tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post6559889860212798989..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Laugh? I nearly did.Katherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-59760794391663940262020-12-10T15:20:22.301+00:002020-12-10T15:20:22.301+00:00Bill! I'm late to reading this, so what else i...Bill! I'm late to reading this, so what else is new? hehe<br /><br /><br />For me, humour is an unpredictable turn of events or words, but sometimes a childish fart joke will make me laugh too. Not sure what that says about me, but it depends on my mood perhaps. <br /><br />My preference is dry English wordplay over slapstick, physical antics.<br />xo<br />eden<br />Eden Bayleehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08043540142363106345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-45328588922191604922020-12-07T23:48:24.952+00:002020-12-07T23:48:24.952+00:00Thanks, Reb. Good to hear from you, and I agree co...Thanks, Reb. Good to hear from you, and I agree completely that the image you offer is attractive. However, being now in my own 2nd year of octogenarianism, I think the likelihood of such an occurence is rather remote. Unless perhaps the spritely Umberto...Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-20168213279984984392020-12-07T18:01:48.450+00:002020-12-07T18:01:48.450+00:00Well done, Bill. I can't help thinking--maybe ...Well done, Bill. I can't help thinking--maybe in a twisted way--that it would also be fun to see a stooped octogenarian slip on a banana peel...do a mind-blowingly youthful and Olympian backflip...then land on his feet, stoop and mosey along as if he'd done nothing at all.Reb MacRathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03645014425062542505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-49906562240061924622020-12-07T12:44:44.975+00:002020-12-07T12:44:44.975+00:00It's that woman again... I once read that '...It's that woman again... I once read that 'comedy is about failure.' I think there's a lot of truth in this. Think Steptoe and Son, The Office, Red Dwarf... None of the characters could be called successes in life, and when they aspire to something better, they always fail or give up because it's too hard.<br /><br />And your dignitary in a heap on the red carpet is funny not only because of the incongruity but because s/he failed to live up to the ideal of 'the dignitary.' -- Try to imagine a comedy about a huge success in life (as judged by conventional standards of success.) A laugh-a-minute comedy about a Bill Gates or a Bezos: it would only really work if they aspired to being a huge success but failed: walked the walk but tangled their feet and fell in a heap.<br /><br />I don't think this laughing at failure is always cruel, though. (Maybe in The Office it is, a bit. It's why, while laughing, I used to feel like hiding behind the sofa and watching between my fingers.) I think, most of the time, we recognise the failure as our own. Even if we're successful in many ways, there's always some failure that pricks us. The comic characters, Harald Steptoe, Mandy, Hancock are Everyman and Everywoman -- whereas the successful winners and the tragic heroes and heroines who almost suceed but take a great fall, they're Heroes and Heroines. Which is to say, not funny. -- Our laughter at the prat-falling dignitary is often fellowship.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-90741259519573826772020-12-07T12:22:39.330+00:002020-12-07T12:22:39.330+00:00Just a note -- Umberto, in his Santa guise, is now...Just a note -- Umberto, in his Santa guise, is now wishing us all a Happy Christmas at the top of our sidebar. I wish I could make him more visible but there you go -- we have a Secret Santa.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-51797432717305147482020-12-07T11:37:06.006+00:002020-12-07T11:37:06.006+00:00Thanks all for your responses.
Surely, Umberto, i...Thanks all for your responses.<br /><br />Surely, Umberto, in your guise as Santa (AE blog, Dec 3rd), you must have been devastated when those lovely wide old-fashioned flues were replaced by narrow-gauge central heating pipes. That wasn’t funny.<br /><br />As you’ll know, Jan, Ralph Waldo Emerson said ‘Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind’. So I understand your confusion.<br /><br />Rikki Fulton’s from Glasgow, Peter, so his repertoire should work well in Liverpool, but surely any dinner party held by an Authors Electric member would go to Heidegger or Chomsky for their repartee.<br /><br />And special thanks to you, Sandra. The notion of laughter as salvation hadn’t occurred to me.Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-26347258959225494882020-12-07T11:07:12.150+00:002020-12-07T11:07:12.150+00:00Thank you, Bill! I do like the idea that when our ...Thank you, Bill! I do like the idea that when our rational brains are confounded by an unexpected/incompatible set of circumstances, we can laugh rather than get shirty because we weren't expecting THAT. It might just save us...Sandra Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01761260568729338471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-42505359435483924652020-12-07T10:25:10.647+00:002020-12-07T10:25:10.647+00:00Oh I like that super sex one Bill. I'll save t...Oh I like that super sex one Bill. I'll save that for the next dinner party if we ever have them again. In Liverpool we are supposedly famed for our humour but I often find myself striving to make people laugh. Word play is my favourite method these days. Thanks for your cheerful post.Peter Leylandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07717370262319438102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-66176315074669738532020-12-07T09:26:57.030+00:002020-12-07T09:26:57.030+00:00Two problems with this, Bill. Surely 'You’re...Two problems with this, Bill. Surely 'You’re sawing and hammering away and your fiancée, whose wish to remain intact you’ve respected' is a joke in itself, while the fact of locking her away in the privy is certainly another. Was she flushed when he let her out, or...oh, I can't go on. Is NOTHING sacred ? Jan Needlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15823078224282953782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-14242381185795397582020-12-07T06:02:52.251+00:002020-12-07T06:02:52.251+00:00Don't know much about humour Bill, but I think...Don't know much about humour Bill, but I think you nailed it. I enjoyed your piece, especially the one about the soup, which I'll take the liberty of serving up when opportune. After all, the best of jokes, they say, are plagerized, passed on through the ages, I suppose, from the Greak Unknown Comic. Merry Christmas.Ho ho ho!Umberto Tosihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939504157464234443noreply@blogger.com