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It’s that individual quality called amusing or comic.
Whether stone cold sober or on the second gin and tonic.
On the telly or expressed in film, song, speech or books.
The Fart Proudly non-fiction, Dangerfield or Mel Brooks.
People’s sense of fun stems from their geographical location,
Maturity, intelligence, genetics, culture and family foundation.
How about Humour from the English commonwealth,
Or the Greeks' humoral medicine for optimizing health.
Consider our American orthography: Humor
Instilled in a millennial, generation X, or baby boomer.
Humor can be physical, non-verbal or visual,
Dark, bodily, topical, surreal or improvisational.
Humor has a place where it started and is based.
Origins in ancient Greece have been located and traced.
Gaiety Greeks: Hierocles, Aristophanes and Aristotle,
Comic plays and phallic processions became the model.
One of many forms is the aggressive, cutting like scissors,
The likes of Don Rickles or the infamous Joan Rivers.
It involves put downs, criticisms and targeted kidding.
Most people love it, but some find it condescending.
Another is slapstick and its boundary of physical levity,
Dexterity, calamity, brutality, insanity and near fatality.
Fred Karno was the pie-in-the-face inventor or pioneer.
Mostly silent, just people falling on their face or their rear.
The Three Stooges and Chaplin perfected their slapsticks.
Watch Disorder In The Court or The Kid: such funny flicks.
My favorite slapstick actors of that era I must confess,
Try out Laurel and Hardy, silent on the screen in Big Business.
Buster Keaton was smooth and hilariously elegant,
He had a strong knack for character development.
Along with Fatty Arbuckle, Harold Lloyd or a Keystone Cop,
It made the silent audience snicker and laugh non-stop.
Hilarity spews from yet another, it’s the driest of dry,
Between McDonald and Steven Wright let's call it a tie.
Do not forget Oscar Wilde in the witty style either though:
“some cause happiness where they go; others when they go.”
Still other classifications include fantasy, irony and insult.
Think anecdotal, role play, vulgar, dirty and of course adult.
Only the next four rhyme verses shall be affiliative and clean,
As we ignore the snide, the hurtful and downright mean.
Entwined in this fun and my favorite mode of expression,
A hero who fights daily stress and our medicated depression.
A simple formula of set-up and punchline for funnier folk.
I will now present some amusing samples of telling a joke.
Five family fire ants move in together,
Joining three red, one carpenter and one named Heather.
They finally left the nest of their aging parents...
Now they count themselves as tenants.
Growing up poor, we could only afford a termite as a pet,
Lost for a proper insect name, I finally went with Chet.
He ate my bed, my jenga blocks and the floor where I stood...
I changed it to Chewy, then finally went with Clint Eats-wood.
Last night I accidentally took the medicine meant for my cat,
At first I was nauseous, then laid down and I finally just sat.
When my wife said “how could you do that, I don't see how?”...
I simply answered “Honey, please don’t ask meow!”
Last night I ate four cans of alphabet soup,
I was so full that I thought I would never recoup.
A heating pad, some pepto and a belly rub from the wife...
The next day I had the biggest vowel movement of my life.
In literature we peruse the print to catch the fun,
Check out the hardcover: Humour by T. Eagleton.
On the next bookshelf over is Humour Seriously,
About the power of jollification and tomfoolery.
Of the printed joke books, The Philogelos is the elder.
Translated, it's The Joker or The One Who Loves Laughter.
The scrooges, cheapskates and drunks of the day took offense,
Some two-hundred sixty-five jokes from bad breath to flatulence.
Let John Barth’s Sot-Weed Factor become part of your focus,
Some salacious and satirically printed humor to discuss.
Try The Princess Bride, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy,
Everyone Poops, Three Men In A Boat or Bridget Jones’ Diary.
There is no overlooking the farcical impact of comic strips.
We can't list them all, so how about just the blue chips.
Like Calvin and Hobbes, which brings me to tears,
Or Larson’s Far Side in every paper for the last forty years.
A crowded room of cavemen at a seminar is a Far Side ace.
The caveman leader stands before his men face-to-face.
All are dressed in loincloths made from animal hides.
Leopard groin shelters, where the off-spring maker presides.
The leader points to a dinosaur’s horned tail portrait,
Focused on the spikes that his cavemen usually omit.
”This is called a thagomizer…after the late Thag Simmons.”
The Far Side is surrealistic from the bizarre to its unique puns.
Ninety-three years, fifty-five countries and in thirty tongues.
It’s Blondie, a product of Chic and his son Dean, the Youngs.
It was inspired by the energetic flappers of nineteen-twenty.
They have two-hundred eighty million readers collectively.
Behind Katzenjammer Kids, which is number one,
Blondie has a current ranking at a third-longest run.
John Marshall came aboard in two-thousand and five,
The cartoonist helped the three frame, funny page thrive.
Songs can also be happy, funny or just make us smile.
They could be British, American or from the Emerald Isle.
Sandler’s Hanukkah or Chaplin’s Smile sung by Nat King Cole.
Sing along to “I’m Alright” from Caddyshack in a gopher hole.
Sondheim writes and Judy sings, “send in the clowns.”
We all need humor, whether homeless or wearing crowns.
Peaches Peaches by Jack, or Yes, We Have No Bananas,
I'm too Sexy or a full stadium belting out Sweet Carolinas.
Mambo Style Number Five or My Ding A Ling.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun gets any crowd to sing.
Gangnam Style seoul or Steve Martin crooning Ramblin Man.
Eat It by Al or Johnny Cash singing A Boy Named Sue to a fan.
On to funny films and characters, beginning with the animated:
Shark Tale, Kung Fu Panda and Maximus the thoroughbred,
Sing, Megamind, Ratatouille, Shrek, Tangled and Toy Story,
Hercules, Emperors New Groove and Marlin finding Dory.
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and Madagascar Three,
The Ice Age acorn, Family Guy and Aladdin's wild Genie.
Totally awesome Australian dudes named Crush and Squirt,
Despicable Me or that Flynn Rider’s smolder helps him to flirt.
Merida’s arranged marriage meeting at the castle in Brave,
Forcing her to follow tradition made her lie and misbehave.
A Bug’s life, Chicken Little and Prince Edward from Enchanted.
Bruce says “I'm having fish tonight” then tries to bite off Dory’s head.
On the big screen, stage or the boob-tube box,
Let’s kick it off with actor and comedian Redd Foxx.
The characters of showbiz who offer us comicality,
The ones who contribute to our clowning mentality.
Hey Milton and Tracy Morgan, Sinbad and Carlin,
Flip Wilson, Bernie Mac not to mention Steve Martin,
Jackie Mason, Bob Newhart, don’t forget about Candy,
David Spade, Groucho, John Cleese and Eddie Murphy.
A priceless one-liner from Mr. Henny Youngman,
Seinfeld, Bob Hope and Python’s Graham Chapman.
“I bet a dime” said Martini or was it Danny Devito?
You know you just can’t have an Abbott without a Costello.
Gilda, Stapleton, Doris Roberts and Moms Mabley,
Diller, Wiig, Sykes, Molly Shannon and Julia D.,
Minnie Pearl, Curtin or rock the porch with Cheri Oteri,
Poehler, Carol Burnett and a grape stomping I love Lucy.
Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein and his other comedies,
Home Alone or My Cousin Vinny’s laugh-inducing capabilities.
The Producers, Scrooge, Jingle All The Way and Christmas Vacation,
The Heat, Moonstruck, Bananas or Take The Money And Run.
Buddy Hackett, Norman Lear, Lorne Michaels or Blake Edwards,
Tyler Perry, Colin Quinn, Jerry Lewis or the Coen Brothers.
Woody Harrelson, Paul Feig, John Hughes and Harold Ramos,
Carl Reiner, Zero Mostel, and Hal Roach all made comedy famous.
Laugh at the faces of Jim Carey’s expressions.
Rich Little, Dana Carvey and Billy Crystal's impressions.
Can you say Gilliam, Burrell, Rogan, Kaufman or Mike Myers?
John Reilly, Will Ferrell, Rosenthal or Williams in Doubtfire.
Key’s classroom skit and Romano’s Raymond crack me up.
Peter Sellers Pink Panther puts coffee AND tea in my cup.
Michael Palin’s Pontius Pilate, Ken Pile or Pet Shop Owner,
Cheech and Chong as weed toking, Chevy driving stoners.
Madeline Kahn’s “Taffeta Darling” in Frankenstein.
Betty White’s humor is a personal favorite of mine.
Rachel Dratch cracking up in Debbie Downer Disney.
“Look away” while sitting on a sink is Melissa McCarthy.
Tina Fey, McKinnon and Maya Rudolph laugh like hell.
Live shows take talent and gumption, especially SNL.
Die laughing with Leanne Morgan on Netflix or on-demand,
Was selling jewelry in living rooms before perfecting her brand.
From Grail: “You stay here and make sure he doesn't leave.”
Seth’s lewd school art or his staring at Evan’s mothers cleave.
Belushi on a ladder watching “Babs” was our seventies porn.
Did you laugh when Squints kissed lifeguard Wendy Peffercorn?
In Bridesmaids the bad meal and the wedding dress store.
The Other Guys skit with dirty talk from the shy mother-in-law.
Carla is “impressed” with a Bad Moms client's request for a crotch wax.
Doctor Leo Marvin’s patient Bob has multiple phobias and panic attacks.
Plains Trains and Automobiles during the driving scene,
Wilder tells students he’s doctor “Baron Von Fronkensteen.”
The Airplane movie’s air traffic controller and pilot scene.
McLovins fake ID proving he’s from Hawaii and not a teen.
Jonathan Winters, Leslie Nielson, Steve Carell or Bill Murray,
Eric Idle, Jackie Gleason, Kenneth Mars and Steve Harvey,
Woody Allen, Gary Shandling, Ed O’Neil and Steve Allen,
Vince Vaughn, Gene Wilder, Bill Hader and Jimmy Fallon.
W.C Fields, DeLuise, Rob Reiner, Maniscalco are hilarious,
Benny Hill, Belushi, Chris Rock and Farley are all Aquarius.
Marx Brothers, Garret Morris, both Jack’s: Benny and Black,
Harvey Korman, Ben Stiller, Letterman, Schneider laugh attack.
Joe Pesci says “two yutes”, Dan Aykroyd as Elwood,
Stiller and Meara for all those funny years they withstood.
Apatow, Owen Wilson, The Smothers Brothers and Tom Hanks,
We also owe Sid Caesar, Tim Conway and Ted Knight a thanks.
A nod to Gilligan's Island, Mash and I Dream of Genie,
Get Smart, F-Troop, Munsters and The Addams Family.
The Tonight Show or Deputy Barney Fife from Mayberry,
A toast to the cast of Cheers, Taxi and All In The Family.
Good Times, Frazier, The Office or Will and Grace,
How about Justin from Wizards of Waverly Place?
Modern Family, The Office and Two And A Half Men,
Friends, Curb Your Enthusiasm or Parks and Recreation.
Liv and Maddie’s funny and wiseguy brother Joey,
The Suite Life had Zack and his twin sibling Cody.
Hogan’s Heroes and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,
The Odd Couple, Green Acres, I even laughed at Hazel.
Bewitched, Faulty Towers and Saved By The Bell,
Schitt’s Creek, Family Matters with funny boy Steve Erkle.
The Young Ones, Get Smart and Who’s The Boss,
Maude, Welcome Back Kotter or Jessie’s Luke Ross.
Brooklyn Nine Nine, Ted Lasso, Laugh-in and Barney Miller,
Arrested Development and 3rd Rock are my extracurricular.
The Dean Martin Roast, Honeymooners and Big Bang Theory,
Humorousness, witticism, a funny-side, and shear buffoonery.
The twins on Full House and That’s So Raven’s brother Cory,
Happy Days, ICarly’s Spencer or Jack on Three’s Company,
Home Improvement and Hannah Montana’s Jackson,
Lizzy’s brother Matt or Good Luck Charlie’s Amy Duncan.
Terry Jones’, Flying Circus and the Lumberjack song.
Shaped my warped sense of humor, and made it real strong.
Cheese Shop, Dead Parrot, “Nudge Nudge” or Silly Walk Ministry,
The Spanish Inquisition, Hell’s Grannies or Frontal Nudity.
My early childhood was filled with laughs from cartoons.
Most Saturday mornings were spent watching Looney Tunes.
Tweety and Sylvester, George, Jane and Astro from the Jetson’s,
The Road Runner gets chased but quickly escapes and outruns.
Top Cat, The Flintstones, Bugs Bunny and Elmer J Fudd,
Coyote always got pulverized but they never showed blood.
Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Yosemite had really cool voices,
Pepe Le Pew, Tom and Jerry and Foghorn were obvious choices.
But all joking aside people, let's get back to the jokes.
Shall we see what kind of laughter this next group evokes.
These next two jokes might be slightly closer to the edge.
We may have young readers so I will teeter near the ledge.
A man was walking on the sand enjoying the air and water,
Using a California beach as his natural rehabilitator.
Just then he tripped over something hard in the sand,
A lamp which he rubbed and it asked for one command.
“Build me a beautiful bridge to Hawaii” the man asked.
The genie thought long and hard about what he was tasked.
He noted the genie’s expressions were filled with objections.
The man also knew his usual luck and braced for rejections.
“No way” the genie said, "I cannot disturb the environment.”
“This wish would impact the Pacific to the greatest extent.”
Genie then asked for another wish, he said “tell me your dream.”
The man thought to himself, I must make this one supreme.
The man replied, “Tell me all about women, their inner voice,
Their passion, feelings and even what makes them rejoice.
I want to know everything I can right down to their core”...
The genie replied: “two lanes or four?”
Nana and grandson Peter went to the beach one day,
She wouldn’t let him swim in the ocean or the bay.
After much trepidation, she decided to let him go,
But not before a lecture on sharks and the undertow.
No sooner was he in when his body disappeared.
A lifeguard quickly reacted and a surfer volunteered.
They dragged his lifeless body to the sandy shore.
The lifeguard did compressions until he was sore.
Nana leaned over the body with extreme anxious worry.
Peter’s eyes opened as he spit up water in an eruptive flurry.
The lifeguard looked to Nana for a rewarding back pat.
Nana’s only comment was...“he had a hat?”
I hope this poem about humor was funny, entertaining, memorable and worthwhile.
It began with my interest in writing but ended with my desire to make you smile.
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