Michael, hopefully you can come at and sing the next time MADJB comes to Philly. My wife and I will be there to cheer you on..That would bring us joy! Thanks for all your writing.
I’d have loved to attend both events, but I’m recovering from horrible hacking cough thing so I thought the better of it. I’m glad you had great nights!
"I certainly don’t need to “reclaim” my joy. I just need to understand joy in order to better open myself to it. Not for the purpose of hoarding joy, but for the purpose of sharing it." I really like these couple sentences. I connect to them on a similar level of high functioning anxiety/depression.
But also I will reiterate what others have said: your comedy work does bring joy to the world or at least my life. I love your character in all the Wet Hot American Summer media (original movie and both series'). And I often derive joy from not knowing you were in the cast of something I'm watching. Like when you showed up in Superman last year.
I follow the madjb on you tube….looking for you as you mentioned once a while ago you were going to perform with them.
They bring me joy…their choice of songs and dancing. Like children playing. I do see what you mean about music traveling straight into your chest….like agita but feeling good. Classical, broadway, jazz and a few country tunes
Beautifully said. I'm looking very hard to discover if i've experienced joy. It's a new concept. And that picture of you is glorious. One of the best i've ever seen. I could feel your joy when you talked about Elizabeth (Liz, to you). Not 'fat'. Get over it!
The detail about Matthieu Ricard's chosen epitaph - "Become a better human, To better serve others" - perfectly crystallizes your insight about joy arising from alleviating suffering in others. What strikes me about this epitaph is its forward momentum rather than backward reflection. It's not a summary of what was accomplished but a perpetual directive, an eternal verb tense that continues even beyond death.
Most epitaphs are eulogies frozen in stone - achievements tallied, identities fixed. Ricard's is an aspirational command that acknowledges the work is never finished. Even in death, the message is "keep becoming, keep serving." It's the epitaph of someone who understood that joy isn't a destination to reach but a byproduct of the continuous act of extending yourself toward others.
Your observation that you experience joy most fully in celebration of somebody else resonates with this. The sacred, as you put it, lives in that which is larger than the personal self. Ricard's epitaph doesn't even mention him - it's entirely outward-facing, a signpost pointing away from the grave toward the living.
It makes me wonder: are the most meaningful epitaphs those that refuse to be endings? Those that instead serve as invitations for the living to continue the work, to pass the hot potato of joy forward?
I get a lot of joy from gifting. Random acts of getting rid of the stuff that once brought me joy but doesn't anymore.
I couldn’t agree more!! Joy is, indeed sacred. This entire essay resonates with me.
Become a better human,” it will one day read, “To better serve others.”
Soooooooo true!!!
Michael, hopefully you can come at and sing the next time MADJB comes to Philly. My wife and I will be there to cheer you on..That would bring us joy! Thanks for all your writing.
I’d have loved to attend both events, but I’m recovering from horrible hacking cough thing so I thought the better of it. I’m glad you had great nights!
"I certainly don’t need to “reclaim” my joy. I just need to understand joy in order to better open myself to it. Not for the purpose of hoarding joy, but for the purpose of sharing it." I really like these couple sentences. I connect to them on a similar level of high functioning anxiety/depression.
But also I will reiterate what others have said: your comedy work does bring joy to the world or at least my life. I love your character in all the Wet Hot American Summer media (original movie and both series'). And I often derive joy from not knowing you were in the cast of something I'm watching. Like when you showed up in Superman last year.
Great piece. Woody Allen’s original title for “Annie Hall” was actually “Anhedonia.” I think he made the right choice.
I follow the madjb on you tube….looking for you as you mentioned once a while ago you were going to perform with them.
They bring me joy…their choice of songs and dancing. Like children playing. I do see what you mean about music traveling straight into your chest….like agita but feeling good. Classical, broadway, jazz and a few country tunes
Thank you for this.
"Happiness, I think, is the momentary cessation of desire." -- very zen Buddhist statement.
This made me extremely happy to read
Beautifully said. I'm looking very hard to discover if i've experienced joy. It's a new concept. And that picture of you is glorious. One of the best i've ever seen. I could feel your joy when you talked about Elizabeth (Liz, to you). Not 'fat'. Get over it!
Thank you.
Discover MADJB last year. Really enjoy their videos.
Singing, making music, and dancing along with frequent laughing. Volunteering too. That’s it
The detail about Matthieu Ricard's chosen epitaph - "Become a better human, To better serve others" - perfectly crystallizes your insight about joy arising from alleviating suffering in others. What strikes me about this epitaph is its forward momentum rather than backward reflection. It's not a summary of what was accomplished but a perpetual directive, an eternal verb tense that continues even beyond death.
Most epitaphs are eulogies frozen in stone - achievements tallied, identities fixed. Ricard's is an aspirational command that acknowledges the work is never finished. Even in death, the message is "keep becoming, keep serving." It's the epitaph of someone who understood that joy isn't a destination to reach but a byproduct of the continuous act of extending yourself toward others.
Your observation that you experience joy most fully in celebration of somebody else resonates with this. The sacred, as you put it, lives in that which is larger than the personal self. Ricard's epitaph doesn't even mention him - it's entirely outward-facing, a signpost pointing away from the grave toward the living.
It makes me wonder: are the most meaningful epitaphs those that refuse to be endings? Those that instead serve as invitations for the living to continue the work, to pass the hot potato of joy forward?