It Is To Laugh

I'm a fan of comedy. All sorts of comedy. I grew up on Monty Python and Fawlty Towers and started watching SNL when I was a tween. If Comedy Central played stand up all day I could watch it 24/7. Well, except for the part where my husband would revolt.

My husband lives in fear of my trips to the video store because you never know when I'm going to find comedy gold or A Night at the Roxbury (the only movie I ever remember us completely rejecting - he left after five minutes and within 30 I was like, "Yeah, no..." *click*). My most recent prized acquisition was a copy of the new Alvin and the Chipmunks. Yes, it's like that.

There are quite a few comedians that I admire and quote often. George Carlin was definitely on the list. I can hardly talk about airline travel without at least referencing his 'gather all your personal belongings' bit. "Well, what other kinds of belongings do they think I have? Public? Do they honestly think I brought along a fountain that I stole from the park?" (Napalm & Silly Putty) I counted on George to do some of my cynical thinking for me, so he will be greatly missed.

Another one of my oft quoted comedians is Lewis Black. I particularly appreciate his riffs on corporate greed. "A father and two sons run Adelphia. It's a cable company. And they took from that company a billion dollars. A billion. Three people... THREE people took a billion dollars. What were they gonna do, start their own space program? Let's send the monkey to Mars, Dad!" I think I already had that quote in both audio and video and now I have it in a book since just this week a friend gave me a copy of Nothing's Sacred since they found out I will be out of town when Lew will be here in July. I have awesome friends.

And, of course, no day is complete without quoting Bill Cosby. Just a simple "obie-kaybie" will do if there are no chances to reference something like cubits or chocolate cake.

But, all of that was actually intro material to get you around to my point. To have some context, you see. I like quality, quantity, and variety. I like everything from the dry, acidic wit of an Oscar Wilde play to the raucous, goofy antics of a Will Farrell skit. When I go old school for humor I'm talking Aristophanes, but I also try to keep an eye out for the freshest stuff. I'm just as likely to quote Moliere or Adam Sandler (although I'm pretty sure they both said "Just get in your hole, ball!").

Tonight I ran across an interesting list called Top Funny Fat Guys in Entertainment. It looks like the comments got fast and furious with at least half of the issues being about the order of the list when at the top it says quite plainly "in no particular order." There were two things that surprised me though. On the first one I am with the general direction of the comments - where is Jackie Gleason? On the second I'm shocked that many of the commenters either weren't familiar with Gabriel Iglesias or didn't like him. WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE? Gabriel is one of the best comedians to hit pop culture in years. Check out Gabriel Iglesias: Hot and Fluffy. I think he's awesome.

p.s. While writing this post I watched two episodes of "Whose Line Is It Anyway" and then went to "The Blues Brothers."