  Comedy
This week: Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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"I had thought — I had been told — that a 'funny' thing is a thing of a goodness. It isn't. Not ever is it funny to the person it happens to. Like that sheriff without his pants. The goodness is in the laughing itself. I grok it is a bravery... and a sharing... against pain and sorrow and defeat."
- Valentine Michael Smith
(Robert Heinlein,
Stranger in a Strange Land) |
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SPONTANEITY
We all wish we had it, I think - that elusive quality of being able to come up with a great one-liner, the perfect response, the argument-ending comeback; usually funny, always dead-on appropriate just like we see in the movies and on TV.
I'm sure some of us have that ability, to one degree or another. It's probably not learnable, though it should be enhanceable through practice and Zen-like discipline. The rest of us have to watch from afar, laughing our butts off at sit-coms, comedy movies and Mystery Science Theatre 3000. (That last show, also known as MST3K, was a great inspiration to me though I've only seen a few episodes).
Truth is, just as not everybody can be Michael Phelps or Warren Buffett, very few of us have the comeback gene. Famously, Winston Churchill appeared to be one of them. He even managed this while inebriated:
Winston Churchill had been drinking heavily at a party when he bumped into Bessie Braddock, a Socialist Member of Parliament.
"Mr. Churchill, you are drunk," Braddock said harshly.
Churchill paused and said, "And Bessie, you are ugly. You are very ugly. I'll be sober in the morning." *
Mean-spirited? Absolutely. But also funny as all heck. As I note in my perennial "About this Newsletter" quotation, the butt of a joke is rarely happy about it. Still, even though I consider myself a pretty funny guy (though they say looks aren't everything), had Ms. Braddock approached me in that fashion, I would have most likely said (in a stupendously fake British accent), "BUGGER OFF."
Not nearly as funny. Not nearly as clever.
But we, as writers, have an advantage that Churchill did not - we're not expected to navigate a country through a war (though Obama manages with the occasional witticism). As writers, the setup AND punchline is entirely up to us. Drunk or not.
The art of being funny on paper is, fortunately, an entirely different ball of whacks. Like spontaneity, it can't be taught - but it can be practiced. Go to it!
*http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90337494 |
So - perhaps not spontaneous, but some funnies from around the site:
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In my last newsletter, "Comedy Newsletter (March 11, 2009)" , I discussed the comedic potential of spring cleaning.
THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  : I sooooo needed this! It's like you wrote it for me! I've been trying to clean my bookshelves, give away what I don't need and pile what I do according to themes. I'm driving everyone - friends, family, Dad - crazy in the process. "Can you use a book on magnesium sulphate in beehives?" Well, not quite  but you get the general idea. Thanks for the chuckle. - Sonali
You're giving me a headache. Themes?
THANKFUL SONALI Library Class! : OOOOPS - I messed up on some ML there, while closing the italic - please, Robert Waltz , it should be a closed italic there ... !
Well, okay... but since I had to do a significant amount of work to reverse the italic tags and restore the emoticon to maintain my preferred "Ask&Answer" format, everyone gets to see this too 
Elaine's Beary Limited*~  : Good work. I know Spring cleaning or any cleaning is a must but it sure wastes my time. lol We must do it but liked your ways of getting out of it too.
Well, the preferred way to get out of it is always to convince someone else to do it, much like Tom Sawyer with the fence.
Thomas : Spring cleaning? Sure, I do that. Every April I bring a wash cloth into the shower with me.
And let me tell you, it makes one helluva difference. 
You shower more than once a year?
Acme : Thanks for the info on dust as a verb. I'll try to apply it...
The verb, or the dust? 
⭐Princette♥PengthuluWrites  : I don't like cleaning very much either...I much prefer to think of things that are messy picking THEMSELVES back up and putting themselves back in order. 
Hm. How's that working out for you?
Shaziane  : When I get the urge, I do...but then I hardly do get it. When I should I don't. 
Are we still talking about spring cleaning here? 
'...neat, tidy and organized people never make the kind of interesting discoveries I do.' Oh so true!
The worst part about that is finding something you didn't know you had - right after you bought another one.
That's it for this time, folks! Enjoy Spring and until next time,
LAUGH ON! |
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Comedy: April 08, 2009 Issue [#2989]
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