Mr. Mirth woke up, with a smile on his face, to an alarm clock playing Mr. Mirth’s favorite punch lines that he had delivered to a family at work the day before. They didn’t enjoy them much, but he did. In fact, Mr. Mirth thought those were the funniest jokes ever, but he also knew he could top them today.  Mr. Mirth (who was always happy), didn’t want to wake up because he was having such a funny dream about a donkey riding a whale. So Mr. Mirth sprayed the alarm clock with the fake flower that he always kept on his chest.

Mr. Mirth got out of bed like he did every day to go eat his Happy O’s cereal, but he felt something stuck in his throat. He opened his mouth and reached his hand in deep and started to pull something out. After Mr. Mirth pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled the never-ending cloths out of his mouth, he almost knocked his cereal over from laughter. Mr. Mirth could finally eat his cereal.

When Mr. Mirth finished his food, he went to put his bowl in the sink as he did every day. He looked out the window and noticed that his neighbor Ms. Histrionic (who was always hysterical) was outside of her house gardening. Mr. Mirth thought this would be a funny time to display the fake hand he bought at the clown shop last week. He put on the hand, turned on the disposal, sprayed ketchup all over the walls and started screaming. Ms. Histrionic (who was always overreacting about stuff) ran over to Mr. Mirth’s house and kicked down the door to see if Mr. Mirth was ok. She saw the blood everywhere and then immediately passed out.  Mr. Mirth was already on the floor laughing at the trick he played on his neighbor.

Mr. Mirth had an interesting job for someone who was happy all the time; he was the assistant manager at a funeral home. Mr. Mirth drove to work in his clown car, as usual. As he rolled into the garage he spotted his boss Mr. Grumpy (who was always frowning and in a bad mood). Mr. Grumpy told Mr. Mirth that there was a family in the waiting room that was very upset about their loss. “Try not to be too jolly, please,” Mr. Grumpy said looking desperate. Mr. Mirth was nervous; he had never been put up front to talk directly to the families, and it was very hard for him not to make a joke (It was kind of ironic for him to be working there but it was the only job available). Mr. Mirth walked into the room with the sad, waiting family. He said, “How are you doing on this fine day?” Mr. Mirth was trying not to smile. The casket was open and he saw a huge mole on the deceased man’s nose. Mr. Mirth was trying so hard not to laugh. Had they drawn on his face while he was sleeping or something? Mr. Mirth thought, but he didn’t say it even though he wanted to. Mr. Mirth set the family up with the deluxe package where the funeral takes place on a beautiful field, and he closed the deal. A week later, it was the day of the funeral. Everything was going really well and there wasn’t much for Mr. Mirth to laugh at. At the end of the service the coffin was about to be closed, but when Mr. Mirth went to pay his respects at the coffin he noticed that the deceased man’s fly was down. He had been cooped up all day and had to say something. He couldn’t keep it inside, so he screamed: “ I THOUGHT THEY WERE CALLED FLIES FOR A REASON, BUT I GUESS NOT ALL OF THEM GO UP!!” It felt so good to get that off his chest.  Everyone stared at him. Mr. Mirth was confused and didn’t know what he did wrong. Everyone was shaking their heads and saying, “You’re so disrespectful.” Mr. Mirth now realized what he had done and went to apologize to everybody.

“What should I do man?” Mr. Mirth asked his friend TTV-jaded-shirk (who was always avoiding responsibility).  “I don’t have anything for you. Sorry, man.” TTV-jaded-shirk walked out of the room because he didn’t want to commit to helping. Mr. Mirth sat and thought. Mr. Mirth knew there was nothing he could do about the funeral because that already happened and he also thought it was a great joke. It was about what he did from then on. He knew the right thing to do would come to him. He just couldn’t put his finger on it. Mr. Mirth screamed, “I’m heading out Shirk!” TTV-jaded-shirk retorted, ”Whatever.”

Mr. Mirth went home with a smile on his face because he just watched this funny video on YouTube but in a sulk. He didn’t want to change who he was but he knew something had to be different. He wondered why he made such a terrible decision and how he could fix it. He couldn’t try to be less funny (he chuckled as he thought.) Mr. Mirth woke up the next day feeling different. So different in fact, the punchlines playing from his alarm clock didn’t make him smile at all. Mr. Mirth didn’t smile the entire morning. Then he realized what had to be done. He went to the graveyard and put his fake flower that he always kept on his chest on the coffin, squeezing the pump behind it to squirt himself in the face which made him laugh. This unlocked his smile. Now every time Mr. Mirth went over the line with a joke, he came back to the graveyard and squirted himself in the face with that fake flower. He was starting to control his mirth.

From then on every day Mr. Mirth woke up to his alarm clock that played his favorite punch lines, laughed as he ate his cereal, and then played that practical joke on his neighbor. Mr. Mirth hopped in his clown car. Now with a new set of wheels because he had been doing great ever since he stopped making so many jokes. Mr. Grumpy has taken a liking to him. Once his boss Mr. Grumpy saw the changes in his attitude, he promoted Mr. Mirth to manager! When Mr. Mirth pulled out of his garage, he took a different turn towards the graveyard. Mr. Mirth approached the grave and gave himself a squirt with the flower. Since he started this he has been late to work every day because he had a five-minute laughing attack every time he did this. It was worth it, though. Mr. Mirth did this every day until his jokes were completely under control.