Wednesday, 06 July 2005 | Audience

I spent the long holiday weekend with six people who regularly stand on stage with the task of making strangers laugh. It was entertaining, of course, but also quite depressing, as the experience made me feel remarkably unfunny. When watching comics on stage or on TV, your role as an audience member is clearly defined, and nothing is expected of you apart from laughter (which, I must admit, I'm not so good at giving; it actually takes a lot for me to laugh audibly). It's the difference between watching The Daily Show and having dinner with Jon Stewart. (I'd much rather do the former.)

I don't normally put much pressure on myself to be funny (though self-conscious pressure is no doubt the fastest path to becoming witty), but four days spent with comedians-who-talk-a-lot-about-comedy gave me a little bit of a complex. I don't doubt that I would have similar problems going on vacation with supermodels, or Mensa, or the Young Achievers Club. Perhaps it means I should be hanging out with totally untalented people.

Complex aside, I had a very nice (and unusually calm) vacation. It was my first time on Cape Cod, and the first time in quite a while that my most difficult decisions involved determining whether I should swim in a pond or in the ocean, and whether I should drink beer or wine. It was also my first time sitting by a bonfire on the beach, though thanks to a few movies (namely, The Karate Kid), my memory wants me to believe I've done that before.