#19 - Funny Games

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Today's newsletter is about the kind of games I, in fact, am most interested in.  The games, until three days ago, that I called "Pointless."

The people who run an event called Funny Fest asked me if I might be interested in doing a workshop or four at next year's event.

I thought and thought and looked at their website and looked again at their website and then thought about looking some more. Funny Fest. Comedians. Funny. Funny. And finally, I came up with something that seemed it might actually interest people who either are stand-up comedians, want to be stand-up comedians, who like comedy or just like standing up.

"Funny Games," I said to myself. "Funny Games for the Funny Fest. Games as another kind of funny that is also fun. Where everyone, you might say, is the comedian."

And so, I sent off a proposal. And I got myself all excited about the "Funny" word. And, shortly after, found myself writing the following for Wednesday's FunLog:

Funny Games

I used to call them "Pointless Games" because they were the kind of games where the score didn't matter so much, where just playing is winning enough. Now I call them "Funny Games." Yes, I know, there's a horror movie of the same name. But Funny is a good word for these pointless games - funny because, from maybe an even more relevant perspective, it's not about the pointlessness of these games, or the lack of scorekeeping even - not as much as it is about the sheer funniness of it all.

They aren't comedies, these games, and we aren't expected to be comedians in order to play them. There are no punch lines, there is no applause. But there is laughter, all right. Rollicking, eye-tearing, panty-wetting laughter.

It's not so much that the games themselves are funny - as it is that when we play these games, we, ourselves, become funny.

Being funny. Not acting funny or saying funny things or even making people laugh, but being funny, funny in the very fullness and totality of our beings and the beings with whom we be being funny. As funny to ourselves as we are to each other. Naturally funny. Unselfconsciously funny. Almost helplessly funny.

Not silly. Not out of control. Funny. Like how we are when we all try everso hard to sit on each other's laps. Or when we find ourselves passionately debating the relative merits of chosing to become panthers, persons, or porcupines. Or wandering around with our eyes closed saying "prui."

Funny Games. Not silly at all, actually. Funny in the way each game manages to make light of and shed light on the human condition.