Very Funny

Tonight we dropped in to the annual Joke Telling Contest.  It was shorter but just about the same as Prairie Home Companion's yearly Joke Show.  There are blonde jokes, and married couple jokes, Catholic jokes, and Jewish and Protestant jokes (though no Muslim jokes and no political jokes--politics: no longer funny?).  There are personal anecdotes.  There are silly jokes.  And in between, Lucy read the All Point Bulletin, which reads very humorously if approached properly (or improperly).

About 45 people showed up at the Community Center to tell a joke or (mostly) just to listen and clap and laugh.  There's an article in last week's New Yorker about 'laughing yoga,' and it felt pretty much as if we were in line with that tonight.  We laughed whether we had anything to laugh about, because laughing feels pretty good and we know how to do it and we were among friends.

Telling a joke in public is a small act of bravery (although it is surprising how many people don't know how to use a microphone--they wave it around vaguely in front of them in a way that, if it were sensitive, would produce a lot of feedback).  Thus, people did not rush up to stand in line, eager to take their turn.  Lucy, the M.C. and a previous joke telling winner, coaxed them up a bit at a time in the kindest of ways.  Some people rushed up and rushed through their jokes and got back to their seats as quickly as possible.  Some people rambled on as if we were working on getting through a long winter's night together.  One couple 'performed' their joke as a dialogue (and a wonderful job they did!).  One guy absolutely buried the punch line, leaving us applauding but not laughing as we tried to figure out what he might have said there right at the end.

It's a charming event.  I can't remember a joke five minutes after someone tells it to me, so I can't imagine ever getting up there and repeating a joke.  Although maybe if I could get one, I could write it down and then practice it long enough to remember it.  But I admire the people who do remember them and are willing to stand up and entertain the rest of us.  Next thing, we'll be playing the piano for each other.