Looking for the joke, finding some

Did you ever wonder what makes you laugh? And why?

The other day, I got a text that read “Excuse me, are you Bella, the yoga teacher?”

I responded, “No, I can’t bend worth a damn. But thanks for asking.”

I hope you laughed. She did, I think.

On Substack the other day, someone wrote this post that went something like… “How can I create a Substack that is esoteric, philosophical, uplifting, spiritual, penetrating and thought-provoking?”

I responded. “Gum.”

Ah, humor. Ain’t it wonderful. Where does it come from? Why are some people funny? What is it in their mind that takes them there?

Laughter is, as Reader's Digest once told us, "the best medicine"

The first funny thing I said, so I’m told, is when I was a little kid in my Catholic catechism class. Sister Marie Louie Gerard, as sweet a person as I’ve ever met, ran her hand through my hair after class and said, “Oh, Johnny, where did you ever get such curly hair?”

And I said, “I don’t know, Sister. It came with my head.”

Is it the element of surprise, coming up with something that they didn’t expect to hear? What is it that makes us chuckle, guffaw, laugh out loud? For instance, in the great Marx Brothers film “Duck Soup,” there’s a moment where Groucho’s great straight woman Margaret Dumont comes up to him and says “Ambassador Trentino has had a change of heart.”

Groucho responds “A lot of good that’ll do him, he’s still got the same face.”

When you hear Groucho say it, you wonder if someone wrote that for him or if he came up with it himself. It sure sounded like he made it up and I guess that was the key.

George Kaufman, a writer for the Marx Brothers, once attended them filming a scene he wrote. Midway through, he raised his hand and said to someone next to him, “Wait, I think I heard one of my lines.”

I liked the great response Jerry Seinfeld had to his son when he asked “Dad, are we rich?” “I AM,” Jerry said. That’s funny, isn’t it?

One movie that I always thought was really funny, underrated and very well-written was “My Favorite Year” which starred Peter O’Toole as a raging alcoholic former movie star on the fade, based on Errol Flynn. And he agrees to appear on a live TV show, based on the old Sid Caesar show. And Mark Linn Baker, who I’d never seen before — or since — is a young writer on the show who’s assigned to make sure that O’Toole behaves. Which, of course, he doesn’t. It’s a delightful film and I always laughed heartily at this scene. It’s a little racy but what the heck, we’re all friends here, right?

Peter O’Toole has to use the men’s room and mistakenly walks into the ladies’ room. And as he’s walking in, he meets the foghorn-voiced Selma Diamond, who is indignant and snaps “Sir! This is for ladies only!”

O’Toole, while taking care of business, quips right back, “And so is this mum, but once in a while I have to run a little water through it.”

My favorite joke of late is one I heard Harrison Ford tell on David Letterman. I’ll have to use asterisks here at the end but I think you’ll get it.

A lady is shopping in the produce department, sees the produce manager off to the side and walks over.

“Excuse me, but can you point me to the broccoli?”

The manager says, “I’m so sorry ma’am. We are out of broccoli but we’ll have some tomorrow.”

“OK. Thank you.” She walks away.

A few minutes go by, the manager feels a tap on his arm.

It’s the same woman. “Excuse me,” she says, ”but I can’t find the broccoli.”

“Oh yes, I’m sorry,” he answers. “We are out of broccoli but we’ll have some tomorrow. I promise.”

“Ok" She walks away.

About five minutes later, the same woman is back in front of him, angry.

“OK, I’ve had enough. Where is the damn broccoli?”

The manager smiles. “Ma’am, would you indulge me here a moment, Can you spell “cat” like in “catatonic”?

“Of course, C-A-T.” She’s steaming.

“Great. Can you spell “dog” like in “dogmatic”?

“Really. D-O-G. What’s this about?” Still mad.

“Can you spell F*** like in “broccoli?”

The woman is stunned. “There’s no F*** in “broccoli.”

And the manager says, “I KNOW. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

Well, I guess you can see why I didn’t become a stand-up comic. But I do love a good laugh and I do hope I’ve given you a few, my loyal, always so supportive readers. I do look forward to your comments and read them all. We’re in this together, aren’t we? Might as well have a few laughs along the way. Happy Tuesday!