The Downside of Being “The Funny Guy”

One of the problems with being known as the funny guy is that friends tend to expect it on a more or less constant basis.

“This is my buddy Derek and he is absolutely hilarious,” a friend of mine said years ago as he introduced me to a group of people at a ball game.

Seriously I thought what kind of asshole does that to a person? I’m not supposed to be on the clock. Of course, I’m never “on the clock”. I barely get paid for my writing and I don’t do stand-up so “on the clock” wasn’t the correct term. Nonetheless, I resented feeling like I had to be ready to supply hilarity at any given moment.

Everyone stood around expectantly waiting for me to deliver a gut-buster that wasn’t going to happen and, after what felt like ten minutes, I finally said something about how I had diarrhea and left. It wasn’t exactly Kaufmanesque but I heard a few confused chuckles as I headed back to my seat.

Later on, my friend apologized for putting me on the spot. I graciously accepted and told him there were no hard feelings but still held a bit of a grudge. A few weeks later I began introducing him to servers as “my buddy the police officer” in passive-aggressive retaliation.

“Dude they’re going to spit in my food,” he complained, knowing that I knew he wasn’t going to order anything that couldn’t be opened in front of him or prepared tableside. This restricts him to guacamole, cherries jubilee, and cans of Busch beer when he can find it and has complicated our relationship but I think I’ve gotten my point across. Now instead of announcing me as his hilarious friend, I’m “the asshole he’s known for almost twenty years.” It’s not how I’d choose to be introduced but at least it establishes reasonable expectations.

Because of my occasionally humorous observations, I’ve found that people — and even friends — assume that I have a good sense of humor; the phrase being a euphemism for being able to deal with as much abuse as you dish out. I don’t, which is often a surprise to most people, and by “most people” I also include myself. It turns out that I’m not as easygoing as I’d thought I was and can even be a bit of a dick in the face of some good-natured ribbing.

To read more just click through to The Downside of Being “The Funny Guy” on Medium!

About the Author

derekbremer Prior to his life as a stay at home father Derek spent more than a decade performing public relations and marketing functions for financial consulting firms and found the job to be precisely as exciting as it sounds. When not tending to his wife or daughter Derek enjoys subjecting the public to his unique take on fatherhood, travel and animal husbandry. He has been published in Scary Mommy, Sammiches and Psych Meds, The Good Men Project, HowToBeADad, Red Tricycle, RAZED, HPP and the Anthology "It's Really Ten Months Special Delivery: A Collection of Stories from Girth to Birth.