We Crack Us Up

2008-09-04T04:14:00.001-07:00

—You didn't come to see my last show, the Macbeth set in a swimming pool.

—Yes, but I dreamt that I came to see it, and I told you that you were very good. Doesn't that count?

2008-09-01T09:48:00.001-07:00

A new post?! Well, just a picture for Leta.

2007-06-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

Leta and I with our friend Jeff have talked about opening a theme bar, with a combo of Caribbean Islands and Adirondack Mountains motifs. We're going to call it The Last of the Mojitos.

2007-03-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

Bad puns that I suspect I'll never get to use in conversation (although this one really loses something without the hearing):

Let me tell you about the tribute band I played with while I was working on my Ph.D. in history and literature of religions. We were really into Satruday morning cartoons. We called ourselves Josephus and the Pussycats.

2006-10-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

David is my boss: he's a pretty easy-going guy most of the time, and we share a similar sense of humor. But we've got lots of stuff going on, so he's been pretty hassled recently.

DAVID [at keyboard, maintaining an Outlook invitee list for a recurring meeting]: So how do you remove somebody?

ME: You mean—completely?

DAVID looks at ME over the top of his glasses.

ME: Don't tell me you haven't thought about it.

2006-06-21T05:09:00.000-07:00

Q: If you meet an engineer at a party, how can you tell that he (and sometimes she) is an extrovert?

A: He's the one who tells the joke that starts, "If you meet an engineer at a party, how can you tell that he is an extrovert?"

2006-04-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

I dreamed: That I was at some sort of planning meeting for Reston Community Players. I was trying to get Sue's attention because I had some information to contribute about the database configuration of SQL Server for RCP. Jenny asked Heather if we could add honeysuckle to the salad bar selections. Heather said, "Honeysuckle?" and I said, "Yes! Now new and improved! With 30% less suck!" I started to chortle at my own joke and Rick just looked at me. I said, "Hey, I make myself laugh. Everyone else, it's your own lookout."

2006-02-06T07:01:00.000-08:00

Leta's favorite slang expression for a certain matutinal tumescence is a now a crunchy pop band.

2006-01-18T09:28:00.000-08:00

kottke.org points to a story by Maggie Wittlin about a recent review article by Matthew Gervais and David Sloan Wilson about the evolutionary development of laughter.

The authors begin their evolutionary tale of laughter well before humor came into the mix, arguing that laughter is a more basic function than even language. "Not only does it precede language developmentally...it probably preceded language in terms of evolution," Wilson said. "So, there was a time in our history when we were laughing before we were talking."

2006-01-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

When Leta is really amused by something, she laughs "tee-hee-hee," just like in the comic strips. I don't know how she learned to do this.