“I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous – everyone hasn’t met me yet.”
One of the funniest stand-up comedians of all-time has to be Rodney Dangerfield. He had a very characteristic style and he is perhaps best known for delivering a number of self-deprecating one-liners. We laugh at his expense and he couldn’t be happier for it.
Indeed, one of the greatest lessons we can learn from Dangerfield is that we all need to have a sense of humor about ourselves. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you really shouldn’t be laughing at anyone else. The quote above provides with another great lesson: we have a habit of making mountains out of molehills. We extrapolate absolute catastrophe from even the smallest of issues.
You might think that everything you do is wrong or that you are mediocre at doing anything, but that could simply mean that you haven’t found your calling yet. Perhaps you need to work harder or you need to seek out a different endeavor. It’s a matter of perspective. Everybody doesn’t hate you, because you couldn’t have possibly met everybody yet. It’s true.
Rodney Dangerfield (born Jacob Cohen) came from the same generation of comics as George Carlin and he paved the way for guys like Jerry Seinfeld and Stephen Colbert. Laughter is the best medicine and that nice dash of self-deprecation can be awfully funny.
“A girl phoned me the other day and said, “Come on over, nobody’s home.” I went over. Nobody was home.”
Yes, his brand of humor could be a little brash and you almost feel bad for laughing, but you do. And then you can’t stop laughing.
“With my old man I got no respect. I asked him, “How can I get my kite in the air?” He told me to run off a cliff.”
Life is far too short to take everything so seriously. Lighten up and smile more often. Mr. Dangerfield, you most certainly have my respect.
He was always funny. I saw Carlin, Dangerfield, Gallagher and Richard Pryor all in concert at one point or another during my teens and 20’s. Of those Carlin the one that always had me on the floor in nonstop laughter about everyday things. Dangerfield was great for making you think about yourself, Pryor was great at making you think Holy Sh&t. Gallagher was just stupid, but stupid funny.
They all had pretty different comedic styles and distinct personalities. 🙂
Laughter is the best medicine, I requested that from my family doctor and he wasn’t very happy. Im still ill today.
Yes life is too short and we should not take things seriously. I always love stand up comedians and Rodney Dangerfield is my favourite.