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Ethics and Morality
The Morality of Comedy
Secular succor at its best.
Posted January 18, 2021 Reviewed by Devon Frye
It was a little over a year ago, just before dawn, when I found myself in the waiting room of the ER, still in my pajamas, with my wife being operated on for a brutal stroke, that I felt life turning to sand and everything feeling like it was fading away. The prognosis I had received from the doctors, regarding her outlook, was not good.
My very healthy, active, hard-working, and creative wife—age 50 and mother of three—was looking at never being able to speak again, understand language again, read again, write again, or walk again.
The first few days in the hospital were a bleak blur of tears, panic, fear, emptiness, worry, and something well beyond despair.
And then, a few days after the stroke, somehow, sitting somewhere—perhaps in a hospital hallway—I found myself staring at a clip on YouTube from the comedy series "Key and Peele." The name of the sketch was “Dicknanigans.” Taking in the bald silliness, the genius tomfoolery, the witty mockery, and the unrelenting crotch assaults—I found myself laughing. It felt good.
I later brought my laptop into my wife’s hospital room and placed it before her and clicked “play” on the Key and Peele sketch and she—still barely able to swallow—watched it with delight. And she laughed. We laughed together.
The painful sharpness of our shared misery, if only for a few moments, was dulled.
Over the next couple of weeks, when not at my wife’s bedside, I would be home with my kids. But I was in a morbid daze and found it hard to concentrate, be present, be loving. Just about the only thing I could do was lay with them and watch TV. With my daughter, we watched “New Girl.” It was really funny—especially the character Schmidt. With my son, we watched “Eurovision.” As always, Will Ferrell was hysterical. Laughing at these comedies was the only thing I could do with my kids that felt, well…good. I experienced a deep, visceral feeling of raw gratitude and bone-marrow appreciation for these comedians. They were providing true, warm, and needed comfort.
* * *
While convoluted debates about the nature of morality have echoed throughout the dampness of alleys and the halls of academia since the days of Socrates, what morality ultimately boils down to for many—at least for those who are not religious and thus don’t consider deities relevant—is suffering: its easing or its increasing.
Simply put: that which increases suffering is immoral, while that which eases suffering is moral. In the famous words of secular philosopher John Stuart Mill, actions are moral “in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasure.”
Given this understanding, comedy could be considered a truly unsung, un-recognized yet extremely significant source of morality. It makes us feel better and happier. It makes life more bearable. It provides relief. It is a balm.
Comedy has observable positive health outcomes, as well. According to a research article by Michael J. Balick and Roberta Lee, various empirical studies have shown that, among people suffering from coronary heart disease, those who laugh more experience improved cardiovascular conditioning; among patients with myocardial infarctions, those who watched self-selected humor for 30 minutes a day had fewer arrhythmias, lower plasma and urinary catecholamines, required less beta-blockers and nitroglycerine, and had less recurrence of myocardial infarctions; regularly watching humorous videos can elevate NK cell activity (cells that assist in immune surveillance) and immunoglobulin levels (antibodies that assist in clearing toxins and bacteria in the serum and body fluids); IFN-a, a cytokine that modulates cell-mediated immunity, is elevated in those exposed to humor; humor also lowers stress and humor is an effective distraction for those in pain.
Beyond the moral work comedy can do in relieving the suffering of individuals, there is the broader aspect of comedy’s moral connection to fostering justice at the societal level. Humor is one of the most subtle, subversive, and ultimately effective ways to critique those in power, diss dictatorial leaders, shame bigots, mock the piously self-righteous, call attention to inequality and oppression, expose prejudice, problematize discriminatory norms, and give voice to the marginalized and oppressed.
For those of us who are secular—who do not find comfort in faith or seek support in the supernatural—this-worldly sources of moral succor and ethical action tend to be what we draw from and rely upon. These include things like philosophical wisdom, family, friends, social workers, teachers, nurses, doctors, firemen, first responders, and others who work for the welfare of their fellow humans. At the top of the list, in my view, should be comedians. They are not just funny. They may be among the best manifestations of human morality.
