George Needs New Material

"Take my wife - please," was a line that got Henny Youngman a lot of laughs, but George wanted to use it as a plea, not a punch line.

It wasn't that way at first.

George started out with a lot of great punch lines.  He had a knack for getting a crowd on his side, for finding the right pitch and timing.  He enjoyed himself, and his audiences did too.

The better clubs were starting to book him, for important times of the year.  Life was looking good for George.

Then he met Suzette.  A new singer, booked into a club as a favor to an "Uncle", from what the backstage talk was saying.

So she couldn't hit all of the notes.  The audience didn't mind, at least not the male members.

Suzette became friendly with George.  She would come out to catch his act.  Although she never seemed to laugh at the right time, she kept coming back.

One night, George returned the favor, and stayed to catch her act.  She was so pleased, that she invited him back to her apartment.

A whirl wind romance followed.  A local justice of the peace tied the knot for them, and Suzette moved in with George.

Soon thereafter, Suzette announced her retirement from singing to devote herself to helping George.  She would be there for his shows, and advise him on what was working.

Unfortunately, she still didn't seem to get a lot of his stuff.  Trying to please her, George started changing his routines, and adjusting his timing, until Suzette was almost falling out of her chair laughing.

The rest of the audience, not so much.

The rooms that George played got quieter and quieter.  Clubs that he'd been a smash at pre-Suzette wouldn't hire him again after they came through as husband and wife.

Since George didn't think that Henny's line would have the desired result, he had to come up with something else.

"Suzette, we have a problem," George said one night after another club manager had let him go.  "For some reason, when I make you laugh, the rest of the audience tunes out."

"Oh don't be nuts," Suzette replied.  "You're hilarious."

"I'd like to try out some new material," George suggested.  "Could you help me?"

Of course she was more then willing to.  She always enjoyed his shows.

George started out taking it easy, but Suzette was soon laughing so hard there were tears on her cheeks.

Gradually George tweaked his timing, and added some new lines and routines.  Suzette quieted down, then started getting a disappointed look.

"Gee George," she said, stopping him after a while.  "I don't think this new material is going to work."

"I'm glad that you can sense that Suzette," George replied.  "I now know how you can help my career.  It will mean that you can't come to all of the shows, because that would spoil the value you can add."

"Well, I'd really miss seeing all of your shows," she said, looking down and sounding sad.

"But Suzette, the payoff will come when I have something new to try," George continued.  "I'll let you know when I'm going to try something new, and you can come.  Your reaction will give me a great sense of whether the new material will work or not."

"Will you give it a try, Hon?" George asked.

She agreed, and George's insight proved to have a dramatic impact on his career.  Lot's of times, Suzette wouldn't like his new material, but when she did, George knew how to deal with it.

George became so successful that he was able to pay for singing lessons for Suzette.  As she restarted her career, they came up with a way for him to help her.  The songs that he couldn't really get into, she'd add to her act.

Today, they're both headliners and enjoying a wonderfully successful collaboration.