The French Prairie Muckraker is guided by a fourteen member Advisory Board on Humor and Morality. The Board informs me that some folks do not think my stuff is funny.
Well–Duh! I am now putting together a fourteen member Advisory Board on Mathematics, who will no doubt tell me that two plus two equals four. How boring life would be if we all thought the same material was funny.
I loved Redd Foxx, who, in his standup days on the Las Vegas strip, when his very blue lines drew gasps from some in his audience, would say: “Where you folks from, Utah?” And those who were gasping did not get that line either.
The ‘What’s Funny and Why’ contest in Charbonneau has been going on for nine years. There have been three entries. One nominated a ‘knock knock’ joke the contestant heard in the sixth grade in 1946. The punch line was “I didn’t know you could yodel.” Another had to do with an old lady falling down stairs.
What is going on here? Where are the thigh slappers of yesteryear? (The CharbonneauLive rules of use probably require an attribution of the last sentence to Catch 22 and Joseph Heller.
And to satisfy the many Charbonnites who are students of French literature, I should recognize Francois Villon in the 15th century.) More on the CL rules of use another time. They definitely are material for a combined column featuring humor, maybe the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and a ‘What is the world coming to?’ treatment. You may have noted that FPM largely ignores them. So sue me, already.
What, you surely ask, was the third submission to the humor contest? A skit featuring Goldie Hawn from a “Laugh-In” episode of 1969. I need to warn some of you folks that you should update your humor recognition awareness. St. Peter at the Pearly Gates now does material he scrupulously and ethically, according to The Ten Golden Rules of Use, attributes to Louis C.K. Yes, that Louis C.K., the one you never heard of.
Now, a confession by the FPM. The above is an exercise to test your Google skills. I confess I would not know anything with certainty if it were not for Google. It is even better than Fox News. (For those of you still asking ‘Whatever happened to the Hupmobile?’, Google is an internet website, much like CharbonneauLive, that enables you to get answers to everything. But all you Charbonneau texters and tweeters–both of you–already know that.)
Hey, “Where you folks from, Charbonneau?”