Humor.
It’s a funny thing. And I mean that literally, but not completely. That’s because what one person sees as a real knee-slapper another person might find annoying.
Keystone cops. Three Stooges. Legends. Sure, but I don’t think I ever laughed once. Slapstick just isn’t my thing. I hear people laughing (probably pre-taped and added in post-production) on the Funny Home Videos show, but I usually just cringe. I feel horrible for those people who tumble off the stage, ride their skateboards into the sides of parked cars, or slide down the snow-covered hill into a crotch-killing signpost.
Why don’t I see the humor in that?
Same reason a comedian named Steven Wright bombed in Tulsa years ago. I’d seen him on the Tonight Show and laughed out loud. Rare stuff for me. He followed a manic, frantic, prop-using funnyman on stage. Steven Wright’s brand of humor was a little more cerebral. Not brainiac stuff, really. But his droll delivery combined with his off-the-wall observations worked for me. When I saw him, he looked just like he does in the accompanying image.
Example (delivered in a deadpan, straight-face): Went home last night. Accidentally put my car key in the door lock. Turned it and the house started. So… I took it for a drive around the block.
The club was called Jokers. I was one of the only ones in the audience that night that laughed out loud. A few minutes after his set, I glanced to the side and saw Mr. Wright standing next to me. I apologized for the crowd, and admitted that I thought he was hilarious. He thanked me for the support. He had heard my laugh in the otherwise private-conversation-invested audience.
The humor-spectrum is the reason that so many different types of comedians can find success. There are that many people who find the various routines hilarious.
Tonight, I laughed out loud. The television is on in the office while I do some bookwork. (Book store, bookwork: get it? Yuk-yuk-yuk! Puns… the humor genre universally considered unfunny.) The CBS program Elementary is showing and Sherlock Holmes (I can only watch television based on literary fiction. –Joking) responded to a question posed by his assistant Watson.
Holmes, describing a remodeled wall in a home: …and the decomposing body caused a concave bulge in the wallboard.
Watson: You’re sure his body was hidden behind the wall?
Holmes, looking hesitant: Pretty sure.
The camera jumps to the interior of the house, where a gaping hole has been punched in the sheetrock and a body-shaped black-plastic-wrapped package is clearly visible. And it’s clear that the answer Holmes gave was purposely-driven, perfectly-timed:
Understatement.
I laughed out loud.
Realized immediately, that – just like the Steven Wright portion of that night at the comedy club – I was probably not in the majority in enjoying that humor.
So, I’m sitting here thinking: It’s funny how humor is so funny. And its just as funny how some humor is not-so-funny.
Some serious thoughts, there.
Makes me laugh.
Come visit!
McHuston
Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow, OK!