HUMORIST,ON HUMOR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLII, Issue 9421, 29 December 1921, Page 3

HUMORIST, ON HUMOR

MEANING OF LAUGHTER. H U MOUR— DISILLUSIONMENT. (By STEPHEN LEACOCK). Mr Stephen Leacock, one of the most distinguished of living humourists, is at present on a visit to Great Britain from Canada, where he occupies the chair of political economy at McGill University, Montreal. There is a popular impression that a humourist or comedian must needs be sad; that m appearance he should be tall, lantern-jawed, and cadaverous; and that his countenance should wear a woe-begone expression calculated to excite laughter. The loss of his hair is supposed to increase his market value, and if he is as bald as a boiled egg with the shell off his reputation is assured. This, I think springs from the fact that, m the past at least, people preferred not to laugh with the humourist but : at him. They laughed m an apologetic way. They considered him simply too silly. In other words, till our own time laughter was low. Our dull forefathers had no notion of its intellectnal meaning. The Court jester referred too haughtily as "you poor fool," was most likely the cleverest man round the Court, and yet historic novels are filled with little touches such as this: — "The King sank' wearily upon his couch, 'My Lady,' he said, 'I am weary. My mind is distraught. In faith I am like to become i as deftless as yon poor fool.' " ' Now, ; as a matter of fact, the King was probably what we should call m America a great boob; and the poor fool, if he had lived with us, would be either ofi the staff of "Punch" or at the head of a University — whichever he pleased. A generation or ■ so back the idea of the melancholy humourist got a lot of corroboration from the fact that some of the best humourists of this time were m actual reality of a woebegone appearance. "Melancholy Comedians." ,The famous Bill Nye ,was tall, mournful, and exceedingly thin, a fact which he exploited to the full. He used to tell his hearers that there had been a request- f° r him to ' come to come to therii again, to appear m broadsword combat with a parallel of latitude. '.'.-' The still more celebrated Arteirius Ward was also of a' shambling and woebegone habit ; his melancholy face and feeble frame bespoke m reality the ravages of a mortal disease, and the laughter that greeted his shambling appearance and his timid gestures appears m retrospect as cruel mockery. But Ward and Nye are only two examples of the "melancholy comej dian," a thing familiar through the 1 ages. Yet m spite of all such precedents, and admitting that exceptions are exceptions,, I cannot but think that the true manner of the comedian is that of smiles and laughter. If I am to be amused let me see on the stage before me not the lantern jaws of sor•row but a genial countenance shaped like the map of the world, lit with spectacles, and illuminated with a smile. Let me hear • the , comedian's own laughter come first, and mine shall follow readily enough, laughter not at him but with him. I admit that when the comedian adopts this mode he uses the terrible right of being the 'only one to laugh at his own fun. This is. indeed dreadful. There is no contempt so dreadful. There is no contempt so bitter 'as that of the man who will not laugh for the man who will. The poor comedian's merriment withers under it, and his laughter turns to a sad and forced contortion pitiful to witness. A Classification. : This much, however, I will admit, that if a man has a genuine sense of humour he is apt to take a-- ■ somewhat .melancholy, or, at least, a disillusioned jyiew of life. Humour and disillusionment are twin sistersi Humour cannot exist alongside eager ambition, brisk success j and absorption m the Lgame : of life. Humour comes best to I those Who are down and out, or who haVe at least discovered, their limitations and their failure^ Humour is essentially a comforter,- reconciling" us to "things as they are m contrast to things as they might be. This is why I think such a great number of people are cut off frortv haying any very highly developed sense of humour. If I had to make a list of them I would put at the head all eminent and distinguished people whose lofty position compels them to take something seriously. The list would run something like this :— i 1. The Pope of Rome— l doubt if he could have a deep senses of fun. 2. Archbishops and the more dignified clergy ; sense of humour— none. 3 Emperors, Kaisers, "Czars,- 1 Emirs, Emus, Sheiks, etc., etc.,— absolutely none. ' _ , . , 4. Captains of industry (I mean the class that used to be called "nationmakers," and are now known as ' profiteer s" )— atrophied; 5. Great scholars, thinkers, philani thropists, martyrs, reformers, and patriots — petrified. As against this I would set a list or people who probably would show a sense of humour brought to its full growth : — 1. Deposed kings. > 2. Rejected candidates for the House of Commons. 3. Writers whose work has been refused by all the publishers. 4. Inventors who have lost their patents, actors who have been hooked off the stage, painters who cannot paint, and, speaking broadly, all the unemployed and the unsuccessful. Women and Humour. One special class I must put all by itself. 1 refer to women. I give it as my opinion, reached after 51 years of reflection, that their sense of ■ humour is dim. , The mental process that humour implies is contrary to their whole nature.