Laughter Therapy

I stopped by an unnamed mega book store the other night with my best friend, Chris. Usually I browse in the business section or in the spirituality department but I felt drawn to the humor racks, an area I haven’t frequented in some time. I really needed a laugh.

I have often called myself a nut (sometimes I still feel like a nut, sometimes I don’t) so I immediately felt drawn to a brown peanut colored book called Letters from a Nut by Ted L. Nancy.

Mr. Peanut

I gazed at the title and smiled innocently as I recalled a fond childhood memory of playing with my Mr. Peanut, peanut butter making machine. The reminiscing game made me feel all warm and pea-nutty inside. The Mr. Peanut machine was considered quite the high-tech game in the early 70’s. Laugh if you must but there was no Wii or Sims game back then.

I remember my mom giving us raw peanuts (the national snack after Jimmy Carter became President) and we’d shove them in the back of Mr. Peanut’s head. We’d crank some device in Mr. Peanut’s back and mashed chunks of peanuts would come out of some hole – I think it was Mr. Peanut’s mouth (which in retrospect probably looked like he was barfing). It’s been over 30 years so the details are fuzzy, God bless me.

The peanut butter didn’t taste like anything you’d find in a supermarket. It was organic and unsalted and sugarless before organic, unsalted and sugarless were cool. I remember the peanut butter would get stuck in the machine and it next to impossible to get it out without my mom performing high colonic irrigation. Now that I think about it, the toy kinda sucked. What kid likes organic unsalted sugar-free peanut butter?

Back to Letters from a Nut

It is unclear if Ted L. Nancy, the author of Letters from a Nut, is actually a real person or if it’s Jerry Seinfeld working under cover. Regardless of the source, reading these prank letters sent me spinning into a sea of infectious laughter. Laughter therapy rocks! Had I been quick enough to video tape the laughter fit and post it on YouTube I would be a fricking’ star right now! Move over Joe the Plummer, here comes Miss Christa!

One of my favorite letters…

Dear Underwear Executives:

I have been an avid Hanes underwear wearer for years, except for a brief period in ‘88 when I tried Jockey shorts.

I have examined my underpants for many years. Always I wondered why nothing dramatic has happened in men’s underpants wear for such a long time. That need not be anymore.

And then the giggle bug hit…HARD!

Hanes, I am pleased to announce that I have invented the “SIX DAY UNDERWEAR.” It has three leg hole openings. Every other day, you rotate and move over one leg hole opening. At the end of the three days they have become completely reversible and you begin again – thus your SIX DAY UNDERWEAR.

Laughter bug contagion

You know how something just strikes you as hysterical? Well, this letter, among many of the others, had me rolling off the couch and onto the floor.

I pictured a guy in tightie whities rotating his nasty skank-wad undies around. The giggle bug welled up inside me until I burst out laughing with such force that tears streamed down my face.  If an outsider had seen me laughing they would certainly have thought I was the newest Looney Tunes character. My 8-month-old-over-processed-Brillo-pad looking-Albert-Einstein-perm added to the look of lunacy on my face. I snort-laughed (this in and of itself is funny to watch). I cried & laughed simultaneously. I rocked back and forth with eyes bugging out of my skull and held my gut tight to keep my insides from popping out. I don’t remember peeing my pants, but I came damn close.

Chris, who was sitting next to me minding his own business reading a serious book, was overcome by laughter simply watching me laugh. The Giggle Bug strikes again. I tried to read the letter out loud but I couldn’t stop belly laughing long enough to focus on the words. 

I love the contagion of the human laughter bug. I pray they never find a cure.

If any of my local buddies want to borrow Tales from a Nut, just hollar at me. I’m all about sharing the giggles.

Got laughter? Giggle On!