(We’re Living in) Funny Times

Speakers are always looking for good sources of humorous material. For ministers, finding the “right” humor can be tricky. They want to avoid material considered in bad taste, obviously. Some also want to avoid material that is so sweet and cute that it gives congregants a sugar rush.

There are a lot of humor websites on the Internet (154 million to be exact, 2 1/2 million for religious humor). You might poke around and see what you can find. One of my favorites is www.swapmeetdave.com. If you have a favorite, please write and tell me and I’ll publish the sites.

For me, one of the best sources of humor that’s both current and makes me laugh, as well as avoiding both the raunchy and the doe-eyed puppy dogs, is a little newspaper called Funny Times.

The paper is a mix of cartoons and articles. Cartoons can work in a sermon if you describe the drawing then read the caption. Some cartoons work better than others being described. Try them out on a friend if you’re in doubt.

With the articles in Funny Times, you can either quote specific lines or the article might make you think of something related. (For example, the August 2010 issue has an article on social networking during medieval times, both funny and current.)

Here’s something else of value: cartoons and articles are organized by categories. In the August issue, there are sections devoted to dogs, baseball, coffee, fear, Zen, and history (note the last three topics could be of special interest to a minister). If you list the topics on the cover page of each issue and save the back issues, you’ve got a great humor library. Oh, wait, that’s how to do it in the pre-computer age. I meant to talk about scanning material and computer files. Sorry, my age is showing.

A regular feature in the paper is a collection of quotes on a specific topic, under the heading Curmudgeon. The topic for the August issue is Men and Women. Here are a few of the quotations:

“Women deprived of the company of men pine; men deprived of the company of women become stupid.”  Anton Chekov

“I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.”  Gloria Steinem

“When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.” Elayne Boosler

“Men and women, women and men. It will never work” Erica Jong

Over time, you’ve got a good collection of quotations on a variety of topics, again, easily cataloged and accessed.

Funny Times. $25 a year, 12 issues. www.funnytimes.com, 1–888–386–6984, ext. 4058.

Check it out.