November 23, 2017
Volume 46 - No. 46
by Friedrich Gomez
Johnny Carson once said, “Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often.”
Like Carson, comedian and television host, Stephen Colbert, isn’t afraid to tell the truth about anything, earning him the title as “America’s most fearless purveyor of ‘truthiness.” Like Johnny Carson, Stephen Colbert has his own views on the Thanksgiving tradition: “Thanksgiving is a magical time of year when families across the country join together to raise America’s obesity statistics. Personally, I love Thanksgiving traditions: watching football, making pumpkin pie, and saying the magic phrase that sends your aunt storming out of the dining room to sit in her car.” Famous American comedian, Lewis Black, insists that humor and laughter can carry us through these trying times when families are brought together to eat turkey once a year. Black promises that laughter is the best medicine: “To not only survive this month of consumption, but to embrace it without losing your mind!”
Thanksgiving can be extremely stressful, just ask clinical psychologist, Dr. Kenneth Waldman, who says: “Anxiety during the Thanksgiving season usually occurs because people are confronted with seeing family members again; often times these bring back negative memories from childhood. Most of my new clients come right after the Thanksgiving holidays.” It doesn’t help that the Thanksgiving season is among the top 5 busiest times for alcoholic consumption.
After a few drinks, people around the Thanksgiving Day table sometimes feel uninhibited to the point of venting pent-up feelings and emotions that have accumulated down through the years. Comedian, Owen Benjamin, makes light of the situation in his standup routine which releases tension and allows us to laugh through those difficult times. As Benjamin The The Paper Paper -- 760.747.7119 760.747.7119
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jokes, “None of our families resemble a Norman Rockwell painting. None of us have completely ‘functional’ families. You eat, drink, then you let out all the stress from throughout the years. Then, before you know it, the gun comes out and you’re running for your life!”
Let’s face it. We Americans are a tough lot, tough enough to take it on the chin by ridiculing ourselves, our customs, and our holiday pratfalls, such as this gem: “When we asked our 6year-old daughter to say grace at last year’s Thanksgiving dinner
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table she said, ‘Oh, I can’t. I dunno what to say.’ That’s when our neighbor said, ‘Oh, honey. Just repeat what you’ve heard your mommy say.’ That’s when our precious daughter did just that. For grace, she bowed her little head in prayer and simply repeated her mommy’s words earlier in the day: ‘What the hell was I thinking when I invited all these damned people for Thanksgiving?!’” Surviving Thanksgiving and the ensuing holiday season can be a most daunting challenge. Make no mistake, a lot of people crack
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under the strain. So humor often relieves family tension, anxiety, and the self-induced guilt of over-eating. As one comedian phrased it, “The Thanksgiving meal isn’t over when I’m full. The meal is over when I hate myself!” Television’s Jay Leno puts it in a similar but slightly different perspective: “You can tell you ate too much for Thanksgiving when you have to let your bathrobe out.” It comes as a big surprise to many Americans (including