The Value of Laughter, Especially in Older Age
By ROBERTA HERSHENSON
Published: Sunday, June 5, 1994

New York Timea

THE aging process may be nothing to laugh at, but growing older can provide rich opportunities for laughter. This was the premise of a humor workshop held here recently that resembled nothing so much as a group therapy session. It was led by Izzy Gesell, a writer and humorist from Northampton, Mass., who takes his calling so seriously that he has formed a company called Wide Angle Humor to spread the word.

THE aging process may be nothing to laugh at, but growing older can provide rich opportunities for laughter.

This was the premise of a humor workshop held here recently that resembled nothing so much as a group therapy session. It was led by Izzy Gesell, a writer and humorist from Northampton, Mass., who takes his calling so seriously that he has formed a company called Wide Angle Humor to spread the word.

In his opening remarks at the free afternoon program, sponsored by the Town of Greenburgh Arts and Culture Committee and the Steinberg Senior Center, Mr. Gesell spoke of the perspective and balance a sense of humor can provide. He encouraged the 70 people in their 50's through 80's gathered in a room at Anthony Veteran Park here to notice what strikes them as funny in their daily lives and to use that self-knowledge to lighten their spirits.

To be successful at finding the humor around them, he told the group, they would need to take an honest look at themselves. "People see a stylized image of themselves when they look in the mirror," he said. "We don't want to see ourselves as less than perfect. But self-esteem is closely related to a sense of humor, and we need to be able to laugh at our imperfections."

Mr. Gesell, a balding, sad-eyed 46-year-old with a mustache, made it plain that the world frustrates and maddens him: there is aggravation at the supermarket, where the checkout clerk can't tell lettuce from rutabaga, and more on the highway, where other drivers are either idiots or maniacs. "The idiots drive more slowly than you do and the maniacs drive too fast, so there's always someone to be mad at," Mr. Gesell said.

But people needn't be victims of gut-wrenching stress, said Mr. Gesell, who holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in education. They can lift their own moods the way he lifts his, he said -- by doing something silly, like donning a pair of Groucho Marx eyeglasses with nose attached, or by summoning a particularly happy or funny memory. Everyone has these, he said, and the elderly have had time to gather more of them.

He asked his listeners to close their eyes and smile, and then he reminded them of psychologists' recent findings: when the facial muscles employed in smiling are exercised, pleasant feelings follow. Or, as Mr. Gesell put it, "Your body says: 'She's smiling -- she must be happy. I'm going to release the happy stuff.' "

To help the audience become more self-aware, he divided the group into pairs and asked people to tell each other the things that caused them stress. Some answers were dishonesty, taxes, family members, health problems, selfish people, driving, noise and shopping. Then he asked them to name the things that made them happy.

Suddenly the room buzzed loudly as people discussed their pleasures: food, sex, grandchildren, music, liquor, financial security.

"I have news for you," Mr. Gesell said. "There was a much higher level of intensity when you talked about your joys than about your stresses. Even thinking about your pleasures brings you pleasure."

Humor is a risky business

Mr. Gesell has conducted similar workshops with members of the United States House of Representatives and at many corporate headquarters. He stresses that each life is an accumulation of buried jewels that can be uncovered to bring renewed joy. "To the emotion, the memory is as real as the actual event," he told the audience here.

On a more practical level, he urged people to remove their souvenirs and old photographs from storage boxes or albums and keep them in view. "Use photos of people, places or events that make you happy and spend your time connecting with them in your memory," Mr. Gesell said. "When you are feeling down, go through your stuff and find things that have happy memories for you."

"Can't memories make you melancholy?" a man asked.

"That's a danger," Mr. Gesell answered. "Humor is a risky business and always operates in ambiguity." But, he pointed out, sadness passes, and besides, "It's good to grieve." It's All in the Delivery

He had promised to teach the group how to tell a joke, and now it was time. Jokes also operate in ambiguity, Mr. Gesell said. "They are always about the kinds of problems people face and the solutions to the problems, seen from a different point of view."

Many people have trouble remembering jokes because "we don't know if we will like a joke until it's over," Mr. Gesell said. But, he added, a joke need not be told verbatim so long as its three main elements are mastered: the setup, the problem or conflict and the solution or punch line.

The details can always be varied to the teller's own taste, Mr. Gesell said, urging listeners to learn a joke, practice it in front of a mirror and try it out on someone.

"In Florida, a lot of widows are looking for a man who can drive at night," a man called out, and the audience, made up about equally of men and women, laughed.

"What makes us happy changes throughout our lives," Mr. Gesell said, without missing a beat. "For instance, I chose my second wife because she has brains, beauty and a job with a health plan."

Roberta Hershnson, author of "The Value of Laughter, Especially in Older Age" for The New York Times, 1994"