Cherry Saturday, February 8, 2020

~ Jenny

It’s Laugh and Get Rich Day. I’m not sure about the rich part, but I’ll sign on to anything that makes me laugh. Calvin and Hobbes. Airplane. Monty Python and the non-flying parrot. Pratchett’s Discworld. Hot Fuzz.. P. G. Wodehouse. Bloom County.

Your turn. Give me your favorite all-time funnies, please.

68 thoughts on “Cherry Saturday, February 8, 2020”

  1. There was a movie called Clockwise by PG Wodehouse that I saw one in the theater. I couldn’t stop laughing.

    Calvin and Hobbes used to be the best part of every morning. I still remember picking up the paper and reading that a big dog had run off with Hobbes, and reading the story as it unfolded over the next few days. The huge relief when Hobbes was found.

    I’m looking forward to finding new funnies here. The house inspection turned up a lot of stuff and we ended up terminating the contract. The inspector and realtor kept saying anything is fixable, and that the seller could be negotiated with, but it was all adding to so fast. And there were things that the inspector would have liked to be able to see, but couldn’t get in to see, which made us too uneasy.

    And on the way home from the inspection we heard that a leak had been found at our current house, so we have to deal with getting it fixed and it’s a thing that involves more than a simple leak.

    We are getting discouraged and tired.

    1. Kudos to you for doing the house inspection, Diane. And for respecting your uneasy feelings about going forward. The process may feel discouraging, but your approach is actually smart and empowering. Finding a home can take time, and that’s okay, because a home is more than just a house with walls and a roof, it’s somewhere that needs to feel right, too. If this house doesn’t and it’s not the right match for you, it just means somewhere else will be better:)

      Meanwhile, it sounds like you’re both acting as a team which is a wonderful win. And any repairs you do to your present house will just make it that much easier to sell when the time comes. Here’s hoping that’s soon.

  3. In addition to Terry Pratchet, Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes, Monty Python:
    Doonesbury, Zits, Baby Blues
    Jenny Crusie of course, Loretta Chase, Julia Quinn
    Cartoons in the New Yorker
    Alices Restaurant
    Many stories about my kids when small (there are some which a quarter of a century later I still can’t tell without giggling)
    Great political snark (Barney Frank was a master)
    Molly Ivins, Calvin Trillin
    Still pondering

    1. I still miss Molly Ivins so much! She was so funny but her columns always went straight to the point.

      1. Oh, I miss Molly Ivins. She’d have been brutal about this admin.
        I stole “Nothing But Good Times Ahead” from her.

  4. I love Bloom county. My brother gave me a bassalope for my birthday. I giggle everytime I pass it.

    My favorite funny movie is Oscar, with Sylvester Stallone. It is a farce set during prohibition. It still makes me laugh every time.

  6. Far Side is always good. And now we can get it at the shiny new official website from Gary Larsen.

  7. Step 1 is running through my shortcuts. Schlock Mercenary, Day by Day Cartoon, El Goonish Shive, Dumbing of Age, Questionable Content, Sequential Art, Order of the Stick, Freefall, Grrl Power, Living With Hipstergirl and Gamergirl, Baen’s Bar, Argh Ink.

    Step 2 is scanning my shelves for funny DVDs. Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail, seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Groudhog Day, seven seasons plus a year of Gilmore Girls, The Ink Spots, Daria, the Complete Animated Series. Alas, my copies of The Hogfather and The Colour of Magic were VHS and went the donation route. I think Airplane went with them, and others I can’t recall.

    Step 3 is probably free association. Pratchett? Absolutely, and I can see paperbacks for The Fifth Elephant and Making Money still on the shelf. My Kindle and thumb-drive libraries have entries like Esther Friesner’s anthologies and her novels, Nobody’s Princess and Nobody’s Prize about the early life of Helen of Sparta before Troy was an option. Keith Laumer’s Retief. Harry Harrison’s Stainless Steel Rat, Slippery Jim deGriz. More Pratchett. A lot of Disney and Pixar and other animated movies. and yes, Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County, Far Side.

    I’ve spent a lot of time laughing myself buttless. I would love to recommend Naked Through the Snow and Other Bits of Silliness by Sailor Jim Johnston, but it is out of print. You might find a copy for sale, but they’ll want $40 or $50 for it. You can still find his essays, Death by Pizza, An Ill Wind, and On the Subject of Penises somewhere on the web. That last? “There are some literary subjects that have become total clichés and
    attempting to describe an erect penis is one.” Do not be drinking a beverage near your keyboard if you read that one. SBTB liked it.

  8. My dogs make me laugh every day and I am so grateful. I have a goldendoodle who turns two next week, and a corgi who will be one year old a couple weeks later. You’ll notice this means I’ve been raising a puppy two years running. I must have been insane, but they are so full of joy how can I not laugh?

    Dogs. Best thing ever.

  9. Lots of great additions so far.

    I started to list some humorous poems, like The Cremation of Sam McGee and Ogden Nash’s The Panther. Then I wondered about humorous poems by women and couldn’t remember any. I haven’t found many yet. Here’s one:
    Poem Composed in Santa Barbara
    Wendy Cope

    The poets talk. They talk a lot.
    They talk of T. S. Eliot.
    One is anti. One is pro.
    How hard they think! How much they know!
    They’re happy. A cicada sings.
    We women talk of other things.

      1. Dorothy Parker was one of two authors who made me want to be a writer. The other was Georgette Heyer.

  10. Lots of movies, one of my favorites is the original “The In Laws” with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. Serpentine! I laughed very hard at parts of “Spy” the Melissa McCarthy movie, and the one she did with Sandra Bullock, “The Heat.” Funny books, My Family and Other Animals, G. Durrell. It wasn’t unusual for me to burst out laughing at the One for the Money series, Stephanie Plum. But I can’t remember the author’s name at the moment. I don’t keep up with them any more, because sheesh, get an apartment door that locks.

    1. Of forgotten the original “The In-Laws.” Heh. In addition to “Serpentine” I Lang so hard at “The eagle has landed…”

      And “The Out-of-Towners” with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis.

      I’m always leery of rewatching old movies that were comedies for fear the humor will not stand the test of time.

    1. Humorous Books: “The River Why,” by David James Duncan; “It’s All Your Fault,” by Paul Rudnick; “A Damsel in Distress” and “Pigs Have Wings,” by P. G. Wodehouse [these two books edged out “Leave It to Psmith,” because they each include humorous poetry disguised as newspaper articles]; “To Say Nothing of the Dog,” by Connie Willis.

      Speaking of Humorous Poetry: Anything by Wallace Irwin, but especially “A Nautical Extravagance,” and “Rhyme of the Chivalrous Shark;” “The Hunting of the Snark,” by Lewis Carroll; almost anything by W. S. Gilbert.

      Humorous Movies: “The Great Race” [Tony Curtis, Jack Lemon AND Jack Lemon]; “What’s Up, Doc?” [although Jenny thinks the suitcases are too confusing]; “Young Frankenstein;” the first “Pink Panther” movie; “Cold Comfort Farm.”

      1. I love Rudnick. I used to teach Jeffrey when I taught a lit course on love stories. So good.

        And I LOVE What’s Up, Doc?. But if we’re talking technique, those bags needed some help.

        1. Oh, I love What’s Up, Doc?. Just re-watched it over Christmas when the kids were home. I never tire of it. Also re-watched Bringing up Baby and Arsenic and Old Lace.

  12. I know if I start browsing through a book of George Booth cartoons there will be many laughs.

  14. Smothers Brothers! (I know. I’m old. Their tv show, or most of it, is available on DVD.)

    Sadly, most of their bits (anti-war, anti-rascism) are still timely. And some are just timelessly funny, like the one about falling into a vat of chocolate.

    2. Ditto, I’m also adding Milton Berle, Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows, Steve Allen’s laugh, Carol Burnett and gang, episodes of Mary Tyler Moore including the finale. I’m cherry picking through my brain so I’ll stop here. I’ve had a lot of years devoted to comedy watching.

  17. I love the Carol Burnett Show. I always laugh at that. And America’s Funniest Videos. I laugh ’till I cry.

  18. Early TV I grew up with, The Smothers Brothers and Laugh In. (Hey, laugh is right in the name.) Carol Burnett.

    Lots of funny older British shows. My favorite is Are You Being Served. Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Goodies

    Movies: Monty Python anything, Mel Brooks anything, The Princess Bride (which I just rewatched and it is still wonderful), Airplane

    Books: Jenny, of course. Esther Friesner

    Comics: I loved Doonesbury. Funny and smart. I have a book somewhere of Doonesbury strips called “The Pension Fund was Just Sitting There.”

    2. I love the Smothers Brothers. And Carol Burnett. I recently tried to re-watch Laugh In and it was very not funny. It didn’t age well.

    3. Someone else who’s seen the Goodies! They had a radio show, (not the Goodies, but they were in it and some Pythony people.) whose name I’ve forgotten, but one of my favourite puns was…

      “What are you doing there, sitting with those lions?”
      “Oh, jut reading between the lines.”

      Also, Father Ted. Speed Three is one of my favourite episodes.

  20. “Let Your Mind Alone” James Thurber
    anything by Tom Bodette
    My dear sister would say “The Decline and Fall of Practically Everyone” by Will Cuppy
    For movies “Noises Off” we all laughed so hard the first time we saw it that we missed so much and had to see it again.

    1. James Thurber! I once tried to read “The Night the Bed Fell” in front of a class and laughed so hard I had to leave the room.

  21. Abfab (TV) — particularly the first two seasons. Confederacy of Dunces (book) Dame Edna Everage (Chat show especially). Eddie Izzard’s early standup. Our cat, Mr. Fluffypants, when he decides to beat us to wherever we’re walking to show us he can read our minds and intentions.

  23. All the above (!) plus many more of the daily comics in newspapers plus a friend said something recently that reminded me of the the Archie Bunker (“All in the Family”) shoe and sock scene. We pulled it up online and laughed for 2 minutes.

    Not sure how it will play to non-American eyes not familiar with this extraordinary 1970’s sitcom, but maybe worth a look.

    Also not sure about giving links here to UTube but you can find the segment by searching these words:
    all in the family sock shoe episode

  24. Forgot to add that the Tracey Ullman Angela Merkel “poker face” (or eye rolling) skit is fall on the floor laughing funny. Ullman is brilliant and you can watch the skit over and over and see something new in her performance every time. And of course just about everything Ullman does is brilliant.

    I think she has more than one Merkel skit, and you can find this one by searching:
    Angela Merkel’s poker face problem – Tracey Breaks the News – BBC One

  25. Hmm… Things not mentioned by other people yet…

    Mel Brooks – The Producers, Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs, The 2000 Year Old Man (with Carl Reiner)

    Big Trouble by Dave Barry
    Pest Control by Bill Fitzhugh
    The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

  26. Nicole Hollander: Sylvia plus her non Sylvia cartoons. I have all her books plus my husband for Christmas had her sign the original strip of her Sylvia and the Dogs from Hell “The Dogs from Hell decide to open their condo to people who decided not to vote this November”

    When the local newspaper cancelled her strip, I cancelled our subscription.

      1. She lives here in Chicago and when my friend Ted had garage sales she would stop by.
        I, also cancelled my subscription when my paper cancelled Sylvia, but it didn’t help. When United Features dropped her syndication deal, nobody carried her strip.
        Must reread her books.

  27. All the Gerald Durrell books. OUR HEARTS WERE YOUNG AND GAY, by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough — I still lose it when I read the chapter where they bought the rabbitskin coats and then wear them to dinner with Cornelia’s parents. CROCODILE ON THE SANDBANK. DEATH’S BRIGHT ANGEL, the scene at the Messiah rehearsal, and every scene in the series set at opera rehearsals. DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT, where Tibby is given an oral examination to enter Mrs. Hallam’s school. DOUKAKIS’S APPRENTICE and PLAYING BY THE GREEK’S RULES by Sarah Morgan — love the back-and-forth between the hero and heroine. THE COUNTERFEIT MADAM, for the goings-on in the bawdy house. Joyce Holms. Georgette Heyer. THE BILLIONAIRE TAKES A BRIDE for Homer, the imaginary gerbil, and THE BABY PLAN for its resolution, both by Liz Fielding, and her GENTLEMEN PREFER … BRUNETTES, for the dinner. THE ATTENDING PHYSICIAN by R. B. Dominic, for the Medicaid fraud. A CIVIL CAMPAIGN. MURDER WITH PEACOCKS, by Donna Andrews. “Rowland Shew” and “Oswald Lempe” articles in ANALOG. The cats in 9 CHICKWEED LANE.

    Jon Stewart’s DAILY SHOW episode on Obama and McCain discussing saving energy by inflating your auto tires. And the episode when Mark Sanford disappeared on Father’s Day to clear his head on the Appalachian Trail — though that includes my mother’s reaction to the word that it happened on Naked Hiking Day.

    1. I hunted down Our Hearts Were Young And Gay – I now have a copy!

      Another one – From Beowulf to Virginia Woolf. I believe it should be set as the English Lit exam – students should be presented with it, and anyone who doesn’t laugh fails dismally.

      Also – what about St Mary’s? I cannot read them in public, as I laugh too loudly. It alarms my cat, but he’s used to me by now.

  28. Frasier, Bob Newhart. Something about Mary. Bugs Bunny,(especially the opera ones). Rocky and Bullwinkle. Arlo and Janis.
    Mary Tyler Moore-Mary’s bad day.

  29. Movies that I can count on making me laugh are American Dreamer, and The Gods Must be Crazy.

    Calvin and Hobbes, yes! Also I love For Better or For Worse; it always makes me laugh. If you want to check it out, you can find the entire strip from beginning to end online.

    A book that always makes me laugh out loud is The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be by Farley Mowat. I agree with many of the books listed above too.

  31. Two from my youth: Joyce Grenfell and Flanders & Swann. More recently, Victoria Wood. And currently on Netflix, ‘Sex Education’.

    2. The Importance of Being Earnest.
      Tom Lehrer. Anna Russell sings and sings again. Peter Schickele andPDQBach.
      And lots of Jon Stewart.

  33. I forgot to include: all by Roger Ebert

    YOUR MOVIE SUCKS

    A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF UNBEARABLE LENGTH: More movies that suck

    I HATED, HATED, HATED THIS MOVIE

    EBERT’S BIGGER LITTLE MOVIE GLOSSARY: A Greatly Expanded and Much Improved Compendium of Movie Clichés, Stereotypes, Obligatory Scenes, Hackneyed Formulas, Conventions, and Outdated Archetypes

  34. Yesterday I introduced the family to the film, Clue. To cut a long story short…too late!

  35. things that make my family cry with laughter that I haven’t seen mentioned:
    The Muppet Show
    Shaenon Garrity’s Narbonic http://narbonic.com/
    Christopher Baldwin’s Little Dee http://www.littledee.net/
    all the Marx Brothers but particularly Night at the Opera (“and a hardboiled egg”) (actually the entire stateroom scene) (and the part where they change the apartment as the cop walks through it) (and the part… nevermind)

  36. Catastrophe on Prime. It’s amazingly funny. (although not for the prudish…it’s a bit blue at times)

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