Life & Wisdom Quote by Don Herold

Comedy, in Don Herold's formulation, isn’t a sunny temperament; it’s a coping mechanism with better timing. “A humorist is a person who feels bad” drags the craft back to its least glamorous fuel: anxiety, disappointment, irritation, loneliness. Then comes the twist that makes the line hum: “but who feels good about it.” The joke is also a job description. The humorist doesn’t escape pain so much as metabolize it into something pleasurable, even a little smug - the pleasure of control, of mastery, of being the one who names the problem before it names you.

Herold is writing from an early- to mid-20th-century American sensibility that prized cheerfulness as a civic virtue: the boosterish culture of self-improvement, etiquette, and “don’t be a downer” public manners. In that context, humor becomes socially acceptable negativity. You’re allowed to complain if you can make it entertaining. The subtext is faintly cynical about this bargain: society doesn’t mind your sadness as long as you package it as a performance.

The phrasing also sneaks in a psychological truth without sounding clinical. “Feels good about it” isn’t happiness; it’s reframing. The humorist turns private discomfort into a public asset, converting vulnerability into status. It’s a compact explanation for why so many jokes have teeth: laughter is the sound of pain learning a new language.