Death and laughter

Tension is a key ingredient to laughter. And few things are more tense than dying.

Here’s Mona Simpson’s eulogy for her brother, Steve Jobs.

It’s a beautifully written piece that’s genuinely funny too. IMO, that’s how eulogies should be. Dying and laughter frequently arrive together; all that tension is ripe for popping. And that combo is the secret ingredient to laughter. Laughs come from a release of tautness.

Here’s an example from Simpson’s piece:

[Jobs] went through 67 nurses before finding kindred spirits and then he completely trusted the three who stayed with him to the end. Tracy. Arturo. Elham.

One time when Steve had contracted a tenacious pneumonia his doctor forbid everything — even ice. We were in a standard I.C.U. unit. Steve, who generally disliked cutting in line or dropping his own name, confessed that this once, he’d like to be treated a little specially.

I told him: Steve, this is special treatment.

He leaned over to me, and said: “I want it to be a little more special.”

Killer line. After all, that’s what we all want: to be treated special. And, when push comes to love, okay, just a little more special.

If there’s a standup lesson here, it’s don’t shy away from the tension that can come from dark subject matter. Sometimes there’s comedy gold in there. Build that tension and you just might get an even bigger pop.