#977-Fake Laughing in Order To Preserve Friendship

No one can REALLY force you to do anything you don't want to do BUT everyone has felt obligated to fake laugh at one point or another. I usually fake laugh to make people feel better about themselves or to fill awkward silences. There is NOTHING worse than witnessing someone crack a joke, it NOT being the least bit funny and then NO ONE laughing. It hurts me to witness this! Oh and it's ESPECIALLY worse when the joke-cracker is doing stand-up or is in a comedy group! They continually humiliate themselves in front of crowds and it's just.....GAWD. It legitimately hurts PHYSICALLY to fake laugh. Ever notice? Your face muscles have to work EXTRA hard to pull this fake laughter off. It's draining. I think I've fake laughed over 1,000,000 times in my life. I think I fake laugh at LEAST once every day. I'm not claiming to be this EXPERT on what is humorous BUT when you don't feel like laughing you just DON'T feel like laughing! Something goes off in your brain when something tickles your funny bone. Maybe my funny bone is defective?

I've been to comedy shows where the room ERUPTS into laughter at the most unfunny things. I look around the room thinking, "Really? What am I missing?" I am then CONVINCED that 85% of the people around me are fake laughing out of compassion and pity. They HAVE to be! OR AGAIN, I'm an idiot and don't "GET" comedy. Sorry, but I don't think someone screaming, "poop" at the top of their lungs is funny. Why do you? Okay, we're ALL different so MAYBE something INSIDE of you (is it genetic?) makes you THINK that certain things are funny. Who the FUCK KNOWS.

BACK to the point: Fake laughter hurts. I'm going to get fake-laugh lines on my face and be pissed for years. And ALTHOUGH fake laughter can make people FEEL GOOD, don't you think we're causing permanent damage? This person or these people are going to stroll around town thinking they're this accomplished comedian and it's ALL a lie. And if we STOPPED fake laughing altogether, maybe we wouldn't have to endure being around unfunny people? They would just STOP altogether?

Again, DISCLAIMER PEOPLE, I KNOW people have fake laughed at my jokes (everyone has been a victim of fake laughter) BUT I can detect the fake-ness. I have this "bullshit" radar. SO ONCE people have fake laughed at my jokes, I STOP. A lot of people have this radar.

Let's STOP fake laughing. Our faces will thank us and so will the unfunny people we fake laugh at.

I HATE IT.