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“Laughter is the correct response to life. Life is too important to be taken seriously,” Anthony Ackroyd says.
“I want you to think about your own autobiography and the way you think about laughter,” he says.
Anthony says that his mother let him be silly, which also means blessed. He asks if we grew up in an environment where we were allowed to laugh. His mother allowed a lot of laughter, but she was also very stressed. “She had what is called catastrophic expectations.”
What messages did you get as a child about laughter? We learn from our parents, but we also learn from school. At school, Anthony discovered ‘Monty Python’ – there were people as weird as him! He found friends to laugh along with him.
In 1982 Anthony did his first comedy gig at The Comedy Store. He learned how to be a stand-up comic and saw the power of laughter in action, “the power to transform people.”
Many years later, we had a new Prime Minister, and people seemed to think Anthony looked and sounded like him. “Would you like to see Kevin?” Anthony asks us. He invites the audience to hum the National Anthem while he changes into his Kevin Rudd costume.
“Who have you met in your life that really knew how to use laughter as a powerful tool of persuasion?” For Anthony Ackroyd, it was Bob Hawke, who invited him to ‘Come and do Ruddy’ at an event.
Anthony talks about his family life and raising children. “Have you seen a two-year-old laugh? It’s a whole body experience.” Children laugh 400 times a day, whereas adults only laugh 12 times a day.
Anthony Ackroyd’s next evolution was Mr Silly Billy, going into hospitals to cheer up sick children and working with people who have dementia. “Music and comedy are wonderful tools.”
These days he goes around the country teaching people about the power of laughter – to stress less and laugh more.
“Laughter is an absolute necessity.” View it as a gift. “Love conquers all, but laughter makes it possible.”
Anthony Ackroyd, “The Laugh Coach”, one of Australia’s most successful comedians, an expert on the amazing benefits of laughter and currently one of the stars of the ABC’s top-rating radio comedy show Thank God It’s Friday! presented this at Happiness & Its Causes 2016.
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