Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today I thought we'd do another You Should Laugh More post.

Research has shown that laughter is good for us. It has all kinds of health benefits. Despite most of us knowing this, none of us laugh enough. Yeah, I know, being an adult is tough, and furthermore there is a lot of grim stuff happening in the world. These things may be true, but that just is all the more reason for trying to get a little laughter into our lives.

A few weeks ago I showed you guys some funny scenes with Patrick Stewart. Today I want to jump to another celebrity who not only doesn't take himself too seriously, but despite his image actually does more comedy appearances than serious these days. I'm talking about Mr Universe himself, Arnold!

Let's jump right in. Hope you enjoy.

Like a Good Neighbaaa

Arnold has appeared in a lot of commercials, from all the way back in the 80s when he did a ton of comedy commercials in Japan until recently when he does the same in the US. This one may be his best.

I'm sure this much have been a Superbowl Commercial. I didn't watch so I'm not sure. Anyway, this commercial plays off his inability to get rid of his native accent. I suppose the idea probably came from his recent book Be Useful. Both in the book and in all the interviews he did about the book, he joked about how despite all his classes to correct his pronunciation, he could never quite do it.

Anyway, it's funny. It also reunites him with his Twins costar Danny DeVito.

Pumping with Hans and Franz

This was a great series of skits with Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon on SNL, where they played muscle-bound weightlifters, mostly mocking Arnold and his image. Like most SNL skits, it ranged from good to bad, usually coming in somewhere in the middle. Far from being upset about the skits, Arnold was on record many times saying how much he loved them. So when they invited him to be in one, he immediately accepted. This is the result.

Arnold In Japan

By the way, about those Japanese commercials. At one time US celebrities wouldn't appear in commercials because it was thought that it could be harmful to their image, making them look like sell-outs. So what did they do? Many of them went to Japan to appear in commercials there for big bucks. Most of your favorite 80s celebrities did at least a few Japanese commercials. None more than Arnold, who did tons of them. I'll leave it to you to search Youtube for more, but here is a sample, this one for an energy drink.

At the end, she is calling him Shuwa-chan, the nickname that many people still know him by in Japan.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Guide to Blowing Sht Up*

This is a little over the top, but it's fun. He know his image as the most action star of action stars and he never hesitates to use it for the purposes of having a good time.

Well, maybe that's enough. Hope you got a few laughs out of this. And if you want more, like I wrote before, he has a tons of comedy stuff on YouTube. I'd also, on a more serious note, totally recommend his book Be Useful. It's a brief biography intertwined with his thoughts on why he was so successful in his life and what philosophies he used. It's a great read.

So what do you think? Did it make you laugh or was it just stupid? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.

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