I Came From My Father's Penis? or My Dad's In Town and Yes, He Reads This
Comedy is something I take very seriously. Someone who stands up in a room full of strangers expecting him to make them laugh, man, that's a tough racket. I have tremendous respect for comedy performers and the art form in general.
Something funny to me, though, is the infighting within the comedy world. Sketch performers and stand-ups have little respect for each other. Improv artists think they're both contrived and everybody hates performance artists. Even within the sects there are feuds. This guy is a hack, that guy is derivative, etc. Take the ongoing dispute between David Cross (complete disclosure, I am a fan) and Dan Whitney. a.k.a. "Larry the Cable Guy." Apparently Larry said something about David in his book and David responded with an open letter on his site. The upshot is that I'm entertained, mostly by the idea of two comedians fighting.
Regardless, my dad is in town and his visit brought to mind a bit from one of my favorite comedians, Louis CK. It goes like this (keep in mind that most of the comedy comes from the delivery):
You ever have to fart but you force it and end up shitting just a little bit...
Right in your dad's face...
And then everyone on the airplane is, like, whoa!
I suppose the degree to which you find this funny depends on your relationship with your father, but what I like about the joke is it's simple, streamlined structure. Start with a familiar concept and build to an expectation. Then widen the lens to reveal that you've turned the expectation on it's head. Then do it again. Theme and variation, man. It's cool.
It being Friday, here is a grab-bag of links to tide you over to Monday...
457-Pound Woman to Be Cremated after Weeks in Morgue
"It is a much more involved process, and it takes quite a bit more time," Springer said. "You have to do it slower."
--So, it's like BBQ?
Bird-Flu Pandemic Would Likely Start in California
Big surprise, there.
MINNELLI: 'I'M SICK OF SEX'
Does she have to remind us that she had sex? [shudder]
Something funny to me, though, is the infighting within the comedy world. Sketch performers and stand-ups have little respect for each other. Improv artists think they're both contrived and everybody hates performance artists. Even within the sects there are feuds. This guy is a hack, that guy is derivative, etc. Take the ongoing dispute between David Cross (complete disclosure, I am a fan) and Dan Whitney. a.k.a. "Larry the Cable Guy." Apparently Larry said something about David in his book and David responded with an open letter on his site. The upshot is that I'm entertained, mostly by the idea of two comedians fighting.
Regardless, my dad is in town and his visit brought to mind a bit from one of my favorite comedians, Louis CK. It goes like this (keep in mind that most of the comedy comes from the delivery):
You ever have to fart but you force it and end up shitting just a little bit...
Right in your dad's face...
And then everyone on the airplane is, like, whoa!
I suppose the degree to which you find this funny depends on your relationship with your father, but what I like about the joke is it's simple, streamlined structure. Start with a familiar concept and build to an expectation. Then widen the lens to reveal that you've turned the expectation on it's head. Then do it again. Theme and variation, man. It's cool.
It being Friday, here is a grab-bag of links to tide you over to Monday...
457-Pound Woman to Be Cremated after Weeks in Morgue
"It is a much more involved process, and it takes quite a bit more time," Springer said. "You have to do it slower."
--So, it's like BBQ?
Bird-Flu Pandemic Would Likely Start in California
Big surprise, there.
MINNELLI: 'I'M SICK OF SEX'
Does she have to remind us that she had sex? [shudder]
posted by Norm | 11:43 AM
3 Comments:
I remember when Liza Minelli got married to David Gest and someone asked Elton John what he's like to give Liza the Bride as a nuptial gift.
"A heterosexual husband," he said.
Bring it.
I guess I'd have to hear someone tell that joke...
Hi Wonderful People,
Since everyone has started a blog in the last two weeks or so I've decided to link everyone up to my older blog at http://senseidarrel.blogspot.com/
I generally use the Urban Barbarian blog for my evil artistic purposes. When I'm not commenting on Clark's Blog I try to draw pictures.
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