"How many times have important discussions been held, where really original and creative ideas were desperately needed to solve important problems, but where humor was taboo because the subject being discussed was serious? This attitude seems to me to stem from the very basic misunderstanding of the difference between serious and solemn. Now I suggest to you, that a group of us could be sitting around after dinner, discussing matters that were extremely serious like the education of our children, or our marriages, or the meaning of life... and we could be laughing, and that would not make what we were discussing one bit less serious. Solemnity, on the other hand, I don't know what it's for. It serves pomposity, and the self-important always know at some level of their consciousness that their egotism is going to be punctured by humor. That's why they see it as a threat, and so dishonestly pretend that their deficiency makes their views more substantial, when it only makes them feel bigger. Humor is an essential part of the creativity that we need to solve problems, no matter how serious they may be." -John Cleese