I had this terrible ear infection when I was a kid. I had to stay home from school for about three weeks. At first, I had a blast. What can be more exciting for a kid than TV, comic books and unlimited ginger ale? After about a week, I had read all my Batmans and I was pretty tired of watching ‘The Price Is Right.’

Still too sick to do much more than sit around, I snuck into my parents’ room and stole some VHS tapes from my dad’s drawer. One tape stuck out to me: something labeled ‘Animal Crackers.’ I thought it might have something to do with the delectable treat of the same name, so I ran into the TV room and jammed the tape into the VCR. My life was never the same.

For those that don’t know, ‘Animal Crackers’ is a Marx Brothers movie, and quite possibly the funniest thing that’s ever been committed to film. I watched it, watched it again, and watched it a third time. I was starting to feel better.

When my dad got home, I asked him if he had any more movies like that. He handed me three more Marx Brothers films and ‘Bananas’ by Woody Allen. I never picked up a comic book again. My life was different. It was palpable. I started drawing a mustache on my face with a magic marker, I walked with a stoop, I practiced wiggling my eyebrows in the mirror. I began to feel well.

Twenty years later, I’m still doing the same thing.

For me, ‘Spandex: A Father’s Tale’ is about that time in my life when I could just stay home and watch old Woody Allen and Marx Brothers movies. It makes me laugh, it makes me feel better.

My grandmother is 96 and sits around all day, watching comedy on TV. She survived innumerable wars, uncountable recessions, and the death of every single one of her contemporaries.

‘Grandma,’ I asked her, ‘how did you make it?’

‘I never stopped laughing,’ she said with a smile.

I made this movie so you can laugh with me. It’s the best medicine.