Debra Garfinkle's Journal

No laughing matter
I have a lot more respect for comedians after going to my second stand-up comedy class. We had to go onstage and tell the class jokes into the microphone from topics we'd prepared beforehand. I had to go first. Topics I thought I could get a lot of jokes from ended up not funny at all. Some were downright depressing. I totally bombed. But so did most of the people in the class. The teacher said that usually only half the class remains at the end of the eight-week session.

Our teacher also said that most good comics get a laugh every ten to fifteen seconds. I didn't believe him, so I went home and timed a couple of comedians. Our teacher was right. Yikes.

I try to get at least seven jokes into my 400-500-word humor column. So that would be a joke about every 65 words. I wonder how many seconds it takes to read 65 words. Probably a lot more than ten to fifteen seconds.

Note that I was the only female in the class Monday night. Single women looking for a guy with a sense of humor: Enroll in a stand-up comedy class. But don't be surprised if it's incredibly difficult.

And by the way, I love it.