I don’t know about you, but lately, I’ve been in a dark place mentally.
It’s easy to see why. Take the pressures of trying to work from home with all of your family in the house while isolating due to exposure to COVID-19, add in the miserable cold weather and a February rainstorm that killed the sump pump in my basement, and you have a recipe for a rough patch.
Thankfully, I’ve got some great co-workers who were there to listen, helping me get through the rough patch.
On a national scale, the protests in Ottawa added another layer of stress. As I eluded to last week in this space, the “Freedom Convoy” has brought a divide to our nation; everyone has a stance and opinion on the subject. And in the social media age, it is hard to escape those opinions unless you take some drastic steps.
And when it seemed like things were settling down, Russia invaded Ukraine.
With that said, it’s been dark days in the head of Mike Wilson.
On Saturday night, fresh off a drive home from Kincardine, where my son’s hockey team was robbed of a hard-fought win by poor officiating (in my opinion), I needed to unwind and not think about anything remotely close to reality.
My wife suggested we watch a show I told her about a few weeks prior – Laugh Out Loud Canada.
For those unfamiliar with the show, it airs on Prime Video, and the concept seems rather silly.
Canadian comedy legends such as Colin Mochrie, Tom Green, Caroline Rhea and Dave Foley are a part of the cast, along with K. Trevor Wilson (Squirrely Dan from Letterkenny), Andrew Phung (Kimchee from Kim’s Convenience) and others.
Ten Canadian comedians are locked in a room for six hours, with the only rule being that you cannot laugh.
However, the comedians are encouraged to do anything – and I do mean anything – to make their colleagues laugh out loud.
That’s right, the show’s producers locked 10 people who live to make people laugh into a room and are discouraged to laugh at anything they hear or see.
Why would a comedian subject themselves to such torture? To win $100,000 for their charity of choice, of course.
And it’s absurd!
Watching these very funny people do their bits and skits but not getting a reaction from those in the room is hilarious. Seeing their faces as they try to hold in laughter and prevent their smiles from showing is just as funny as the jokes and skits they are not trying to react to.
I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time – a very long time. And I loved every moment of it.
On Sunday evening, following our viewing of the last available episode (the remaining episodes will be released on Friday), I wiped the tears away from my eyes and said, “I needed that.”
“Sometimes you just have to laugh,” my wife replied.
Truer words have never been spoken.
Remember, while the world may be dark around you, step away from social media and the news cycle, and take a moment (or three) to get lost in laughter. You’ll be glad you did.
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Mike Wilson is the editor of Midwestern Newspapers. Comments and feedback are welcome at mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
