Funny AF Woman #2

Kristi Keller answers Good Humor's questionnaire

What were your life events that lead you to realize, “Hey, I’m pretty funny.”

Honestly, I don’t even think I was funny until my son got to be a teenager and then an adult, when he became my mirror image.  He and I were the two family members that everyone secretly hated at family gatherings because we had so many stupid inside jokes.  You know when you start laughing uncontrollably in church?  That’s how we were at family dinners.  They hated us.

Did your parents encourage your funny side?

Nah.  My mom isn’t funny at all.  I laugh at her jokes to make her feel good.  And my dad is dead but he was also estranged so I doubt he had any influence on my humor.

How did you nurture your funny side?

100% my writing has fueled my funny bone.  It’s so easy to hide behind a screen and be crass, sarcastic, crude, and just genuinely witty.  In the old days (my 40s) Tinder also helped nurture my funny side.  I used to sign up the app sporadically just to get funny story material.  The men had no idea I was just baiting them for a good story to write. 

Not sure if you want links but here’s my best Tinder one.

To be truthful, LIFE in general fuels my funny side.  If you can’t look at any situation and find the humor in it, are you even alive?  I mean, even bra shopping is a funny story waiting to be written.

If you’re in a partnership, is he or she funny? Was/Is humor a requirement?

I’m not currently in a relationship.  I prefer to foster men until they find their forever homes.  But if I was, humor is in my top 3 requirements for a partner.  I couldn’t be with someone who didn’t understand sarcasm and wit.  What’s weird is that I don’t recall any funny moments with my ex-husband.  I think we only stayed together because he held my hair back over the toilet (literally) when I overdid it on nights out.  But going forward, if I ever do have another partner, he has to be able to match me in the humor department.  Without it, I think I may be too much for him.

Did being funny ever get in the way of school or work? How?

I wouldn’t say it got in the way of work.  I’d say it was a staple ingredient at work.  If you had been a fan of mine back in the days when I wrote on Medium you’d have noticed that plenty of my stories started off along the lines of, “This one time, at work….”

I was in the restaurant industry and it is NOT for regular people.  You need a thick skin to be there.  I worked with some of the most unruly people to ever roam the planet, which is just the way I like it. 

A regular conversation might start off  something like:

“Yea, my ex-husband was a black man.”

One of them responds, “Oh, so you’re a night rider.”

**insert jaw drop here**

Then every time after that day, when someone orders blackened salmon for dinner it’s never just a blackened piece of food. It becomes, “Why don’t you ask Kristi how that tastes?”

**insert all the people dropping to the floor laughing**

Can you tell me about a time when you couldn’t muster anything funny and how it affected you? How long did it last? A day? Month? A year? How did you rebound from the unfunny funk?

This one is pretty sensitive so allow me to go into dark mode for a moment.  In 2020, my son passed away right in the middle of the pandemic.  Nothing about losing a child (or any loved one is funny).  In fact, those first few months I wondered if I’d ever laugh at anything EVER again.  It just felt inappropriate to attempt to seek out happiness or feel joy.

So, you can imagine how much I shocked myself a few months in when I eventually began writing grief stories that were littered with humor.  I was almost offended with myself, yet it felt so right and it’s definitely what he would have wanted.  He’d want me to learn to laugh again and find the lighter side of such a dark experience.

One of our favorite (stupid) movies was Zoolander and when I had to start the process of writing my son’s eulogy the only thing I could think of was calling it a Eugoogly because….Zoolander.  (Please tell me you know the scene I’m talking about!) 😁

I also wrote a piece called, Death and Humor Can Ride The Same Elevator because the day I had to go to his memorial service, OF COURSE a bunch of people got onto the elevator as I’m riding down with an urn.  And then we have inappropriate thoughts about cremation.  That was the most grim piece of humor I’ve ever written and guess what?  Readers LOVED it and totally related.

Can you describe the type of humor you possess? Clever Wit, quick-with-a-joke, physical, goofball, aggressive, self-enhancing, self-deprecating, dark, observational, all the aforementioned or one I didn’t think of?  What’s an example of how you might respond in any situation?

I think most people are a good combo of all those types of humor depending on what the situation calls for.  I can see little pieces of myself in all of them.  Except maybe not physical so much but every other kind.

Did your kid inherit your comedy skill?

Absolutely and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  He was the type of guy who would show up at the airport to pick me up and he’d wait at arrivals with a name sign that read, “Ivanna Humpalot.”  It was embarrassing AF yet ooooh so US.

As he was growing up I used to be sooooo grateful I didn’t have a child with zero personality.  You know those type?  His personality and humor were larger than life.  It’s a shame that the world is no longer blessed with his gift!

Did your sense of humor change in the last 5 years? If so, how?

Sadly, yes.  I think it has muted itself just a little bit since Covid and because of my grief journey.  I’m still funny but I’m not as quick witted anymore.  Maybe that’s just because I’m 50.  Don’t people get slower after 50?  Plus, I’m anti-social now so even if I be funny nobody sees it except my dog.

What would be the title of your life right now?

My life title right now would be the same as my newsletter title - Wildhood Wanted.  I’m searching for the old me and looking for my “Wild” again.  Not in the same way as I used to be but certainly more than I am now.  I’m kind of bursting at the seams and I’m ready!

BIO: 

I’m Kristi Keller and I’m a professional dog mom who is in a codependent relationship with sweatpants.  For over a decade, I had only been recognized as a one-trick pony. My trick was travel writing and my pony saddled up in 2011 when I dumped the corporate grind in exchange for the high life, trekking across Jamaica 36 times.

But then the universe yelled, “PLOT TWIST!”  And I shouted, “HA!  New story!”

After that, my writing became abundantly splattered all over the internet in genres I never dreamed I’d become friends with. 

My current love-child is Wildhood Wanted, a Substack publication written by yours truly…a woman who is revisiting the art of investing in oneself. Apparently, everyone’s doing it. It’s all the rage right now.

It wouldn’t be fair to give out social media links because I hate social media and I suck at it.  You could go follow my Instagram however, you’ll only see one or two new pictures a week.  But they’ll be AWESOME pictures!  www.instagram.com/wildhoodwanted

Stay and chat with Kristi…