WHAT SO FUNNY: PUBLISHED IN TWO NEWSPAPERS

WHAT’S SOOO FUNNY?

ROBERT ISENBERG

  My friend Harry was concerned about memory loss. He heard there was a memory club in Cambridge that guaranteed revitalized memory. Harry decided to check it out. Upon entering the club he heard bellows of laughter.

  “What’s happening?” he asked a woman standing nearby.

  She smiled, “They’re yelling out numbers. Each number represents a joke or a funny story. That’s why all the laughter.”

  “Can you give me a funny number?” asked Harry.”

  "Sure ninety one always receives the most laughs.”

  Harry yelled, “Ninety one!!” Nothing! Not even a smirk. Harry looked at the woman, “ I thought you said this gets lots of laughs.”

  The woman smiled again, “Some people know how to tell a joke, some don’t.”

  What Republicans find funny, Democrats usually don’t and visa versa.

  Adlai Stevenson once said, “When the Republicans stop lying about us, we’ll stop telling the truth about them!”

  William F. Buckley Jr. a conservative Republican ran for N.Y.C. mayor in the sixties. He said, “If elected, I’ll demand a recount!”

  Most jokes and humorist stories depend a great deal on the audience. It also matters as to who is telling the story or joke. For instance, his supporters probably consider President Obama witty; his opposition would have said the joke only applies to him

  What does occur to me is that if a regular person were to use the president’s material, it would do well to get a snicker.

  Some months ago we went to the Regent Theatre in Arlington to hear, “Old Jewish Jokes.”  As it happened, I had heard almost every joke. Yet in most instances, I laughed. Professional actors make a difference.

  One of their better jokes was a son asking his mother to come over to his apartment to meet three women he’s dating. He wants his mother to guess which one he’s going to marry. The women leave. The mother guesses correctly! “How did you know?” exclaims the son. “She’s the one I hated the most!” frowns the mother.

  I’ve noticed that telling jokes can be as competitive as ping-pong. One man’s joke usually leads to another man’s joke. What is needed is a laugh meter.

 Then there is the subject of comedians. Who is funny?  Who is not. Some might find a comedian like Richard Pryor brilliant. I know I did. He was even able to make a heart attack funny. He did this by having his heart wrestle him to the ground screaming, “I told you not to eat that bacon!!”

  Another aspect of being funny is voice. Rodney Dangerfield had the perfect voice for,  ‘my wife and I were happy for twenty years and then we met.’

  My wife Dana & I have been entertaining at senior residences for over seventeen years. I usually begin by saying the worst bad joke I know. “ What did one strawberry say to the other strawberry? If you weren’t so fresh we wouldn’t be in this jam!” It usually receives laughs and lots of groans. I tell this to see who is awake.

  Sometimes I use one of my own lines to connect with an audience. “ What is the sexiest thing one can say to their significant other? “You are right dear!”  This usually receives knowing smiles and laughter.

  Phyllis Diller usually opened by saying, “She heard that house work wouldn’t kill you, but why take a chance?”

 Some people know how to tell a joke and some people don’t.