Laughter

[rocky]

What do you do/read/watch/listen to/play that is laugh out loud funny?

I would like suggestions of what to do both with my kids and of books/films/websites/things I can do on my own to really laugh.

With my kids what I find very funny are

• Mad Libs
• Playing the 'secret' game where I whisper something and it goes around the table and ends up as something else at the other end. 
• Repeating stories back to them about funny things they've said/done over the years.  Like once I was in a different room from the boys and I yelled in to ask my then 5 y/o where/ how his brother was doing and he answered, "Oh, him.  He's fine.  He's just eating garbage."  I can tell that story over and over and they laugh and so do I.

Myself - what really made me laugh lately- I read Bossy Pants, some David Sedaris books and listened to some David Sedaris.  There's a website I find funny called lolais40.  I think she's a funny writer - not particularly MDC but her style makes me laugh.

I need more funny stuff though.  I want to add it in every single day. 

I got divorced recently and I feel the need to laugh and add this in every day.  I also think it really helps the kids.  I'm not much of a comedian and only can remember so many funny childhood stories so I would like some guaranteed laughs out of a book or film or website or something. 

Thanks!

[Stacey B]

As a family we get a good laugh from Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit.

For myself I haven't laughed a lot from reading in a while except I read The Sweet Life in Paris and it made me laugh out loud (which was incredibly awkward on day in a coffee shop). Some of Ayun Halliday's writing makes me laugh too.

[Aletheia]

Getting my kids to laugh is almost always the easy part, but they are little (5 and 3). 

So here are my suggestions just for you, based on what makes me laugh:

I don't know how old your kids are, but I love this blog: http://crappypictures.typepad.com/  She has two very little boys.  So do I.  But you might like it even if you don't.

Modern Family and Arrested Development re-runs make me laugh.

Our Calvin and Hobbes book makes me laugh, even though I've read every page more than once.

As a family, we've been making up new words to Jingle Bells all week, and that gets the kids rolling on the floor, which then makes me laugh. 

Do your kids like joke books yet?

[rocky]

Thx for the suggestions.

We don't really do joke books but if you have recommendations I'd definitely like to try.  We laugh a lot at Shel Silverstein books and I wouldn't mind suggestions of something similar.

I love the idea of making up words to songs.  Lately we've watched a lot of parodies on youtube - so making up some of our own is not a far stretch.  The kids love Weird Al singing Eat It and I find it mildly amusing - but mostly when they repeat their favorite lines...  I'd even like suggestions if anyone has any funny parodies they watch on youtube as it's hard to find good ones but when we do it is so worth it.  We have a couple that we watch over and over but it I'm looking for fresh material.

Another thing my kids do is take funny pics of themselves on the apple computer program.  (can't remember the name of the program but it's on their computer and it distorts images.  The images are incredble and so funny.  Just love it.

Other suggestions?  Thanks!

[SweetSilver]

We really like watching old baby videos of the girls.  And telling stories from my life, or funny anecdotes from theirs.  Their favorites are the ones with animals and mischief in it.  We have a "snow" story, a "kitten" story, and a story about my dogsitting a Labrador whose human had been arrested or dumpster diving during a Rainbow Gathering.  When she is reunited with him, she wags her tail so hard she can barely walk... and whenever I tell that one the girls can barely breathe they are laughing and smiling so hard.  The stories are usually told on our long car rides.

[rocky]

I don't have many old baby videos but the ones we do have are great to watch and laugh.  The videos don't even have to be funny b/c the kids find looking at themselves as little kids to be funny.  Too bad I don't have more - although this reminds me to make some now for the future.

And yes.. stories from when they were little.  Funny things they've said.  We had a period where we did a LOT of Greek Mythology.  One day my kids made a play house on the bed and my then 5 y/o, laying in lush comfort on the bed, said, "I want to live forever like a god in this house".  Just funny stuff.  Also that for a long time their only god was Zeus.  (We're not religious and hadn't studied much religion other than Greek Myths...) I actually find that funnier than them but it's important to me that I keep laughing as well as them! 

The program they use on the apple is Photo Booth.  The photos are distorted and funny and keeps them busy for ages with one funny shot after the next. 

What other funny books? games?  thx

[SweetSilver]

Garfield.  I never really appreciated Garfield all that much until my girls started me reading it to them and with them.  Now I get it.  Garfield never changes.  He is always fat, he always kicks Odie and disrespects Jon.  He will never catch a mouse, and you know that spider will get flattened before the end of the strip.  They love it.

But nothing really gets them giggling and laughing like the crazy games my husband invents for them.  Or watching puppies and kittens.  Even reading about babies and animals that make mischief gets them giggling uncontrollably.  The first time we read Spike Lee's "Please Puppy Please" was the best.  Hilarious!

[Aletheia]

One more idea- your kids sound like comedians, and quite honestly, I think I laugh at/about my kids more than at/about anything else.  If you don't already, you might start keeping a little list of funny things they've said or done-- even a journal that could hold pictures of funny moments.  I do this, and looking through it now 5 years in is such a lovely thing to do-- both for the sentimental value and the giggles it brings me.