Teetering on the edge

Observation: Old people are un-funny.

Have you ever been in a group of 40 somethings and someone tells a joke? What happens? Everyone laughs. Is this because after the age of 30 everyone gains some kind of comedic enlightenment? NO! The jokes being told are extremely un-funny and often are barely even an attempt. And yet everyone laughs. I've even caught myself doing it. I've politely chuckled at something, then shortly after thought "wait a second, that wasn't funny at all. was that even a joke?". What follows is an ashamed, disgusting, slimy feeling. I have a few theories on why this phenominon occurs, such as: A. people find it socially beneficial to be polite no matter how unworthy of politeness a lame joke may be. B. The older people get, the more they mellow and lose their edge. Edge is usually essential to actually being funny. C. Life sucks, and they take every opportunity to laugh and distract themselves from that fact, hence appreciation of bad and barely-jokes. However, I'm far less interested in why this happens to other people as I am scared to friggin' death of becoming these people. I don't know if my peers realize, but we are on the cusp of "oldness" and therefore becoming un-funny! In fact, I've seen some surveys where people in jr. high already think we're "old"! We are teetering dangerously on the edge of the young -hip / old-boring precipice. On the other side is an abyss of non-hilarity and polite smiles. Those of us who actually remain funny face a lonely existence. Therefore, in an effort to slow or reverse the process I have 2 tips on how to maintain your understanding of funny and stay somewhat young:

1. DO NOT laugh unless something is actually, really funny. In fact, you may want to not laugh unless something is absolutely hilarious just to challenge yourself and stay in funny shape. Smiling is fine for being kind to people telling "jokes".

2. NEVER eat pizza with a fork. It's just lame.
- notable exception - first couple of bites of a Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Those jokers are thick!