A Joke is Worth a Thousand Words

Before we begin, some caution is needed I ask you make sure that this warning is heeded The tale I recite is one of anger and loss And that saving five dollars is not worth the cost Of happiness and joy that you surely will lose If these events should happen to you The story begins in a far-off world In a land inhabited by scouting girls A land to the south, known as Kroger by most Surrounded by asphalt and a heinous host For it is there that they wait, with a table to ensnare Any lone traveler that is passing by there They wait there smiling, a facade of innocence, But of their virtuous nature I remain unconvinced Standing by the door, the girls block all passage They needed be stopped from selling cookie package I decided that action had to be taken I thought it’d be easy… I was mistaken I charged the Kroger on a Tuesday at dawn And to my surprise the children had gone “What is this deception? Some spell or a trap? They were here jus...

     The thing that amazed me the most about these actors was not their ability to make me laugh (which they did), but the absolute control that they had over their bodies. It was like watching a dancer perform. They were in complete control of everything they were doing and they used this ability to make people laugh. It was wonderful. There is something truly magical about watching someone with so much talent and skill use it for comedy. They were masters of the craft and I think that is why the scenes are still funny today. P.S. My personal favorite was Harold Lloyd, he had wonderful reactions and seemed to "play" with the camera the most.

1. Dumb and Dumber 2. The Other Guys 3. Monty Python's Meaning of Life 4. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead 5. The Big Lebowski

            One of the most interesting things that I think the class has talked about is tickle and how important it is to our development. It is something that I have never really thought about before. I know that I have been tickled, mostly by my parents when I was a child, but I never once thought that they might have been an important moment in my relationships. I had always presumed that most of my familial relations were strong because they are the ones who fed, clothed, and protected me as a child, and not because they were the first people that tickled me. I forgot how important tickle, and more broadly play, is for human development. This realization has helped since reading it. No, I am not going around trying to tickle people in order to gain friends, but I have been more friendly and fun around my current friends. It has led to stronger relationships and more bondedness between us. Fun is important part of friendship....

            We have just finished writing our midterm assignments for The Sounds of Silence and Laughter and I thought it would be fun to write a short reflection on my writing process, because it was different than any other writing assignment in my entire academic career. The assignment was to wright either a response to one of the books that we read in class, a parody, a satire, a mock epic, or a reflection on what we have discussed in class so far. I immediately knew that I wanted to write either the parody, satire, or mock epic; and I was leaning towards the mock epic. The reason for this is because I am an improv comedy team and I thought it would a lot easier for me to write something funny than write a reflection (and yes, I see the irony in me saying that as I write a reflection). I also thought that I have written comedy before (we write weekly sketch videos) and that this should be similar in nature to the thing I alrea...

            Being on the improv team, I have noticed an interesting correlation between the quality of the show and the size of the audience. Well, maybe quality is not the right word because all the shows are of extremely high quality, but the overall amount of laughter changes with the size of the audience. Larger audiences tend to laugh a lot more and be more willing to give suggestions than the smaller audiences. The latter is the easiest to explain. The more people there are, the more suggestions we will get because there are simply more people thinking of suggestions. The amount of laughter on the other hand is bit more difficult to explain. If the overall quality of the show remains the same, then shouldn’t the amount of laughter also remain constant? I think it might go back to what the Provine was talking about in Laughter ; laughter is contagious and the more people there are, the more likely the outbreak of contagious l...

I have often found humor in the most unlikely of places: funerals. I have been to an unusual amount of funeral for someone of my youthful age and I have somehow broken out into uncontrollable laughter at every one of them. The most recent on was my uncle’s earlier this year in February. I was sitting in the pew during the service with my brother Walter on my left, my Mother next to him, and my friend Daniel on the other side of my mother. The funeral was going fine (well, as fine as a funeral can be) until we got to the end. Up until that point my brother and I hadn’t so much as chuckled. Then, this old man got to speak, and he informed us that he was from the Free Masons. We were unprepared. He started this long half-memorized burial speech about out life, roses, tombs, the changing seasons, etc. The whole thing lasted several minutes and the whole time he had this southern Louisianan accent that was just a funny out of place scene. However, the funniest part was that he forgot his ...

              Laughter is a curious thing. Even more curious is the ability to make a person laugh. Somehow, saying the right words in the correct order is refreshing, new, and funny to the ears it falls upon. I sometimes make people laugh, because I am a member of Senseless Acts of Comedy (that is the improv comedy troupe at Texas Christian University), and we have performances every Thursday and people often laugh. It is a weird feeling when someone laughs at your joke. You feel a sense of pride because you thought of something that could be funny and then nervously sent out into the world and hope that people like it. You are either met with laughter or silence and there are few things in this world as incredible as hearing the laughs, and few things as discouraging as the response of silence. One such time that I cause the audience to howl with uncontrollable laughter is while playing an improv game called “poems”. The pr...

The class was recently charged with reading the short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty . I found it a humorous tale and the idea of a bit more fantasy and imagination in my life sounded intriguing to say the least. So, I started to engage in a bit more flights of fancy. It has been fun. All of a sudden, a simple walk to class transforms into a quest to recover the Holy Grail and a ride up the elevator becomes a special mission of espionage. The world begins to change around you and then mundane seems less drab and gloomy. It is like most of the world sees everyday like they are Dorothy in the beginning of The Wizard of Oz and everything is shrouded in that filthy, brownish sepia color. The world goes by and we’re all stuck on a farm in Kansas, and yet, with the smallest drop of imagination, we can be transported to colorful world full of magic and joy. It is a great way to experience life. I will admit, however, that it is also easier to get lost in this world and to lose track...