Humor is a way for people to relieve stress. Laughing is just as instinctual and natural as sneezing, coughing, and farting. No one sits back and consciously thinks, “I believe I shall laugh now.” It is something that just happens when the right stimulus is introduced, much like pepper to a sneeze. Of course, the same stimulus does not work on everyone. Some people like a certain type of humor while other people enjoy something completely different. Our laughter is hardwired, and mine comes from the absurd. Funny t-shirts that center on this type of comedy are right up my alley.
Funny t-shirts are, if you’ll excuse the pun, a funny thing. When you usually want to share a joke, you know your audience and you know what joke may work on some friends and not on others. When you wear a funny t-shirt, you let that joke hang in the air indefinitely. You wait until someone snatches it from the air, examines it, and then you wait to see if they laugh. It is a system based on pure faith that your funny t-shirt is hilarious enough to make anyone laugh, regardless of their comedy preference.
The whole point of being absurd is to force people out of their comfort zone and into a world of the unknown where anything can happen. Monty Python perfected the technique, and their form of absurdist humor is still popular today. When you deal with absurdist comedy, up can be down or even sideways. When people are jerked out of normalcy and into the absurd, every situation is a challenge. No one knows what could happen or where the joke could lead. This makes my insanely funny t-shirts the greatest social tool I own.
Someone whom I think would have loved the funny t-shirts I wear is Eugene Ionesco. He was the author of several plays that were so bizarre, that he invented a whole new form of theater. Ionesco was dubbed the king of the Theater of the Absurd, and his plays forced people to think about how insane the conversations we have every day really are. His whole point was to use the absurd to mock conformity and useless conversation.
Absurdity is an art form. It is a mystery because of its irregularity to normal comedy. People have to actually work to understand the joke, and many people are simply too lazy to appreciate it these days. Can you imagine a world where anything could happen? Pioneers like Ionesco and the guys from Monty Python could, and they invited you to come and join them. Funny t-shirts are something simple that anyone can wear, but when you mix the truly absurd into the fray…well, then the hippos really will have won.
For more information about funny t-shirts check out Matt’s pick for the best cool tee shirts on the web.