It's mom's fault?

I read another post from The Psychology Today Blog called "Tears of a Clown"which has been pinballing around my brain for a few weeks.

In a nutshell, the writer, Scott Barry Kaufman, writes that some researchers have argued that comedians have chosen their career and essentially adapted their humor, as a survival trait. They needed to be funny. Why? Well, it all goes back to the parents, mothers specifically. It's mom's fault. Again.

According to the article, Seymour and Rhoda Fisher, two researchers who studied the personality, family background, and motivations of 40 "professional humor producers," (comedians and clowns) then compared them with those of 41 professional actors.

Curiously, the Fishers found that many comedians, landed in comedy via after first exploring music and that professional comedians were forced by their circumstance to grow up faster than other professional actors, taking on heavier "responsiblities" (read problems) at earlier ages. And what might be there most controversial finding was that comedians while generally fond of their fathers, viewed mom as a "disciplinarian, an aggressive critic, non-nurturing, and non-maternal."

It may be significant that the majority of the comics were from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, while the background of the professional actors was unclear. However, their finding about distant mothers repeated itself in a different study at the college level.

I don't know any professional comedians, not well at least, but I do know a few very funny guys. I tried asking one of them, whether his father or mother was more strict, but he ducked and parried. Ultimately, admitting that perhaps is mother was more strict. But does every comedian have to have a mean mother or a hard upbringing. I'd like to know. What's the rule? Does whatever doesn't kill you, make you funnier?

And the reason, I'm mostly asking men and not women is because I'm trying to see if the Fishers were right. Since most of the comedians in all of the studies mentioned were men, I need to ask men to get a fair comparison. So, we still don't know anything about what experiences or traits motivate women to be comedians, or if they share similar family dynamics.

On second thought, maybe I will ask women. While it was too late for me to get Barbara Walters to ask Tina Fey about her childhood and her parent's child-rearing style.
Barbara Walters did come out with this zinger, all on her own:

BW: (You're a comedian.) How come you're not neurotic?"
TF: (Nervous laugh) The women that I've met in comedy are much less of that. They're good daughters. They were good students. Their only act of rebellion is doing sketch comedy.

Or maybe they had better relationships with mom? Who knows.

(The dialogue happens at around 3:30)



PS. This shout out goes to Wicked Witch of the Web, for helping me post my first video. I'm not exactly tech-savvy, but I'll get there.
PPS. If you consider yourself a comedian, I'd love to hear your thoughts.