Something we can all agree on these days. Though his time as a country music superstar has since passed, there’s absolutely no denying that Brad Paisley was a bona fide powerhouse in his prime. Of course, everyone knows that he’s not only one of the best living country guitarists today but also one of the greatest of all time, going toe-to-toe with legends such as B.B. King, John Mayer and Vince Gill throughout his career. However, when you look at his discography as a whole, there’s a lot more than just world-class guitar work from album to album. Back in his prime, Paisley was firing on all cylinders in terms of album construction and production. While you had all the hits, ranging from “Mud On the Tires” and “She’s Everything” to “Whiskey Lullaby” and “I’m Gonna Miss Her,” there was a lot to discover when you listened to his albums from front to back. Oftentimes, the West Virginia native would incorporate a heavy dosage of skits and outtakes in his early albums. Calling on everyone from “Little” Jimmy Dickens and George Jones on multiple different skits on 2005’s Time Well Wasted, his affinity for incorporating random, oftentimes off-the-wall humor was shown early and often. Beyond the skits on each album, Paisley has scored plenty of hits using his patented humor. It was pretty apparent from the start that the 52-year-old singer knew how to score hits with hilarious songs. Starting with the severely underrated 2000 Top 20 single, “Me Neither,” which sees Paisley all but reject himself after approaching a girl at the bar, he’d go on to score even bigger, humor-filled hits throughout his career. Whether it’s the incredibly ahead-of-its-time look at catfishing culture on 2007’s “Online,” the hilarious take on fading masculinity in our culture on “I’m Still a Guy,” the celebration of the fact that liquor can finally help white people dance on “Alcohol” or his now-iconic decision to choose fishing over a relationship on “I’m Gonna Miss Her,” Paisley has always had a knack for penning some incredibly funny yet well-written tracks over the years. And for Paisley, it’s all intentional. At a recent event in Nashville, shortly after his recent Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas performance that featured a surprise appearance from Megan Moroney on “She’s Everything,” Paisley would dive into why he’s consistently released (and eventually found success) so many funny songs. As the “Mud on the Tires” singer explains, oftentimes, he wasn’t intentionally sitting down to write a funny song. Instead, he’d find that as he developed many songs’ hooks further, the best ones would make him laugh. And that’s fine with Paisley since, as he puts it, no one hates laughing. “These songs, I just found that sometimes you would start down a path and the best hook made you laugh. And then I started to look for more like that, because no one hates laughing, I would think. If you can make somebody laugh, you’ve done something for them they’ve probably needed. There’s studies that say that.” Using “I’m Gonna Miss Her,” he’d explain that he could have written a straightforward song about his love of fishing. Obviously, there’s not much fun in that, so instead, he’d add the twist of leaving her to spend his days on the banks. I could write a song about how much I love fishing, OR… I could write a song about how much I love fishing and then decide, ‘Well fine, it’s fishing over her.’ You know? And then hook it in a way that makes people laugh.”  Though many country fans have turned their backs on Paisley over the past decade, mainly due to his strange collaboration with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2023 on “Same Here” during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, let this be your yearly reminder that Brad Paisley was a force to be reckoned with in his prime. While you’re here, check out some of Paisley’s best (and funniest) tracks that you might have forgotten about. “I’m Gonna Miss Her” “Online” “I’m Still a Guy” “Alcohol” “Mr. Policeman” Brad Paisley Tour Dates November 4 – Abbotsford, BC – Abbotsford Centre November 5 – Kelowna, BC – Prospera Place November 7 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place November 8 – Lethbridge, AB – VisitLethbridge.com Arena November 14 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Centre November 15 – Saskatoon, SK – SaskTel Centre December 11 – London, ON – Canada Life Place December 12 – Hamilton, ON – TD Coliseum December 13 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire CentreThe post Brad Paisley On Why He Leans On Humor In His Songs – “If You Can Make Somebody Laugh, You’ve Done Something For Them” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.