Who's the Humor Whore Now?

You guys remember my recent post on humor?  I called Rob a humor whore, a guy who craves the laughs. I declared that to be a burden and was glad I was different.  I don't need people to laugh at my jokes - I can be funny to myself, and that's good enough for me.

That was until someone actually thought I was funny.

Her name is Evan and she's awesome.  She's funny herself.  She's extremely nice and social and inclusive.  She'll make you feel comfortable and welcome, even if you've just met her.  She's a gem of a human being.

And I see her often.  She's in one of my classes this term.  She attends the same deaf events I attend.  She's good at sign language, and she's comfortable shutting off her voice.  So if she's there and I'm there, likely we're together and we're signing, and it's awesome.

Lately she's decided that I'm funny.  The first few times caught me off guard.  She started laughing at things I would say.  She'd say, "Tamra, you crack me up," and I'd think to myself, "I don't believe I said anything funny."  It was just my standard Tamra-style stuff.  A little sarcasm, a little honesty.  No jokes here.

I'm not just being modest.  I seriously was searching my brain to discover where the humor was in what I'd said.  In this conversation, for instance:

Evan:  "I'm looking forward to your presentation tomorrow."
Tamra:  "Oh, yeah.  Don't be.  It won't be that great."
Evan:  [laughing]  "Tamra, you're hilarious.  'Don't be.  It won't be that great.'  Ah, that's funny."

And I'm thinking, "That so wasn't a joke."  I was trying to decide if I should insist that it wasn't a joke, if I should be insulted that she was laughing at what wasn't intended to really be funny.  But I decided that it did have an element of humor.  The sarcasm bit - the blow-it-off with self-deprecating humor part.

The conversation that put it all over the edge, though, went like this.  There's a group of about 10 of us, some deaf, some hearing.  Most of us signing.  It's 11:30 p.m.  Evan has had 2 beers.

A newbie in the group tells everyone that he's 31 years old.  I say (in English and sign language at the same time) that I'll be 31 soon.  Steve, a deaf man sitting next to me, says in sign language, "Oh!  He's the same age as you."  I nod.  "You're 31.  I'm so proud of you."

At this point I am genuinely stuck.  How do you respond to that?  He's proud of me for ... for what exactly? So I go ahead and say that, again in English and sign language:  "For ... living?"

Evan DIES laughing.  It stops the conversation.  Everyone is staring at Evan, who is laughing so hard that she's crying, as she repeats what I've just said about 5 times.  Again I'm looking at Evan thinking, "It really wasn't that funny."

That was a Friday.  The next time I see her is Wednesday night's class, and she tells everyone that on Friday I'd said something that was hilarious.  She can't remember what it was, but it was awesome.  I tell her that it's just as well because it wasn't that funny.  She insists it was, and I'm convinced at this point that she was just a touch tipsy the first time, so I repeat the whole conversation.  And wouldn't you know it, AGAIN she dies laughing!  She talks about it for the next 5 minutes, repeating the "joke" again and again, and says that I should be a stand-up comedian.

I went home and told Rob proudly, "EVAN thinks I'm funny.  I'm not even trying, and she says I'm funny."

And a Humor Whore is born.