A one shot for Will & Grace that I wrote about three ages ago and posted on LiveJournal. And now I've decided to post it here on . This is my theory on the characters in regards to their individual sense of humor.
It, of course, ends up with Jack's secret love for Will because, and I'm convinced of this, he is still secretly in love with his best friend. I have a whole theory why, and I even got my psychology professor to let me write my end of the year paper on why the four of these characters are the way they are. She figures since I've had about 8 years of watching them, it's almost as good as knowing them for eight years. It's going to be amazingly fun to write!
Enjoy!
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Grace is accidentally funny 98 of the time. She cracks a joke or two but they usually flop. Grace is at her funniest when she's just being herself. She says things or does things that make them all laugh. . . and occasionally raise an eyebrow because sometimes it's hard to believe that someone like that actually exists. Of course, the same could be said for the rest of them so maybe that's not saying much at all. She hardly ever says the things she says to be funny. When Will starts to smile at her because she's just told him about another ridiculous shopping trip, she sometimes wonders why he's smiling. After all, there's nothing funny about marked down cashmere. . . Except when Grace talks about lying about funerals she needs to attends to get it. . .
Will on the other hand is only accidentally funny about 15 of the time. He's very sarcastic and smart, a combination that makes for a good stand up comedian. Except Will doesn't recognize that about himself so he would never try it. But he's always got some kind of quip whenever Jack flounces in to tell him about his latest rendezvous. He knows just the right remark to say to Karen about her less than healthy drinking habits. Karen hates to admit it, but she thinks Will's funny too. Sometimes he pulls a Grace though, and does something that is so Will that it's funny. He does it mostly when he's really nervous. Or when he's talking about his childhood; that seems to have been on giant mass of "Will moments." Sometimes it seems like a good thing that he's, mostly, outgrown it. Sometimes though, it doesn't.
Karen's funny is different from both Will and Grace's. She's funny just about all the time, unless it's really serious. She often says things that are funny and she knows it. But the things she says are usually the things she believes. When she makes fun of Grace's hair or clothes, she really means what she says. . . usually. . . but she knows how to make it sound funny. That's just how she is. Her drinking habit makes her funny too. No one can handle alcohol and drugs like Karen Walker. Just the fact that she's still so amazingly coherent is amusing. Even when she's on things the regular drug addicts would raise an eyebrow at, she's always got something to say. Karen doesn't need quips like Will and she isn't silly like Grace. She just tells a story and you know that Karen has an amazing sense of humor.
Jack's not like any of them. He knows when he's being funny, unlike Grace. He has quips for every occasion, but he's usually heard them somewhere before, unlike Will. He's very being isn't made to be sarcastic and he has to think about how to say things, unlike Karen. To other people Jack appears to be accidentally funny about 95 of the time, like Grace. But he realizes what he's doing. He says things like old tomato or fecal position on purpose. He knows what the real terms are and is well aware that a man of his age should know and use them correctly. When he first meets people he says silly things because he's learned that it's easier for people to be themselves around someone that doesn't intimidate them. Jack likes to learn who people really are as quickly as possible; there's no sense in wasting energy on someone he's not even going to want to be friends with in a few weeks. But now he keeps up the appearance because that's what everyone expects. The few time's he's dropped that persona to help his friends they gave him weird looks. They listened, because, naturally, he's right, but they never expect him to be.
Jack uses humor because if he didn't he might have to face an awkward silence. He laughs about Karen's drinking habit because if he didn't he might have to admit that she's not going to be around forever because of it. He pokes fun at Grace's attempts to find happiness because if he didn't he might have to recognize that he hasn't had any better luck with that than she has. He teases Will about his hairline and thighs because if he didn't he might be forced to admit to his best friend just how handsome he really is. That is something Jack refuses to do. Because if he admitted how good looking Will is he might have to admit other things about his friend. Things like how much his friend makes him laugh, or how he makes him feel taken care of. And if he admitted those things he might have to admit other things. Like why he never seems to find a stable relationship that lasts more than a few nights.
And he could never do that.
It's bad enough that James was suspicious, he'd been coming on a little too strong apparently, but he couldn't stop himself. A guy that had been around for a grand total of two days had been able to see past him better than any of his friends had. But James was a jerk and wasn't around for very long so anything he might have said (assuming he said anything at all) probably wasn't believed.
It's even worse that Grace has an inkling of the truth. He hadn't meant to let that slip, but sometimes when he was being honest about one thing it was too easy to be honest about another. He'd been able to laugh it off and had gotten Grace to do the same, but he sometimes wondered, during the times when he was alone and in the quiet, if she really thought it was a joke. Grace wasn't always smart like Will, but she wasn't stupid either. If she ever figured it out. . . she would tell Will for sure. That would lead to a conversation that Jack did not want to have. Awkward wouldn't even being to cover how bad that conversation would be and no amount of humor would ever make it any easier. He knew almost exactly how that conversation would go, he knew Will that well, and it was something he would rather avoid all together.
Being rejected once was more than enough for Jack McFarland.
Because of all the truths that Jack liked to hide with his humor the biggest one was undoubtedly the fact that he'd only really fallen in love once; and he'd never fallen out of it.
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The End! I hope you guys liked it. It'll probably be one of the only Will & Grace stories I'll ever write. Except maybe one to give Elliot his happy ending, he kind of disappeared after that episode with the going to California to go see a college and Will found James.
Read and Review! I love to know what people think!
