What I learned from…Woody Allen’s cynical sense of humor

What I learned from…
Woody Allen’s cynical sense of humor

The following are experts were taken from the movie “Annie Hall.”


"There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly."

Of course this is a very pessimistic view on life, but I think there are a couple different things to take from this. One, is that it is easy to always concentrate on the negative; to look for the bad or damaging qualities in a person or situation and pick it apart. And though, for someone like me, that is just an unavoidable part of life. You have to be able to get past those things and take the good with the bad. Of course, it’s also very important to be able to recognize the good, bad and indifferent, realize what people or things in your life mean to you and treat it (or them) accordingly.

Second, this quote also makes me realize that old habits die slowly. Whether it’s a regular vacation at a resort you don’t like or a self-loathing habit that seems impossible to break, I think part of being a human is establishing habits. And whether they are good, bad, healthy or lethal, once a habit or comfort zone is created breaking out of it can prove to be very difficult.



"The... the other important joke, for me, is one that's usually attributed to Groucho Marx; but, I think it appears originally in Freud's "Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious," and it goes like this - I'm paraphrasing - um, "I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member." That's the key joke of my adult life, in terms of my relationships with women."

This joke to me goes beyond relationships and has to do with an issue that without coming to terms with will make living very hard. I have gone up and down in my weight over the years, have changed my look many times and even had many different kinds of friends. And though this hasn’t always been true, I can say that I am comfortable in the skin I am in. And without being happy and satisfied with the person that you are, physically, mentally and emotionally it becomes almost impossible to have a healthy life. Of course, I’m not trying to knock self-improvement. I think that’s great, but that’s a different idea. Some people are more driven to better themselves, which is doesn’t really matter for this purpose other than you should know which one you are and accept that person.



"After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs."

This is a quote I keep referring back to many times over the last 8 years or so. I think anyone who has been in a romantic relationship can make sense of this at one level or another. There is no denying that throughout the course of a relationship, no matter how serious or dysfunctional there is always that x-factor that comes into play that makes you start to wonder. Usually, whether or not I could do without it. Sometimes it’s conversation, sometimes it’s sex, sometimes it’s wondering what your offspring might look like. But most of the time I think it’s companionship. And that’s a big egg to live without. However, it also can justify putting up with a lot of crap may not outweigh the fear of being alone. I think for the most part the theory that one in every seven people is compatible with another is true. And that’s where the companionship comes into play, because within that thinking people don’t have to be overly selective to find someone they can not only tolerate, but get along with. But then again, maybe the eggs that are referred to in the joke come from that intangible that brings that one to the surface. In other words, finding true love.

This quote has sort of meant different things to me over the years, but at this point I think that is where I’m landing. Opening an optimistic eye to the idea that there is an innate feeling we have as humans to seek out love. And when you find it, it’s really something.