International Joke Day (July 1)

NationalToday.com; Dad Jokes; Norm Macdonald (SNL); Stuart Petty; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Because, he wants to be at one with!

The Dalai Lama went into a pizza joint and stared at the long menu. The waiter asked, "What can I do for you?" The Dalai Lama replied, "Make me one with everything." (Insert laugh track.)

So begins another International Joke Day on July 1. Where would any of us be without jokes and laughter to brighten our lives? They can help any situation. This July 1st all are invited to take time out of the day to recognize the important job humor plays in keeping stress at bay, building relationships, and bringing levity to a world that badly needs it.

(Stuart Petty Media) If this guy can do it...memorize and try 61 clean jokes.

Be sure not to confuse the purpose of International Joke Day with April Fools’ Day. The two couldn’t be further apart. July 1st is all about getting a grin out of a best friend, sharing a laugh on social media, and appreciating the stand up comics who have left us in stitches for decades.

Speaking of stitches, that reminds me: I asked the doctor the other day if I’d be able to play the piano once I got my stitches removed. “Yes,” he told me, “I mean, why not?” “Well,” I replied, “it's just that I wasn’t able to before.”

Dads do it! (Do not try this at home)

International Joke Day Activities

Send a funny emoji to make a smile.

1. Support live comedy: One of the best ways to celebrate International Joke Day is to head out to a comedy club in the area, support the club and its comedians, and get a hearty dose of laughter while there. Perhaps it’s a small, local club with up-and-coming comics, or an establishment that attracts top talent. Either way, support means we’ll have a steady stream of one-liners rolling out for years.

2. Learn a joke: Telling a good joke is a lot harder than memorizing a few words. It takes timing, reading the audience, delivery, articulation, and experience. So why not take this lockdown holiday as an opportunity to learn -- and practice -- telling a joke? Consider the context in which to use it, practice the delivery, and test it out on friends. If it floats, there’s a joke to put in the back pocket to pull out at any awkward dinner party.

3. Take a break from the news: In today’s 24-hour news cycle, it’s sometimes overwhelming to try to keep up. For one day, like July 1st, perhaps try avoiding the news and instead read humor pieces in any of the country’s leading newspapers. Or of course find the internet’s best comedy on sites like Reddit, Buzzfeed, The Onion, or any of the many sources. Who knows what could be accomplished if we all share a good, sidesplitting laugh even if just for a day. More

How to get girls: Family Guy (cartoon)

Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy S5, Ep7 (Fox TV) via Saving Private Brian; Wisdom Quarterly

The world has FREE COMEDY (video)

Groupon.com (Ice House Club); killerstandup.com; Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly\

Many stand up comics and comedians end up with a free podcast (iheart.com/podcast).

Family Guy, Season 4, Cutaway Compilation (Part 1). Music: song "Echos" by artist iNine from the album iNine Jtb Instrumentals, Vol. 1 licensed to YouTube by TuneCore (on behalf of JTB Recording); ASCAP, CMRRA, TuneCore Publishing, and 6 Music Rights Societies.

The Sauce is a FREE weekly Friday night comedy show in Hollywood at DeSano's Pizza.

Why pay even $20 to Groupon when there's plenty of FREE comedy at eventbrite.com?

The world needs YOUR voice, your sensibility, your comedy (killerstandup.com)

If deadpan Aubrey Plaza can do it as easily as spanking a pillow, why not you? (To Do List)

There's a secret show out there, and it's free. Google it using Startpage.com.

One very funny weekly FREE COMEDY show in Los Angeles is Friendship Buddies.

Nicky Urban has a show, a very funny, sexy, irreverent FREE show in Hollywood.

World Laughter Day (video)

Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberdon, Wisdom Quarterly; WorldLaughterDay.com; LaughterYoga.org

World Laughter Day is a FREE event celebrated in Los Angeles on the first Sunday of May since 2005 at the initiative of Sebastien Gendry, creator of the Laughter Wellness method.

Thich Nhat Hanh (tinybuddha.com)

It started in India in 1998 and now takes place in all the world's major capitals and many other cities.

The aim is to promote intentional laughter with its many healing benefits to raise awareness about the thousands of community laughter clubs around the world.

• Several listed below are in the Los Angeles area.

Everybody knows laughing and hugging feel good. Few realize how valuable these simple tools can be in improving everyday well-being.

Laughter cannot heal or solve anything, but it can help to heal and dissolve everything.

In a gloomy economic climate, we need to lighten up. We need it more than ever. Laughter is an expression of a positive and powerful emotion. It has all the ingredients required for individuals to change themselves and to change the world in a peaceful way. More

"The Bitter Buddha" (comedy)

Wisdom Quarterly, Eddie Pepitone (The Bitter Buddha) via David Feldman (PLAY SHOW)

Fat happy Budai (speakinggod)

"The Bitter Buddha" is coming to theaters and on-demand in late 2012. Screenings and news can be found at TheBitterBuddha (Facebook) and TheBitterBuddha.com. This documentary is an unfiltered look at Eddie Pepitone, a real "comic's comic." His life is on full display in this comedic portrait of creativity, enlightenment, and rage. 

  

A film by Steven Feinartz. Animated segment: audio courtesy of WTF with the Marc Maron podcast. Original animation by Allen Mezquida.
 
"The Bitter Buddha" takes an unconventional journey through the life of one of America's most original comedic voices.

 

"Want to feel like you've discovered something new? That you're watching a comedian poised to hit critical mass? This is your movie."

- The Chicago Tribune

 

Featuring comedians: Eddie Pepitone, Patton Oswalt, Marc Maron, Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis, Paul Provenza, Sean Conroy, Dana Gould, Todd Barry, Todd Glass, Andy Kindler, BJ Novak, James Adomian, Paul Gilmartin, Paul F. Tompkins, Andy Daly, Jen Kirkman, Jim Earl, Leo Allen, Matt Oswalt, Paul F. Tompkins, Rob Huebel, Scott Aukerman, Todd Barry, and more.

  

LISTEN Fridays or archived for 90 days at KPFK.org

Inappropriate Yoga Guy (comedy)

Wisdom Quarterly revisits The Inappropriate Yoga Guy by Tato Salad

(GoPotatoTV) Ogden creates awkward situations in yoga studios throughout the (San Fernando) Valley. But don't worry, he's in the yoga teacher training program. Produced by James McFadden and Tyler McFadden. Directed by Greg Thanos. Starring Avi Rothman and Brittney Kara. Written by Avi Rothman. Special thanks to GardenOfYoga.com!

"Family Guy" to premiere in theatres (free)

(Fan favorite "Road to Multiverse") America's No. 1 family enters its 10th season midnight on Thursday at AMC Century City 15 in LA and in New York, Chicago, Boston, Dallas...

Science confirms that laughter is good medicine, so here is a major dose of innovative animation. The Buddha was perhaps the only major religious figure frequently depicted as happy, jovial, and laughing -- and for good reason. Enough with the stiffness of austerity and onto the joy here and hereafter.

(LA Times) In celebration of the show’s 10^th anniversary, the funny side of the FOX network is spotlighting the Griffin household -- Stewie, Brian, Peter (Seth MacFarlane), Lois, Chris, and Meg (Mila Kunis) -- with a 10-city, one-night-only, exclusive midnight viewing of an exclusive episode as well never-before-seen footage, trivia, and giveaways.

• Also in: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Seattle

Tickets for the Southern California event are free on a first-come, first-served basis and can be reserved at familyguyLA@gmail.com.

The new episode that will be screened is called “Lottery Fever,” which finds the Rhode Island family struggling to stay grounded after finding themselves holding a winning ticket. The especially subversive 2009 episode “Road to Multiverse” will also be screening, having been picked for the occasion by fans voting via Facebook. The screenings will also include a 22-minute bonus feature from the forthcoming “Family Guy” DVD, due on shelves on Dec.13, 2011.

• PHOTOS: laughingbuddha.biz
• Sarah Palin gets phone pranked
• Ancient Buddhist monuments of Sri Lanka

Afghan-style monoliths on Buddhist isle (itchypaws)

Science: Laughter Really is Good Medicine

(SkypeLaughterChain.com) A contagious language we all understand that brings us closer.

Scientists Hint at Why Laughter Feels So Good
Text by James Gorman (New York Times, Sept. 13, 2011)

Laughter is regularly promoted as a source of health and well being, but it has been hard to pin down exactly why laughing until it hurts feels so good. The answer, reports Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at Oxford, is not the intellectual pleasure of cerebral humor, but the physical act of laughing.... ha, ha, ha... endorphins... “Laughter is very weird stuff, actually”... laughter contributes to group bonding and may have been important in the evolution of highly social humans. Social laughter, Dr. Dunbar suggests, relaxed and contagious, is “grooming at a distance,” an activity that fosters closeness in a group the way one-on-one grooming, patting and delousing promote and maintain bonds between individual primates of all sorts. More

World Laughter Day (yoga)

VIDEO: Hundreds practice laughter yoga to mark World Laughter Day

A worldwide sing-along
A heartwarming celebration of friendship is riding a second wave of viral popularity. » See for yourself
Find Playing for Change music
Watch 1985's "We Are the World"

• Researchers: Victims of bullies have more psychotic symptoms