Make Me Laugh

"If you can make a girl laugh – you can make her do anything…"

– Marilyn Monroe

I'm a sucker for a guy who makes me laugh: hell, I'm a sucker for anyone who makes me laugh. Apparently I'm not that unusual; if you google studies demonstrating what women find attractive, you'll find that unlike men, it varies a lot. But an intelligent sense of humour always makes it on the list.

And why not? Life is much better on a day to day basis if you're with someone who has a sense of humour about the inevitable ups and downs of life. On those down days when you can't see the sunshine for the rain, you seek out those who will make you shine again. And it's got to be both intelligence and sense of humour, because without the intelligence you have a frat boy or class clown type (shudder).

Unfortunately, that's what all the films released by Hollywood seem to be geared toward. Maybe they'll stop that once they realise it's turning women off — and not just the films!

Romance heroes, too, often seem to lack that aspect. I must admit while others swoon over Mr. Darcy, I am completely a Tilney gal (that's why my hero in The Mangrove Legacy has the same last name). The hero of Northanger Abbey appeals to me because he's really funny. All of his dialogue runs playfully across the page, sparring with Catherine as they discover love. In romance novels, more often women get to be the funny ones, especially in contemporary stories. It's wonderful that women have that space to be funny and witty and smart (can you tell I'm going to be on the Humor in Romance panel at Authors After Dark?).

In "real" life women don't get to be funny as often, because they pay a heavy price: men are afraid of funny women. Intelligence doesn't fare much better: combine the two and you intimidate a lot of men. It's just the opposite for men: how many funny men have we seen with a bevvy of attractive women in his wake? Sad but true. It takes an extraordinary man to appreciate a funny woman. He's got to be confident and intelligent and probably funny, too. Here's to them all. I leave you with my most favourite funny man. My dreamboat, Peter Cook (with the likewise funny Alan Bennett, now a playwright).

Filed under: C. Margery Kempe, contemporary romance, erotic romance, Flirting, historical romance, Kit Marlowe, Writing Topics