Tuesday, December 30, 2014

It was funny to me

Surprisingly enough, not everyone finds me funny. (Ok, it's not that surprising.) My sense of humor is sophomoric and sarcastic, bordering on obnoxious, and it makes frequent trips across that border. Many times, after making a joke that bombs, I have to add, "Oh well, it was funny to me."

You may ask, "Do you have any examples?" And if you didn't, I'm going to give a couple anyway.

I am an adult in my 40s, and fart jokes still make me laugh. The other day I watched the movie Blazing Saddles for the first time in several years, and I was surprised at how loudly I laughed during the campfire scene.

"I'd say you've had enough!"

Ok, maybe not that surprised.

And to this day I can't watch a Ford truck commercial without giggling like a schoolgirl every time they say "super duty." (I even laughed when I typed it.)

"Ok Don, those were some nice examples of juvenile humor, but what about obnoxious?"

There are far too many examples of my obnoxious humor, so I'll use a recent example. In my church choir, I sit next to a blind gentleman whose name starts with the letter Earl. Earl is a wonderful man, upbeat, always with a smile on his face. And he is always dressed very well on Sunday mornings.

At the church we have several screens that are used to display the lyrics of the songs being sung, for video presentations, or to display various messages. One such message welcomes people to the church and contains a montage of photos of church members taken during various activities.

One of those pictures is of Earl, nicely dressed, singing in the choir, looking very dapper. It is a beautiful picture. And since he didn't know about it (you know, being blind and all) I thought I'd be nice and tell him about it.

I said, "Hey Earl, on the screen is a welcome message with a montage of photos, and one of them is of you, singing in the choir."

Earl responded, "Really?"

I added, "Yeah, and you look terrible!"

[...]

Oh well, it was funny to me.


POSTLOGUE: Yes, I told him I was kidding.