Mary and the Motel from Hell

Mary and the Motel from Hell

Don’t be shy. You can check out my Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud.

‘Laugh Long and Prosper’ is shelf help with a smile, stressbusters with a smirk, and information with a wink wink. You get the point.

Yes, there is a lot of bad stuff going on in our world and lately it seems like even more than usual. But these are the times that I like to lean on a quote by the incredible sage, Mr. Rogers. He said, ‘’When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’’’

Over the next few blog entries, I would like to tell you about some of the helpers who work for City Street Outreach.

City Street Outreach  is a local outreach program that is a 100 percent volunteer-run, donation- based and all-inclusive registered charity providing food, clothing and assistance to those in need and/ or living in poverty across the greater Toronto area.

I’m proud to say that in a very small way, I am part of this organization. I’m hardly a saint. In fact, I volunteer for very selfish reasons. It has been good for me emotionally, physically and mentally.

In my last blog, I told you about Alex and Grace, the co-founders of City Street Outreach.  

In this entry, I would like to tell you about one of the first volunteers whom I met on the front lines. Her name is Mary. I want to tell you a tale about Mary and the Motel from Hell.

I met Mary on one of the first nights that I volunteered for City Street Outreach a few years ago.

Mary is physically one of the strongest women that I have ever known.

She could pick up 3 cases of water and 2 cases of pet food without blinking an eye.

Meanwhile I was crumbling under one can of cat food.

Mary is incredibly strong in another way. She never asks for help for herself. She always asks for help for others and no matter what you give Mary (big or small), she is always very appreciative.  You would never guess the kind of adversity that Mary faces every day because she always greets you with a smile, a laugh and/or a thank you. In spite of her circumstances, Mary is one of the most grateful and positive people that I have ever met.

I remember the first time I took City Street Outreach supplies to the place where Mary lived.

Mary and her family were living in a motel room off of Kingston Road in Scarborough. The place should have been condemned years ago. The owner clearly did not care about her tenants. It was only after a newspaper article shamed the owner and local politicians that the place was finally condemned. Thank goodness Mary and the other tenants were relocated to more humane residences.

Mary, her husband, daughter and mother all lived in one of the cramped motel rooms for years! It was an oven in the summer and an ice box in the winter. A hole the size of a basketball was in the bathroom floor and had never been fixed, despite numerous requests.

On top of this, the entire building was crawling with vermin.

Mary once said that a rat crawled out of another tenant’s toilet and ran out of the guy’s room.

The tenant, a big guy who didn’t scare easily, was understandably freaked out.

Sadly, these were everyday occurrences at that motel.

Vulnerable people like Mary and her family trying to eke out some semblance of a normal life while being surrounded by violence, sexual abuse and drug use that ran rampant throughout the building.

Despite this, Mary made the motel a home for her family. 

Her husband, Bobby was amazing with the animals in the complex- from domestic to not-so-domestic. From dogs and cats to abandoned baby raccoons and squirrels, he did his best to help with what little resources he had.

Bobby also tried to make their motel room a home. One Christmas, he strung a small string of Christmas lights outside their motel window, only to hear from the motel owner that it needed to be taken down immediately because it was a fire hazard. One little string of lights.

It’s a small miracle that the entire complex didn’t go up in flames over the years due to the owner’s incredible negligence.

Amidst the chaos, Mary was the beacon of hope for her own family and for many of the other families and individuals in that motel complex. 

She became the main contact person there for City Street Outreach. Whenever City Street Outreach delivered food or dry goods, Mary would make it her mission to fairly distribute whatever there was to whomever needed it.

Once a week, I would also swing by with goods from City Street Outreach.

Honestly, before volunteering for City Street Outreach, I passed by that motel so many times over the years.

I’m ashamed to say it, but I probably would have been afraid if my car broke down in front of it.

Now I was driving into the back of the pitch-black complex (because of course, why would outdoor light bulbs be replaced?) and there would be Mary smiling, patiently waiting for me.

I am so grateful to my friends and family with whom I shared stories about Mary and the Motel from Hell. They regularly loaded me up with food and donations to give to Mary and the other tenants. I hope those donations made life temporarily a little easier for the recipients.   

One Christmas Eve, my dear friend Val and her husband, Greg, took Christmas dinner over to Mary and her family. I have no doubt that whatever Mary received, she shared and tried to stretch it with those around her.

As I mentioned earlier, Mary and the other tenants were finally able to be relocated to better living residences after the motel owner was fined and the place was condemned.

I regularly see Mary on the City Street Outreach circuit. She continues to volunteer and take care of her own family as well as so many others. She is a local hero.

Sadly, she still puts me to shame when it comes to unloading furniture or a truckload of pet food but Mary works tirelessly to make things just a little easier for those who struggle day to day to make ends meet.

Finally, I should add that a lot of the volunteers like Mary at City Street Outreach are or have been recipients of the food and dry goods that the organization distributes. A lot of these people are only too happy to help others as soon as they gain some traction. 

As the saying goes, ‘They don’t need a hand out, they need a hand up.’

Mary is a super star.

She chooses to lead with love, compassion, gratitude and humor.

I think she would make Mr. Rogers proud.

If you would like to catch up on any of my other Laugh Long and Prosper episodes, voted one of the best podcasts of 2021 in Canada by CTV, check me out.

Until next time folks, Laugh Long and Prosper!

Judy-Croon-laugh-long-pro$per-sig-logo

Feel free to take a listen!

Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud

Wayne Gretsky – Hockey and Humour

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Barnie The Red Shadow

Barnie The Red Shadow

Don’t be shy. You can check out my Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud.

Recently, I lost my beloved dog, Barnie. He was nearly 15 years old. I can barely talk about it – much less write about it. I know that Barnie won the doggie lottery. He was spoiled. I only wish that every dog on this planet could have the life that Barnie had. He deserved it. Every dog does.
However, knowing this doesn’t make the grief any easier.

Barnie was my constant companion. So much so that I nicknamed him The Red Shadow.

When my dad suddenly passed last year around the same time, I looked into Barnie’s cataract covered eyes and begged him to give me an extra year. It’s as if he knew his mission and he heroically fulfilled it – and then some. To be clear, Barnie never suffered. Thanks to Dr Marcus and the wonderful staff at Greenwood Animal Hospital, he was given amazing treatment right until the very end when the difficult decision to let him go was made.

When a person passes, there is so much to do besides grieve. There is a funeral to plan, friends and family to contact, financial and legal matters to settle, a eulogy to write, flowers and catering to order, etc. You almost go through each task robotically but in a weird way, it slowly helps you get used to the idea that your loved one is gone.

However, when a pet passes, there is almost nothing to do. Fifteen years of pure joy and happiness and then poof– it’s over. There is nothing to do but sit in the grief. My good friend, comedian Martha Chaves said a profound thing to me a long time ago, “Judy, pets are pain on layaway.” Isn’t that the truth?

It is so painful BUT I will gladly sign up for it all over again. Not now but one day.

I said to another comedic friend that it was like losing a family member. She said that she felt bad when her father passed because occasionally, she was mean to him. But then she quickly added, “But wait a second, he was mean to me.”

That’s the thing about dogs. They’re not mean (unless a human has let them down and betrayed their trust). There is no hidden agenda. They love unconditionally. They are four-legged angels.

Barnie was my angel.

For a three-month period in 2019 before my mom passed, Barnie came with me every time I visited her in palliative care. On countless occasions, I was told that he was a sight for sore eyes- not only for other patients and visitors but also for the staff. On the rare occasion that he wasn’t with me, no one tried to hide their disappointment. Clearly, I was second fiddle and that was okay.

When my mom passed, for the next three years, Barnie came with me when I visited my dad for lunch every week. I always pretended I didn’t see the pipeline of french fries that my dad was feeding Barnie underneath the kitchen table. I knew it gave them both so much joy to think that they were getting away with something.

Barnie was always with me. Whenever, I did pick-ups and deliveries for a local outreach program called City Street Outreach, Barnie rode in the back seat. He enthusiastically licked every kid and adult who stuck their hand in the back window wanting to greet him. 

As I said, Barnie was an angel but that didn’t mean that he was perfect. He never learned to walk without pulling, he once ate a friend’s home-made chip dip thus earning him the nickname Barnie Dip, he begged for food, he had bad breath and perhaps his worse crime of all, he loved to lick people whenever he met them. Some people were indifferent to this odd habit, some people hated it but some people thought it was a lucky sign. Whoever he licked usually won at a friendly game of poker that night.

Barnie was smart in his own way but he didn’t really do tricks. In fact, he only had one party trick-ringing a bell tied to the back door when he wanted to be let out into the yard. I read about the trick in Puppies for Dummies and thought it would never work. Barnie learned it in one day!

 From that day on, he rang the bell whenever he needed to be let out. Ding ding ding. I could hear it from anywhere in the house. Ding, ding,ding. One particular night, from upstairs, I could hear the bell frantically ringing. Ding ding ding. Ding ding ding. “Okay, okay, I’m coming.”, I said as I ran downstairs. There was Barnie standing on the back mat frantically ringing the bell.  Beside him was Murphy – my sister’s dog who I was babysitting. Murphy was trying to throw up on the back mat. Barnie was ringing the bell to let me know that we had to let Murphy out! 

Barnie was my best friend (no offense to any humans) but he was also my political ally. Even as a young pup, he had democratic leanings. In 2008, when CNN forecasted that Barrack Obama was going to be the next president of the US, we both jumped up and down in the living room.

Barnie taught me so many lessons in life, including patience. Throughout the years, he wore sunglasses, raincoats, Halloween costumes and Santa hats without a single complaint.

He was such a good boy.

I will miss him dearly.

I still don’t have the heart to put his raincoats, bowls or bed or toys away yet. It seems too final. It’s like I can’t get used to the idea of him not being in the house. In fact, just the other night, I thought I heard Ding, ding, ding coming from downstairs. Maybe, just maybe The Red Shadow is still with me somehow.

RIP my four-legged angel. Until we meet again. 

 (PS Thank you Reggie Robb for this beautiful painting of Barnie) 

Until next time folks, Laugh Long and Prosper!

Judy-Croon-laugh-long-pro$per-sig-logo

Feel free to take a listen!

If you would like to catch up on any of my other Laugh Long and Prosper episodes, voted one of the best podcasts of 2021 in Canada by CTV, check me out.

Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud

Wayne Gretsky – Hockey and Humour

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Today’s blog is sponsored by: TROOL Social knows that to be visible online you have to be fully committed, congruent in who you are and what you do.
YOU MUST ADOPT THE RIGHT MINDSET- Steer your ship to the SS Optimization & TROOL Social To get you Sailing On Course
Check out www.TroolSocial.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

How I got started in stand-up comedy

How I got started in stand-up comedy

Don’t be shy. You can check out my Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud.

‘Laugh Long and Prosper’ is shelf help with a smile, stressbusters with a smirk, and information with a wink wink. You get the point.

Don’t be shy. You can check out my Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud.

‘Laugh Long and Prosper’ is shelf help with a smile, stressbusters with a smirk, and information with a wink wink. You get the point.

How I got started in stand-up comedy

It seems like millions of years ago.  I’m pretty sure that I was doing open mics during the Precambrian era.

By the way, I never had any intention of becoming a comedian.
For my whole life, I wanted to be a veterinarian.
Unfortunately, during my second year of university, 70 percent of my fruit flies and 50 percent of my final mark flew out of the biology class window.

I was devastated. I went home and cried my eyes out.
As I was weeping hysterically, comedian Joan Rivers was on late night tv doing stand-up.
That’s when the lightbulb went off.
I know what I’m going to do! I’m going to become a stand-up comedian!

To my parents’ horror, I quit university the next day.
I signed up for an improv class at The Loose Moose Theatre created by the legendary Keith Johnstone.
Unfortunately, I never got a chance to work with Keith but I was trained by some of his best students. Unfortunately, to a science nerd like myself, improv seemed so difficult.
Nerds like me like to work alone.
Fortunately, that worked out perfectly for stand up.
Luckily, nerds love formulas. Stand up has a formula! Eureka! Improv has formulas as well but I didn’t learn those until much later in life.
I loved the idea of working alone and carefully crafting the words for my monologue- which unfortunately, on some nights, probably seemed more like a Shakespearean soliloquy. However, I did not give up. 

The comedy bug bit me. Those few laughs that I got in the beginning fueled my craving for more laughs. I drove from Calgary to Boise, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and every small town in between. The incidents that happened during those road trips are too much to mention in one blog so I will share two quick stories.

Once such tale involved a one-nighter outside of Boise, Idaho.  There were probably about 10 people in the audience. After the show, the two other comics and myself piled into the cars of the 10 audience members and drove waaaaaay up into the woods. Through the pitch-black forests, we drove on dirt roads for what seemed like an eternity. We finally arrived at a desolate cabin.
This could have turned into a scene from Get Out.
Instead, the host walked around and lit candles. He cracked open a window. We could hear a raging creek just outside.
Underneath the window was a beautiful baby grand piano.
The host sat down at the baby grand and proceeded to play Chaka’s Khan’s Through the Fire. This very white man with a beard, baseball cap and lumber jacket played this beautiful soulful song. A reminder to never judge a book by its plaid cover.

During another road trip- this time in Seattle, a female comic from San Francisco said that I could use her apartment while she was traveling across the country.  I had never met her before. I thought it was a very generous offer. I arrived at the apartment in the middle of the night. It was a pretty sketchy part of town but I was just grateful for the accommodation.
When I opened the front door and turned on a light in the kitchen, 8000 cockroaches came out to greet me.
To top it off, there was a note on the kitchen table from my host that said, ‘Hi Judy, welcome. By the way, a repairman is going to swing by tomorrow to replace the wall-to-wall carpeting. Do you mind helping him lift up the carpeting?’

Uhhhh, that would be a HARD NO.
I should have known that the offer was too good to be true. I checked out of the roach motel and checked into Motel 6.

After working in the states for a few months, I returned to Calgary, loaded up my car again and moved to Toronto. Using Toronto as my base, I became one of five female comedians doing stand-up comedy across the country full time.

Comedy led to a radio gig which led to motivational speaking and coaching gigs.

As I’ve said on a number of occasions, I even got a chance to work with Joan Rivers at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. It’s as if my life came around full circle.
This nerdy veterinarian wannabe could have never predicted how things were going to turn out. My only advice to kids or adults nowadays based on my experiences is to always keep trying new things.
If you are truly unhappy with what you are doing in life, pick a hobby.
At the very least, you will forge some new skills and perhaps, even make some lifelong friends with people who share your passion.
At the very most and if you have the courage- you might just find what you were truly meant to be doing.
As Tina Fey says in her wonderful book entitled; Bossy Pants, ‘Start with a YES and see where that takes you.’

Until next time folks, Laugh Long and Prosper!

Judy-Croon-laugh-long-pro$per-sig-logo

Feel free to take a listen!

If you would like to catch up on any of my other Laugh Long and Prosper episodes, voted one of the best podcasts of 2021 in Canada by CTV, check me out.

Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud

Wayne Gretsky – Hockey and Humour

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Today’s blog is sponsored by: TROOL Social knows that to be visible online you have to be fully committed, congruent in who you are and what you do.
YOU MUST ADOPT THE RIGHT MINDSET- Steer your ship to the SS Optimization & TROOL Social To get you Sailing On Course
Check out www.TroolSocial.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Comedy Keynotes and Joan Rivers Changed My Life

How Comedy Keynotes and Joan Rivers Changed My Life

‘Laugh Long and Prosper’ is shelf help with a smile, stressbusters with a smirk, and information with a wink wink. You get the point. Don’t be shy. You can check out my Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud.  ‘Laugh Long and Prosper’ is shelf help with a smile, stressbusters with a smirk, and information with a wink wink. You get the point.

How Comedy, Keynotes and Joan Rivers Changed My Life

I was honored when fellow comedian and writer Brandy Ford recently asked me to write an article for her brand-new magazine.

I asked her what the magazine would be about?
She said she wanted to have a focus on strong female role models, inspirations and motivational queens.
I don’t know if I fit the bill for any of those things but I can tell you a story about one of the greatest interviews and evenings of my life and how I got there.
If this inspires someone to live their dreams to the max, then that is truly a bonus.
At the very least, I hope this is a good story.

One of the greatest gifts that my parents gave my two sisters and I was a sense of humour.
They were both funny people.
However, as funny as they were, they were also very strict.
By the time my sisters and I reached ten years old, they started interrogating us about what we were going to do with the rest of our lives. Oh yeah, they were super old school.

My two sisters said that they wanted to be teachers.
I said I wanted to be a veterinarian.
Unfortunately, during my second year of university, 70 percent of my fruit flies and 60 percent of my final mark flew out of the biology class window.
I was devastated.
I went home that night, threw myself on the living room carpet and bawled my eyes out.
In the background, the tv was on. A comedian named Joan Rivers was doing stand-up comedy.
That’s when a lightbulb went off for me. Stand-up comedy- what a great idea!
Even though I didn’t have any prior experience (minor detail), I loaded up my car and drove down from Calgary to the states for three months.

I got on open mic comedy nights in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and every city along the west coast in between.
When I came back to Calgary, I packed up my car once again and moved to Toronto.
I started doing stand- up comedy at Yuk Yuks. I was one of five female comics in the country at the time doing stand- up full time.

After about seven years of full-time comedy, I decided that I should probably have another side hustle – just in case.
I enrolled in a radio course at Humber College in Toronto.
What I lacked in radio experience, I made up for in comedic experience.
This experience led to co-hosting radio gigs in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Los Angeles.
I never stopped doing stand- up comedy in the meantime. I always did both. Radio by morning and stand-up comedy by night.

It was when I was working in Toronto in 2011 when I was approached by Howard Szigeti of Unique Lives who asked me if I would like to host an evening with Joan Rivers at Roy Thomson Hall?
Would I???

As I chatted with Joan on stage, the whole time I couldn’t stop thinking about that fateful night so many years ago when I was crying in front of the tv set. On the same night that my dream of becoming a veterinarian ended, Joan Rivers inspired a new dream for me and I never looked back.

Stand-up comedy led to morning radio which led to corporate motivational speaking, A Tedx talk and teaching stand-up comedy at Second City. I even got to ‘how to’ book about stand-up comedy based on my experiences with my wonderful Second City students.

I got to do everything that I wanted to do in life so I decided to give a little bit back and donate my time to various charities including a local group that helps Toronto’s homeless and most vulnerable called City Street Outreach. This is an amazing organization started by an earth angel by the name of Alex Smirnus and his wonderful wife, Grace.

So, in closing, here is the advice that I would like to offer to any tear-filled teenager who feels like their dream is over– don’t treat your obstacle as a stop sign…treat it as a merge. Maybe you’re supposed to do something slightly or completely different and that’s okay!

Who knows? Maybe one day, you’ll get to meet your Joan Rivers.

I sure wish Ms. Rivers was around today to make us laugh at a time when the world seems to need her humour the most. 

By the way, for any aspiring comedians and/or Joan Rivers fans, here are seven things that I learned from Joan during our interview together May 18th 2011 at Roy Thomson Hall.

Until next time folks, Laugh Long and Prosper!

Judy-Croon-laugh-long-pro$per-sig-logo

Feel free to take a listen!

If you would like to catch up on any of my other Laugh Long and Prosper episodes, voted one of the best podcasts of 2021 in Canada by CTV, check me out.

Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud

Wayne Gretsky – Hockey and Humour

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Today’s blog is sponsored by: TROOL Social knows that to be visible online you have to be fully committed, congruent in who you are and what you do.
YOU MUST ADOPT THE RIGHT MINDSET- Steer your ship to the SS Optimization & TROOL Social To get you Sailing On Course
Check out www.TroolSocial.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t Walk On By The Queen of Twitter

Don’t Walk On By The Queen of Twitter

Don’t be shy. You can check out my Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud.

‘Laugh Long and Prosper’ is shelf help with a smile, stressbusters with a smirk, and information with a wink wink. You get the point.

Don’t be shy. You can check out my Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud.

‘Laugh Long and Prosper’ is shelf help with a smile, stressbusters with a smirk, and information with a wink wink. You get the point.

Don’t Walk On By The Queen of Twitter 

You know who’s funny? Dionne Warwick. So much so that she has been nicknamed the Queen of Twitter because of her witty comments. 

Yes 82-year-old Dionne Warwick. The woman who signed her first recording contract in 1962 and sold over 100 million copies worldwide since then.
The artist who won a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2019.
THAT Dionne Warwick. 

Dionne Warwick has once again re-invented herself and captured a younger a generation with her funny comments on Twitter. 

Tweets like; 

I just heard about Leonardo DiCaprio’s 25-year rule. His loss. You don’t know what you’re missing

Who is Olivia Rodrigo yelling at on Good4U? I would like to know who we are angry with. 

and I will be dating Pete Davidson next. 

She obviously loves to tweet about celebrities.

When she tweeted to Chance the Rapper Hi @ChancetheRapper. If you are very obviously a rapper, why did you put in your stage name? I cannot stop thinking about this?

And then Chance the Rapper tweeted back;
Sorry, I’m still freaking out that you know who I am.

Then Dionne tweeted back to Chance;
Of course, I know you. You are THE rapper. Let’s rap together. I’ll message you. 

And then she tweeted;
I am now Dionne the Singer. 

No one is safe from Ms. Warwick. Not even The Weeknd.
She once tweeted; 

The Weekend is next. Why? It’s not even spelled correctly.

To which The Weeknd responded;
I just got roasted by Dionne Warwick and I feel honored.  You made my day! 

Now people have accused Dionne of not doing her own tweets. She told her fans that her niece showed her how Twitter worked in 2012. She said that ever since then, she said she’s has been at the helm of her own tweets. Who’s cares anyway? It’s Twitter.

On a sadder note, Ms. Warwick recently tweeted about the loss of good friend and composer extraordinaire Burt Bacharach. 

Bacharach wrote those powerhouse songs like Say a Little Prayer, Walk on By and Do You Know the Way to San Jose that catapulted Warwick’s early career.  

Ms. Warwick tweeted;
Burt’s transition is like losing a family member. These words I’ve been asked to write are being written with sadness over the loss of my Dear Friend and my Musical Partner. On the lighter side we laughed a lot and had our run ins, but always found a way to let each other know our family, like roots, were the most important part of our relationship. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family, letting them know he is now peacefully resting and I too will miss him.

On a personal note, I got an opportunity to work with Ms. Warwick twice in my career.

Many moons ago, I was her opening act in our nicknamed -40 Below Tour during the depths of winter across Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg.

Then many years later, I got on opportunity to work with her again at Roy Thompson Hall. She loves to laugh. You can see us in the picture above yukking it up.
OBVIOUSLY, I said something hilarious.

But my favorite story about Miss Warwick is when Snoop Dogg says he got called out by her in the 90’s for his misogynistic lyrics. 

You check out the story in the CNN film entitled; Dionne Warwick, don’t make me over.

Snoop says Ms. Warwick held an intervention for him and his peers- including Tupac.
She told the group to meet at her house one morning at 7 am.
Snoop says he was so afraid, he turned up in the driveway at 652.

Snoop said, “We were kind of like scared and shook up. We’re powerful right now, but she’s been powerful forever.”

Dionne told the group that if she didn’t care about them, she wouldn’t have invited them to her house. Then she shamed them about their misogynistic lyrics. 

She said, “You guys are all going to grow up. You’re going to have families. You’re going to have children. You’re going to have little girls and one day, that little girl is going to look at you and say, ‘Daddy did you really say that?’  And what are you going to say?”

From that point, Snoop said it changed the trajectory of his writing. He said he chose to write records of joy. “Uplifting everybody and nobody dying and everybody living.”

You may not agree with some of Dionne Warwick’s tweets, you may not agree with some of her politics but when an artist chooses to re-invent themselves and they use comedy to do it…well, I for one, can’t just ‘walk on by’ without taking a look or a listen.

Until next time folks, Laugh Long and Prosper!

Judy-Croon-laugh-long-pro$per-sig-logo

Feel free to take a listen!

If you would like to catch up on any of my other Laugh Long and Prosper episodes, voted one of the best podcasts of 2021 in Canada by CTV, check me out.

Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud

Wayne Gretsky – Hockey and Humour

stand-up-in-10-steps-by-judy-croon-canadas-keynote-humorist

Today’s blog is sponsored by: TROOL Social knows that to be visible online you have to be fully committed, congruent in who you are and what you do.
YOU MUST ADOPT THE RIGHT MINDSET- Steer your ship to the SS Optimization & TROOL Social To get you Sailing On Course
Check out www.TroolSocial.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Humour and Grief -Comedy and Tragedy

Humour and Grief -Comedy and Tragedy

Don’t be shy. You can check out my Laugh Long and Prosper podcast on Spotify or Soundcloud.

‘Laugh Long and Prosper’ is shelf help with a smile, stressbusters with a smirk, and information with a wink wink. You get the point.

In this particular blog, I wanted to write the constantly reoccurring connection between humour and grief -comedy and tragedy.

Author Steven King once stated that humour and fear are closely related in our brain.

For example, tens of thousands of years ago, the cavemen and the cave women would freak out when they heard a scary noise outside the cave. But then when a little animal jumped by, everybody laughed out of relief. Even since the beginning of time, laughter has been one of the ways that our brain tries to cope or make sense of something that scares or confuses us.

When it comes to making sense of the unknown, Monty Python’s Eric Idle has a similar theory. He says, “Life doesn’t make any sense, and we all pretend it does. Comedy’s job is to point out that it doesn’t make sense, and that it doesn’t make much difference anyway.”

I am chatting about humour, tragedy and grief today because I want to explain why I’ve been missing from social media for close to four months. I have still been doing my live presentations of Relieving Work-Related Stress with Humour because I am lucky enough to have good people around me who keep me working. However, I’ve let my blogs, podcasts and social media slide for the most part.

Last May, my dad suddenly passed away.

It was a shock to everyone who knew him. He was indeed eighty-six years old but he was still active. The week before, I golfed with him. The night before, we had dinner at my sister’s place.

I miss him every day. My dad and I were good friends.
In terms of parents, my two sisters and I won the lottery. We hit the jackpot when it came to scoring an amazing mother and father. They were our parents but they were also our friends.

My mom passed away three years ago after a long battle with osteoarthritis. She was in a lot of pain, especially during the last year. She spent the last six months of her life in the hospital with a good part of that in palliative care. My sisters, my dad, Flo (her superhero caregiver) and myself took turns visiting her. Every day she had someone by her side.

Did you know that dogs are allowed to visit palliative care?

When I visited my mom, I always took my dog, Barnie. At first, I didn’t know this was an option. A good friend of mine who is a doctor told me to look into it. All I needed to do was present the paperwork showing that Barnie had all of his shots. Also, if you bring a dog to palliative care, it should always be on a leash and obviously, have a calm, quiet disposition. There is A LOT of sitting around. So, if your dog is this type of a dog, I would highly recommend it. It’s a welcome relief to many other patients, visitors, staff, etc.

Barnie did what dogs do best – he was just present. He’s not particularly smart, he doesn’t do tricks, he doesn’t have a degree, but he just loves people. If they want to give him a pat or a scratch, even better.

During those six months, we sat by my mom’s side for many hours.

My dad was there every day. He insisted on taking the evening shift.

It was a lot of stress on all of us but especially for my dad. So much so that he suffered a minor heart attack during that time. In fact, he ended up down the hospital hallway from my mother for a couple of weeks. They ‘celebrated’ their last anniversary together – in the hospital.

So yes, there has been a lot of stuff going on over the last few years.

Everybody has their own challenge in life to deal with but as my comedic friend, Larry Horowitz, says;

Everyone has their private hell but I wouldn’t trade mine for anyone else’s.”

As comedians, we tend to be fun and funny on the outside, especially when things go dark. We use humour as a coping mechanism.

As author Erma Bombeck once said, There a thin line that separates laughter and pain. Comedy and tragedy. Humour and hurt. That is definitely true. I will tell you comedians are the first people to make a joke when things go off the tracks.”

Two Canadian comedians died recently of cancer – Tim Steeves and Alan Park. I worked with both of them over the years. Great guys. They didn’t deserve to die with so much more love and laughter left to give. At their memorials, many comedians spoke. What would normally be a sad event quickly turned into a roomful of laughter. It was almost a roast. It was all meant out of love but again, that’s how comedians cope. When everyone else is crying, we find the joke. Life is too sad and almost senseless without humour. Your friends are dead from cancer. Two months ago, they were helping you write a punchline. RIP Alan and Tim.

In honouring the humour of my friends and family who have passed, I promise to keep laughing and keep moving forward, especially during times of fear and/or sadness. Not only for myself but also for those around me. I promise to bring the ‘haha back to my podcasts, blogs, vlogs, presentations, etc. as I try to use this gift to stay on course.

If you would like to catch up on any of my other Laugh Long and Prosper episodes, voted one of the best podcasts of 2021 in Canada by CTV, check me out.

Judy Croon  On Spotify, Soundcloud ,Amazon, FM PLAYER

Until next time folks, Laugh Long and Prosper!

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