Uncontrollable Laughter 2: Wang Chao

To survive in my family, you must have the ability to laugh at yourself. With my two witty younger brothers and sarcastic grandpa, nearly anything can be made into a joke; a joke that is free to be referenced now and anytime in the future. Needless to say, if you make a mistake or funny comment it won’t get past anyone, and you can expect it to be brought up in any situation in the days and years to come.

At the dinner table, laughter is hard to suppress. Especially for this particular dinner with my aunt and uncle in town and my entire family gathered around at my grandparent's house. As usual, the meal began late due to my brothers’ basketball practice. When they finally arrived, the older of my two brothers, Jack, had the local newspaper in his hand with a picture of him and one of his teammates on the cover. The article was previewing the high school’s promising upcoming basketball season. The stage for laughter was set when my brother read part of the article which stated the height of his teammate at 6’6”, when in reality his teammate was a generous 6’1”. The obvious exaggeration was hilarious because in the picture my brother who is 6’4”, and going to play college basketball next year, was towering over his teammate who was listed at 6’6”. Basketball rosters are known for adding an inch or two to your current height, but five inches was enough to get a chuckle out of everyone.  

Once the laughter subsided, my mom mentioned to my brother that when he was younger, the doctor actually predicted him to be even taller than 6’4”. After a moment of thought, Jack commented “Wow, I can’t believe I have gone my whole life without knowing that.” Following a prolonged silence, my youngest brother, Mark, chirped in “Oh, and uh, by the way, you’re also adopted.” The entire table erupted into laughter. Following this my uncle threw in “Your name is actually Wang Chao”, and my grandpa added “Yeah, you were a little too tall to be Chinese,” as the comments snowballed and the entire table laughed until tears fell.

While this may be an instance of you had to be there for it to be funny, and the comments now may seem to be poking fun at stereotypes, it was in no way intended to be negative, but rather making fun of my brother who is tall and under immense stress for basketball recruitment. This response was most likely a relief from all the pressure he has faced in choosing a school and maintaining the high expectations from his coaches on the basketball court. Every day it seems he is asked where he is going to commit, and with family in town, the conversations only accumulate. Poking fun at Jack’s height and talent for basketball seemed only appropriate to relieve the tension for everyone and making light of this overbearing subject.

Undoubtedly it was Mark’s incongruous comment that sparked the outbreak of laughter from everyone. Jack is built exactly like my uncle and looks nearly identical to my mom’s side of the family. The remark referencing adoption in conjunction with the use of superiority theory by isolating my tall and thin brother and juxtaposing him with a nation lesser known for their height or basketball skills was enough to get everyone laughing, involved, and bursting with humorous comments for the rest of the night.