Find the Funny: How Humor Sparks Creativity!

Create Art Podcast Commentary Find the Funny Part of the Make Fun I have it series hello friend.

This is Timothy Kimo Brien, your head instigator for Create Art Podcast where I use my over 30 years of experience in the arts and education world to help you tame your inner critic and and create more than you consume. So it's 2025 and we're still continuing on with the Making Fun a Habit series by Michael Brennan.

He runs a podcast that is called Creative Chats and I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike on my other podcast.

Find a Podcast About Links to the Making Fun of Habits Find a Podcast about and Creative Chats are in the show notes so you don't need to write this all down. Just go check out those show notes and you can get linked to it.

So what is Making Fun a Habit series and why is it important to you as a listener of Create Our Podcast? Well, I've noticed in my practice that if I'm having fun creating something, then I'm more likely to keep on doing it and keep on creating.

So I was lucky to get this book, this workbook. It's a 30 day workbook. And what I've been doing since I got this is to do a episode per day.

And I'm going to tackle each episode as, you know, each day in the book as if it's an episode of this podcast. Now, each chapter is broken up with a short story, questions to ponder, action items and tips for you to do just that. Make fun a habit.

So that way your creative practice is that much better. So this episode we're going to be talking about Find the Funny and humor and comedy is very subjective.

What's funny to me, I have kind of a dark sense of humor. And this kind of leads into our first question. What do you find funny and why?

But I have a dark sense of humor and part of that comes from my military background where we used humor to cope with very stressful situations. So what I find funny.

And you know, at the time of this recording, I'm 52, I'm a gen X, so I'm used to a little bit edgier comedy than what is acceptable in today's day and age. I'm used to more risque things and more things that are, you know, insulting to people, quite frankly. So what do I find funny?

Well, it's evolving the older I get. I have kids that, you know, one of my favorite funny movies is Monty Python's the Holy Grail.

Now, I can't show that to my Kids right now There are only 10, but I find that movie absolutely hilarious. Something else that I find really funny, the funniest books I've ever read is the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

And it's the increasingly inaccurately named Five Part Trilogy and some of the things in there, and it was written in the 70s, some of the things in there people would probably find offensive today. But I also like self deprecating humor. And most of my humor is self deprecating.

You know, I've told in many episodes here, I paint like a four year old on crack. Now some people might go, ooh, that's kind of harsh. You know, four year olds on crack.

You know, you're dealing with kids and you're dealing with illegal drugs, but that's how I describe my paintings. And I think it's funny. You might not think it's funny. You might go, well, I got a cousin that, you know, died because of crack. Got it, okay?

But I don't. And I think it's funny. So humor is very subjective. But whatever you find funny, inject that into your artistic practice.

Figure out what's funny and why. The next question is, what's the unexpected element you can observe? And I think that's all part of comedy too, and all part of humor.

Something unexpected happened. You know, you're telling a story, you're painting a picture, you're doing a dance, you're doing some music. What's unexpected in that?

Back when I was in high school and we did orchestra, we had what's called a lawn concert. And that's where the students took over.

And in one of those, you know, being an orchestra, you gotta, you gotta dress to the nines, you gotta be in a suit and tie and all that kind of good stuff. So for the lawn concert, I dressed up in a really loud neon T shirt and Speedo shorts.

And of course I was wearing sunglasses and, you know, who knows how many beers I had to drink before that concert.

But, you know, we would, you know, have our director, you know, he would direct a few pieces and I actually, you know, stop playing because at the time I played tuba and I'm a big guy anyways, so we would all stop at a prescribed moment and I'd go up and bump off the, the conductor. Not really kill him, but just, you know, push him to the side. And then I'd start directing.

And then sometimes I would walk into the audience and direct from there, I would go to the back of the auditorium and direct from. And we thought it was funny. And that was because it was unexpected. The audience didn't know what was going to happen. And they loved it.

They absolutely loved it. So the next question is, what would my friends think is funny about this? So your friends may not necessarily be your audience members.

Let's just put it out there. Your friends may, you know, go, oh, well, you're the art guy. A lot of my friends go, I, oh, Tim, he's the art guy.

But then a lot of my friends are artists, so there's that. But, you know, what are they going to find funny about it? And sometimes that's where you got to start.

You know, the people around you, the people that you talk with every day or every week, what are they going to find funny? And are they going to find the humor in this?

Because if they can find the humor in this, then your fans, your audience will more than likely find the humor in it. Especially if your fans in your audience are not necessarily your friends. Now, I always open up, you know, this.

This podcast with, you know, hello, friend, because you are my friend, and if I did something, you know, totally unexpected, I would want to make sure that, you know, you all thought it was funny. So start with that first. Find out if your friends think it's funny. If they think it's funny, then your audience might find it funny.

The next question is, what's the metaphor here? So what are you representing? What are you trying to do? What, you know, what is this funny thing representing in your. In. In the piece?

So, you know, if you just put some, like, Groucho nose and glasses and mustache on in the middle of a poem that you're reciting or, you know, a piece of music that you're playing? What are you trying to represent? Are you trying to represent the absurdity of, you know, the times that we live in?

Which, you know, here in 2025, we live in some really absurd times. But what's the metaphor? Why are you putting that funny in there? You should have a reason for anything that you put into your artwork.

You know, no matter if it's, you know, painting, dancing, music, writing, whatever. What are you trying to represent here? Think about that.

We're getting a little cerebral with the humor, but I think, you know, if you plan it out properly, it can be really effective for your audience. And then the last question is, what would a comedian say about this?

Now, I am blessed that I know a group of folks in Chicago called Celsation, and they're a Latino sketch comedy troupe, and I've performed with them and I love them to death and I would love to do a podcast for them, but I can refer back to them and I can go, hey, is this funny, guys? You know, what does it make you think? Of course, they're friends of mine too. So that, you know, kind of goes with question number three.

You know, what do your friends think? One of my friends are comedians. So, you know, for me it's, it's an easy thing.

Maybe for you, you're going to have a hard time finding a comedian to, to interview and put your stuff in front of, but try to find one. Try to find, you know, the comedian.

Try to find a professional comedian in your area or read up on interviews with comedians and, you know, if somebody says, what do you find funny? Read that part of the interview.

Really focus on that part of the interview and you might find the answer to your question there without even having to go talk to a professional comedian. Okay, we're going to move on to action items. And the first action item is be more observant in your day to day interactions.

I think if you really try to find the funny around you, you'll find things that are absolutely hilarious.

You know, whether you're watching tv, listening to a podcast, listen to some music, whatever it is, you know, commuting to work back and forth, you might find something funny there. Or you might look at a road sign. Lord knows I look at enough road signs because I commute an hour and a half each way every day.

And some of the names of the towns here in Virginia are just interesting. Like Bump ass, you gotta giggle at that, so. Or the PI River. Yeah, I always call it the P River. So take a look at the things that are around you.

Observe that kind of stuff. You're gonna look at your animals. If you got dogs or cats in your house or chickens or whatnot, they're gonna do funny things.

They're gonna do stuff that make you laugh. The next action item is ask yourself questions. And I think that relates to, you know, being observant.

So when you find something that is funny, ask yourself, why do I find that funny? You know, driving by a city called Bump Ass. Well, because it's got ass in it, you know, it's got bump, bumping ass, Bumping uglies.

I can just go on for hours and hours and hours because, you know, I live here in Virginia. So ask yourself why is that funny? And, you know, hey, maybe it's, you know, potty humor, which is very low brow.

Maybe it's, you're Watching Bob Newhart. Bob Newhart is one that. The guy has the driest sense of humor and it's absolutely hilarious.

If you watch some old Bob Newhart, definitely check that out for yourself. But ask yourself, why is it funny?

And because he puts himself in these situations and he's a very unassuming kind of guy and these are just outrageous people around him, outrageous situations and stuff that you're like, I can't believe that actually happens. And it does. And that's what's funny about it.

Because you probably know, well with Bob New Art, he played a psychologist in the 70s and you probably know some of his patients. So that's why I find it absolutely funny. The next action item is to keep a humor journal. So you know, Mike likes to. Likes his journals.

He needs to sell some journals. He needs to create some and sell some journals. But you know, keep that, you know, write that down. Remember it. You might use it in a piece later on.

You know, like today I might go write a poem about Bump ass Virginia for whatever reason, because that's what's sticking in my brain right now. So, you know, keep that journal handy and pull out that bag of tricks for yourself. That way you don't forget it.

Because, I mean, I'm 52 at the time of this recording. My memory is not 100%, so I'm going to forget. Sometimes I forget what my name is. So that's why I have a tattoo of my nickname on my arm.

See, there you go. You didn't expect me to say that. And it's kind of funny because it's true. The last action item is spend time with funny people.

Again, that's subjective. I spend a lot of time with my family and my cats and you know, kids are funny. Kids say the darndest things. They can be super duper funny.

And I tell bad dad jokes all the time and my kids are starting to tell their own bad dad jokes. Some of them are, you know, kind of cute.

Some of them are like, you really need to take a humor class or a comedy class, but spend time with funny people. It's going to improve your mood. And this is kind of what this whole making fun a habit idea is, is to improve your mood.

And that way whatever you're creating is going to be that much better. Because if you're happy about it, if you're happy and you know what, clap your hands. See, there you go right there.

You didn't expect me to do that, but I did it anyways. But spend time with, with Funny people, because it's going to improve your mood.

And whatever you're creating, it's going to be that much easier to create. Because think about this.

If you're writing a piece and you're feeling really good and you kind of feel unfunny and all that, aren't you going to go ahead and keep on writing? Versus if you're sad and depressed and you're like, oh man, the world hates me, you're probably not going to finish that great American novel.

You never know. But you probably won't. All right, now we're going to jump into Mike's tips. First one is pay attention to the details.

So pay attention to what is funny and why it's funny. Ask yourself why is this funny? Tip number two is don't take yourself too seriously. I'm a big fan of self deprecating humor.

I do it to myself all the time and I try to make it humorous for me subconsciously. I, you know, I tell myself I'm just making fun of myself. It's okay. I don't really believe this. But don't take yourself too seriously.

You know, you'll give yourself a heart attack or something. Don't do that. We need you and we need your art. Tip number three is spend time with funny people.

Again, we were bringing up, you know, spending time with funny people. Again, very subjective, but you're gonna, it's gonna rub off on you is basically what it is. So that I think that's why it's mentioned twice.

Next up on number four is read funny books or articles and you know, four through six or four, yeah, four through six is pretty much the same kind of thing. You know, read funny books and articles, watch funny TV movies or shows, listen to funny podcasts, surround yourself with humor.

Because here in 2025, you know, it starting to feel a lot like 2020 when we had the pandemic. You know, a lot of doom and gloom, but if you can walk through that with a smile on your face.

And again, you, you know, when I was in the Air Force, we used dark humor to deal with stressful situations. Surround yourself with that kind of stuff and it'll help you put things into a better perspective.

And then tip number seven, the last tip is learn to laugh at the absurd.

Right now, here in 2025, a lot of really absurd things are going on and there's a lot of mistakes being made by our government here in the United States. You got to laugh at it. You know, you got to go, yeah, how worse can it be, I don't know, it can go to this level, you know, go with the absurd on it.

And maybe that inspires you to write something, to dance, to make music, whatever it is. But look at something that's going on that's absurd and use that as your creative device. Lord knows I have changed how I get my inspiration.

It used to be, you know, a couple of rum and Cokes and maybe a big J.

Now it's I just turn on the TV or go for a drive or I, you know, go upstairs and look at what my kids are doing and what my cats are doing and go, now that's. That's funny. That's just, you know, nuts.

Or I go into work and, you know, crazy directives are being thrown at us, and I'm just like, okay, cool beans. You know, some people have used to deal with all the craziness that goes on.

Radical, you know, following of the rules and when the rules are written sloppily well, hey, hey, you told me to do it just like this. That's the way I did it. And there you go. And it can be funny and it can be great for your mental health.

Okay, well, that's all I got for this episode here for you today. I hope you found it a little bit funny. Hopefully you didn't hate my bad dad jokes and my breaking out in the song too much.

If you did well, you can reach out to me. Timothy create art podcast.com.

i definitely want to hear about what you're doing in your neck of the woods and your journey and what you're working on and, you know, hey, if you want to be on the show, if you'd like to be a guest on the show like other people have done, and you know, you want to discuss a topic, email me, let me know what you're going, what you want to do, and we can start that conversation. Want to let you know, too that I do have a newsletter for Korean art. Podcast newsletter.

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So check me out over there and let me know what I can help you out with. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Korean Art Podcast. It's important to have humor in your life to look for the funny things.

So I'm going to leave you to get on with the rest of your day. I'm going to get on with the rest of mine to go out there and team that inner a critic. Create more than you consume.

Go do something silly today and make some art for somebody you love yourself. I'll talk to you next time.