. To me, comedians are national — international — human — treasures. But inside all of us, there is the potential to be funny — and to consciously expand our creative comedic abilities. Every moment and experience (even / especially the painful and unbearable ones) contains within it a seed of comedy. Look for it. It’s there. Waiting for you.

Some people make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get fit. My resolution this year is the same as last year — to be funnier. To make 2017 a year of comedy. To take the drama of daily life less seriously. To laugh at myself more. To make more people giggle. To look despair and pain in the face and dare to make a joke. Personally, I’d rather laugh — than scream and cry — my way to the grave. So I have a dream — of a humor revolution. Of the entire world exploding in laughter not bombs. Won’t you join me? Let’s all get a helluva lot funnier in 2017. The world needs it. May the force — of comedy — be with you all.