There is nothing funny about coronavirus.
While that is technically true, it doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to laugh about in the midst of this pandemic.
Of course, cracking jokes about the crisis itself would be in very bad taste, but it’s important we don’t lose our sense of humour.
The Mayo Clinic, about as reputable a health organization as there is, lists several short-term and long-term benefits of laughing, both physical and psychological.
In the short-term it can stimulate your heart, lungs and muscles; increase the release of endorphins; relieve stress; and soothe tension.
In the long-term it can relieve pain, increase personal satisfaction, improve mood and even boost your immune system.
Last week, I had some great chuckles. For one, I found a rugby commentator from the U.K. named Nick Heath, who, with no sports to call, has taken to doing play-by-play of ordinary public activities.
In his first video, he commentates on two guys kicking around a soccer ball in a park.
“This is the final of the two lonely blokes in a park contest,” Heath intones as one of them misses a pass. “Oh, and that was really terrible, which is what we’ve come to expect from these two. There’s a few runners in the distance, not keeping enough distance, frankly, and these two, well, absolutely useless.”
Another sports announcer, Conor McGahey, the voice of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche has started narrating cat fights. Very funny.
There have been some good examples locally, too. This week we ran a Facebook contest asking people to send in their best self-isolation photos (See pages A10 and A11). It was heartening to see how many were having a good laugh even as their lives have been turned upside down.
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Another local post on Facebook by Smithers dance instructor Monica Kapelar gave my funny bone some good exercise. In a series of photos, Kapelar, complete with tutu, leggings, ballet shoes and tiara, is seen doing everyday tasks such as getting out of bed, cooking and sweeping, all in dance poses.
My own contribution, which amused quite a few of my friends, was a photo of three toilet paper rolls migrating across a patch of gravel showing through the snow with the David Attenborough-style caption: “And so we enter that dangerous transitional period when the wild teepee’s winter camouflage makes them sitting ducks for poachers.”
We are living through some very serious times, indeed, but, if we lose our ability to laugh, we lose our humanity.
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