I'm a Joke and So Are You: Reflections on Humour and Humanity

by Robin Ince

Many of the psychological problems of our existence come from our fear of being seen to be ridiculous. The effort of keeping ourselves together is often what pulls us apart.

revealing your stupidity for all the world to see could be said to be an intrinsic part of what it means to be a complete and psychologically healthy human being.

It is a relief not to be average. When we do a test, we don’t want to find out that we are too normal, though we also want the comfort that comes from being normal. We want to be just wonky enough to be interesting, but not so wonky that our life is unbearable or painful. We want all the perks of abnormality, with none of the pain.

‘We are all susceptible to intrusive thoughts, sometimes of a very unpleasant nature, and we can help each other to understand that it is just junk and it isn’t necessarily you. Not everything that goes through your head is you; quite what “you” is, is a whole different, complex problem.

insanity can be said to be purely in the eye of the beholder.

If anyone questions the sanity of your actions, just say it is art.

you don’t have to be mad to be creative, especially if we’re not even sure what madness and creativity are.

even though it might be the most ridiculous idea for a routine ever, if we ridicule failure, we ridicule trying.

the relief of hearing the first splash after a bout of constipation – you can’t work out why it took so long.

Perhaps the very act of letting that need and drive go would enable the imagination to work more freely, take it back to its childhood innocence, when living from one moment to the next was perhaps the time when all our imaginations were at their most vivid and creative?

There is a toxic satisfaction that can be found in whining about others while doing nothing yourself.

‘We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.’

Society expects, and indeed must expect, every individual to play the part assigned to him as perfectly as possible, so that a man who is a parson must not only carry out his official functions objectively, but must at all times and in all circumstances play the role of parson in a flawless manner . . . each must stand at his post, here a cobbler, there a poet. No man is expected to be both.

one of the most important moments is the realization that ‘I’m not as nice a guy as I think I am, and that’s okay.’

middle age has quelled our ambitions somewhat, helping us to see our own ridiculousness and become happier for it.

‘It isn’t what you’ve done that matters, it’s what you can make believe you have done.’

Anxiety is evidence of existence. Anxiety is one of those special treats that goes with having evolved a brain so big that we almost break our mothers during birth. It gives us the delight of imagining our possibilities, and the worry of predicting all the ways they may go wrong.

‘It’s not the desire that generates the prohibition, it’s the prohibition that generates the desire.

why we take offence at what we do, especially when it may have little to do with our life or experience?

Sometimes our bubbles lead us to believe that civilization has moved on at a greater pace than it has.

‘It is easier to fool people than convince them that they have been fooled.’

‘Offence is important; that’s how you know you care about things. Imagine a life where you’re not offended. So dull.’

grief can be an out-of-body experience; news of a sudden death reaches the head but takes a while to catch up with the heart.

Do not dismiss me just yet; if I fade, I fade kicking. I am still a force. I am here until I am not.

If life is absurd, then so is death. To know there will one day be a world without you is a strange trait to have evolved. We can spend our whole life worrying so much about death that we forget to live while we’re here. Be preposterous, know you are absurd, be a joke that lives on for a while – be a punchline that people want to remember.