I have an intense interest in what’s going on in the world and, most of the time, it makes me mad or depressed or both.  However, I spend a fair amount of my little spare time seeking out good laughs.

Here are some things that make me (or have made me) laugh. 

"The Worst Week of My Life" (TV Series on DVD): I’ve discussed this previously in this entry, [1] Recommended TV shows you might not have seen but should check out.  It is truly hilarious, if you like British humor.  It’s one of those shows where you think the embarrassment can’t get any worse, and then it does.  There are 3 series, each one detailing a different week in the life of this couple–the first, their impending marriage, the second,  Christmas holiday, and the third, the wife’s grandmother’s funeral.

For example, the male lead is having dinner at his fiance’s parents’ house. His future mother-in-law is not a great cook and he finds her lamb inedible.  So, instead of eating the lamb, he puts the pieces in his coat pocket.  The family dog keeps harassing him to get the lamb from his pocket, so he excuses himself to go to the bathroom, where he will flush the lamb pieces down the toilet.  Of course, the toilet stops working, so he has to scoop the lamb pieces out of the bowl–this is the point where his future father-in-law walks in to see him scooping things out of the toilet and making God-knows-what assumptions about the man’s bathroom habits; he hastily departs.  So the hapless man decides instead to fling  the lamb pieces out of the bathroom window. Unbeknownest to him, the family eating dinner below, hears thumps hitting the greenhouse roof, and see unidentified things hitting the glass roof, with the future father-in-law putting  2 and 2 together and realizing his future son-in-law is flinging things from the bathroom above the greenhouse.  This is just one example of what goes on. Wikipedia entry:

"30 Rock": I’m assuming most of you have seen this–if you haven’t, it’s very funny.  Alec Baldwin, in particular, is outstanding.  Start with the beginning of Season 1.

"Absolutely Fabulous": Another very funny British series, though some episodes are better than others.  This is a series about two middle-aged women who are decadent and aimless, but manage to turn it into an art form.  The two female leads are both really good–Jennifer Saunders & Joanna Lumley, with one of them, Patsy, being the female Keith Richards.  The supporting cast are all very good as well. Wikipedia entry:  [2] absolutely fabulous

"Class", a book by Paul Fussell: This is one of the 5 funniest books I’ve ever read. Period. It may not strike you the same way it struck me, but I bet it will. It’s a book about the class system in the U.S., and how to tell which class someone belongs to me, based on what they wear, the type of house they live in, car they drive, etc.

"A Confederacy of Dunces", a book by John Kennedy Toole. The story about how the book was discovered and published is almost as good as the book itself: Toole wrote this book, failed repeatedly to get it published, and committed suicide. His mother took up the cause, refusing to accept rejection. She was able to get a copy to the famous author, Walker Percy. He read the first page or two, and knew it was a brilliant book.  He made sure it got published and it went on to win the National Book Award, among many others.  It is another one of the 5 funniest books I’ve ever  read.  [4] Wikipedia entry.  It’s about Ignatius Reilly, a bed-bound, highly flatulent perpetual grad student who lives with his mother, and writes long and furious essays railing against the modern evils of Doris Day and Greyhound SceniCruisers.  If you can get through this book without laughing hard…

"Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris.  This is a collection of essays which purport to recount events in Sedaris’ life. I don’t know if they really happened or happened but were heavily embellished, or never happened.  In many ways, it doesn’t really matter–a number of these essays are really funny, including esp. his recounting of taking French lessons and some of his childhood family memories.  His new book is about to come out.

I’ll add more later.