The other night, I was watching a documentary on HBO about Don Rickles and I heard something which is sticking with me and I don't know why.

 One the people they had comment on Rickles was another comedian named Christopher Guest. He used to be on Saturday Night Live and has appaeared in several movies. In this documentary on Rickles, Guest gave a quote, the words were something like this; "Trying to figure out why things are funny is a dangerous business."

 I thought that was amazingly interesting. At first I asked myself "Why would that be dangerous?" but I think I have it figured out now and I think Chris Guest is right.

 Humor, like everything else in life, is personal and acquired. What is funny to me may not be funny to you and so on and so forth. But why it's dangerous cuts, I think, on this. You see someone fall down a set of stairs. One person laughs, the other person doesn't. What does that say? Is the person who laughed heartless and willing to humor himself at the expense of someone else? Is the person who didn't laugh a sourpuss or someone who doesn't have a sense of humor. Using that one example, you can see how generalities can be formed about a person and how it can make someone look good or bad as a result.

 I love to laugh and to make other people laugh. Although when I tell a joke, more times than not it's just me who ends up laughing, but that's another story for another time.

 When really hits me about this is I ended up having a serious internal discussion with myself based on something I heard on a documentary about Don Rickles. Again with the humor thing; there are things he says and in the privacy of my home I laugh uproariously. But with other people around would I do the same? Depends on who I was with.

 A quick side note: I used to live in Las Vegas and would often see Don Rickles on the marquee at the Stardust. I always wanted to go see his show but never did. Now I'm not sure if I ever will. A little testament to the idea that if you're going to do something, do it sooner rather than later, while you still have the chance.

 Quote Of The Day: "Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless people." Robert Benchley

 This Day In History: Idaho became the 43rd state in the United States on this date, July 3rd, 1890.

 Thanks for stopping by Brian's Blog! I get a kick out of hearing from you. Feel free to leave a comment below or send me an e-mail by clicking here.