WHAT IS... HUMOUR?

George Clooney seems like an all-round nice man, but it's likely that his latest advice to Tom Cruise will fall on deaf ears. George told Time magazine that he had to learn to laugh at himself after making box-office disaster 'Batman & Robin', getting the giggles in before anyone else could.

"Before they could kill me on Batman & Robin, I said: 'It's a bad film, and I'm the worst thing in it.' You try to defend an indefensible position, you'll look like a schmuck.."

Wise words and fair enough, but Tom and his pals at the Church of Scientology aren't really renowned for taking life with a pinch of salt, are they? Much better to research and analyse why things went wrong and then blame it all on the atoms of ancient intergalactic warlords burned to cinders in a volcano. Reasonable George continued,

"I talked to him the other day, and he's a good egg. There's nothing self-serving about what he's saying. He has to turn it into a way to make fun of himself."

Imagine telling Tom to lighten up? He'd frown quizzically, ask what emotion was and inquire why there was water coming from your eyes when you laughed at him.