The headlines on news stations are grim.
There’s still a brutal war in Ukraine, foreign fighter jets are getting closer to America’s shores, and drones are ready to inflict harm and pestilence all over the world.
If that’s not bad enough, our schools are in desperate shape, teachers are burnt out, there’s not enough money to fix potholes in the roads and road construction on I-10 is predicted to get even worse than it already is.
These atrocities are reality, and I know I should pay attention, write emails to congressmen, and lose sleep over the future of the world. I’m not doing enough to recycle, conserve, exercise or read enough self-help books.
I feel guilty about not feeling guilty enough.
Instead of trying to improve the world and myself, I distract myself with comedy, specifically people who find humor all around.
Maybe that’s putting my head in the sand, but we all need a break from the doom and gloom. The first place I visit is YouTube. There’s no shortage of comics here. Some are vulgar for the sake of being vulgar, and that’s not particularly humorous to me.
Some are hit and miss, mostly because they belittle people, and they use profanity for shock value. There’s often little substance – just meanness.
There’s a comedy channel on Sirius radio, and I’ve tuned in a few times. I’m not a prude and I don’t mind profanity, but the routines I’ve heard on there are filled with rated “X” words, they’re not original and few of them are funny.
They could take a few tips from the late great Robin Williams.
The comic was an absolute genius. His routine on how the Scots came up with the game of golf will make you laugh out loud.
Choose the version of when he’s on a Scottish talk show and explains how difficult it is to understand accents in Scotland. Then he riffs into an explanation about how golf was invented. For anyone who’s confused about why golf is difficult, Williams makes it easy to understand.
I’ll watch any clip from “The Carol Burnett Show.” For over 12 years, many families tuned into the Carol Burnett show on Saturday nights. We loved the costumes, skits, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway and Vicki Lawrence. Best of all, though, was Carol.
Nothing’s funnier than the “Mama” segments. Fan favorites are the one where Tim Conway is talking about the elephant and when they play games like “Sorry” and “Charades.”
One of my favorite comics these days is Leann Morgan. She’s in her 50s with a thick Tennessee accent, and she talks lovingly, but in a joking way, about her family.
She admits to having issues with her thyroid, her love of pork sausage and her yummy grandson. She doesn’t use profanity and her routines are suitable for everyone in the family.
Morgan’s appearing at Sugar Land’s Smart Financial Center in November, and I already have my tickets.
I’ve written about the late Jeanne Robertson before. She’s a humorist with a Southern twang. Her routine about a young girl in a beauty contest who twirls a pretend baton is not only funny but is a fabulous life lesson.
The best comics or humorists tell real stories about real people and they’re not afraid to make themselves the butt of the joke.
Think about Burnett wearing the drapes when she performed a spoof of “Gone with the Wind.” Picture Lucille Ball trying to keep up on the chocolate assembly line or stomping grapes.
Take a break from the woes and troubles of the world and laugh with those who good-naturedly make fun of the bumps in the road.
Bad news will always be with us. A good laugh is often what we need to make sense of the world.
This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.