Working as a sports mascot and being the class clown for most of my school years really has had given me the opportunity to work with a lot of very hilarious people. I’ve actually got a low tolerance for humor. If it looks or sounds funny, I will probably be laughing. Being a cartoonist as well, I see funny things in not so funny situations. Often, working in comedy is very dramatic.   There are so many kinds of humor, and different levels of severity.

 

I have worked with professional stand up comedians, and I have hung out with some of the funniest bar drinking buddies around. I’ve had the honor and pleasure of drawing and sketching along side of some very whimsical caricature artists too. I have 3 buddies who have a joke for every topic you can name.   I’ve seen some of the best physical comedy being performed by some of the most talented and athletic mascots in the professional sports circuit. These guys are so good that I believe they have a degree from Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk University.

 

A lot of people think I am funny. Funny, I think I am funny looking. I can’t tell a joke to save my life, but I love to tell humorous stories that have happened to me. I can do a few impressions and mimic lots of different voices and accents which really make a story a lot more entertaining, and keeps the listeners attention. I really get bummed with the groups of comedians and jokesters who don’t laugh at anyone else’s material, or say “that’s not funny”. These are generally the same folks who, when others are telling a joke, are thinking of the next one to tell and are not listening.

 

As for my cartooning life, I have seen some of the funniest knee-slapping animations and comic strips ever set in front of me. I have been involved in so many skits, that were comedies, but the ‘behind the scenes’ outtakes had everyone on the floor rolling in hysterics. I’ve sat in on a read through or two as well as parody songs in a recording studio, which had be laughing so hard, I was crying.

 

I’ve been blessed to work with guys who are kings of comedy in the after party skits department, and the adlibbing role playing thing too. I have read autobiographies of certain famous comedians or listened to them tell their story on CD, and I had to pause it several thousand times due to the fact that my car was spinning out of control down the highway. I have my favorite comedy classics, that I have seen 100+ times, but need to stick in the DVD player, when I'm feeling blue.  Just to name a few of my top comedies that I need for my funny bone; Young Frankenstein, Johnny Dangerously and Tommy Boy.

 

But, to this very day, only one person has been able to make me laugh so hard, that I get a case of the chronic hic cups. He is so funny, to me, that doctors have diagnosed it as hiccup haven. I laugh so uncontrollably, that these spells sometimes can last up to one hour. Yes, milk also has been known to shoot out of my nostrils when this friend of mine is performing his rib-breaking antics.

 

 Most people are surprised to hear about this person being so funny, but he is like Michigan J. Frog from the classic looney tunes cartoon, The Singing Frog. I may be his best audience, and most of the time his only audience, but Erin Douglas Cooley is the funniest $#&*@ I know.