Remember: Laughter is the best medicine

As you probably figured out by now, this is the week for our annual “Flounder,” our April Fool’s Day paper which this year comes out five days early. I guess we could have waited and published The Flounder next Wednesday, April 3, but when you’re chomping at the bit, it’s next to impossible not to get so carried away with some of your ideas that you simply can’t wait.

I cannot stress strongly enough how much we at The Sounder look forward to putting out this annual spoof issue. It’s truly an energizing experience to see staff members bouncing funny ideas off one another and putting aside for a portion of just one week the serious issues we face as a county. In all honesty, the staff meeting just prior to publication of The Flounder is the one I look forward to most during the entire year.

It thrills me when people tell me that that they’re looking forward to The Flounder. It’s even more exhilarating to get some of their ideas. The truth is that some of our best Flounder stories over the years have come from the readers themselves.

You probably can guess that I love spoofs. I’ve been regularly watching “Saturday Night Live” ever since the days of Chevy Chase, John Belushi, etc. I love the Canadian TV shows such as “Royal Canadian Air Farce” and “22 Minutes.” I used to read “Mad Magazine” all the time.

I also fervently believe that we all need to be able to laugh at ourselves, and I particularly enjoy poking fun at myself in every Flounder. Many contend that life has become far too stressful, and that the cause of many of our problems is that we lack adequate doses of laughter which, they say, is the best medicine of all.

At the same time, I must admit that I always embark on putting together The Flounder with a certain amount of fear and trepidation. My biggest fear is that somebody will be grossly offended by what truly is intended to be innocent fun.

But that’s not my only concern. I also worry that our stories will come across as so ridiculous to the point of being absurd and completely unbelievable. The goal is to mix a grain of truth among the nonsense so that when our readers pick up the paper, they’ll believe for at least one brief minute that what they are reading is true. Then, I hope, they will catch on, join in the fun, and laugh with the rest of us.

The nicest compliment I ever got was when somebody called last year and said, “Ted, you got me.” Her point was that she was believing the stuff in The Flounder until it eventually dawned on her that it was our annual joke issue.

So, here’ hoping we furnished you with a good laugh. And remember, if you’ve got some ideas for next year’s Flounder, please pass them along.

— Ted Grossman is editor of islandssounder.com and The Islands’ Sounder. He can be reached at (360) 376-4500 or email.

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