"It was so beautiful today that Camilla...

[Guest]

Lurker in the the third balcony timidly raises hand.

Jayne

*snicker*

Me.

But then I loved the straw hat bit, too.

I also laughed at the frisbee joke, and the Grand Theft Election, and the Jeb Bin Laden smarter brother.

I think I'm going to go back to bed.

*chuckle*

Thank you, ladies.

 

[Guest]

I'm glad you asked. My ego is the size of Prince Charles' ears. And you're adorable when you're frothing at the mouth.

Ok, that was my turn to spit stuff all over the place.

Bless you, Sher.

 

[TheEarl]

First point to The Earl. But ...

Letterman is also fond of the "isn't this a crap joke?" joke. Ironically, it's quite a lot like the joke Gauche referenced in the Python sketch - a joke that mocks the smarmy, ha-ha presence of the presenter himself. This is a piece with the humor of someone who makes "Stupid Pet Tricks" a key part of the show and on one occasion discoursed on the warm, supportive feeling of having the entire studio audience come together as one and give him the finger.

Letterman has his good days and his bad days. Hardly surprisingly given the sheer bulk of work he does. I love "Have I Got News for You?," but it doesn't run as many hours a week as Letterman does, and so it works differently. Someone who presents as much as Letterman does will need a staff, and will have roughly the same talent spread a great deal thinner. He comes up with some decent gags now and then, nonetheless.

Having not seen the snip in question, I can't really say whether it's funny or not. I'd have to see Letterman do it. As The Earl points out, devoid of delivery and context, it's a cheap and dull gag. But as Shereads points out (implicitly, one might argue), it's a bit unreasonable to expect the joke to sparkle totally devoid of all of the elements that originally made it funny. Counter-point to The Earl for the implied "then why did you post it where it couldn't have all of that context and delivery?"; indeed, the joke becomes something other than it was.

Possibly this is why my favorite jokes are of the anonymous, "a man walks into a bar" variety. But I hope that we can at least all enjoy "Catch-22" as a standard for something genuinely funny.

Shanglan

Anyone else get visions of the "Shall we play at questions?" scene from 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' during that post? Kudos for playing umpire Shang.

Sher, even though I still haven't slept since we spoke last, and even though I still think your supercilious attitude points to a major superiority complex that seems to manifest itself in a smug self-satisfied style of debating, I am sorry that I ranted at you. You were there, you caught the vent and I shouldn't have said most of that. I'm sorry.

The Earl

 

[BlackShanglan]

Anyone else get visions of the "Shall we play at questions?" scene from 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' during that post? Kudos for playing umpire Shang.

Now that is a genuinely funny scene. I'm delighted to have reminded anyone of Stoppard in any way, however tangential.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Is this thing still going?

Boy, now I am REALLY grateful that I have friends to haul me out for a sunny, spring, Sunday afternoon walk to the park.

Probably the only way to resolve this is if TBS’s recent "Is That Funny?" campaign is carried through in real life, so we can always check first, before we inadvertently laugh at something that is humorously incorrect.

If Ted does bankroll the service, I feel certain TheEarl and Gauchecritic can probably obtain upper management positions there, provided that they are willing to relocate to Atlanta, Georgia.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Do you realize this dumb thread has gone on for 86 hours, five pages and 105 posts - 106 counting this one. Why am I reading it and contributing? I should be writing and editing dirty stories.

 

[shereads]

Counter-point to The Earl for the implied "then why did you post it where it couldn't have all of that context and delivery?"; indeed, the joke becomes something other than it was.

Hi Shanglan. You heard the horse-face comments and came by to have your hooves cleaned, did you? I made alfalfa brownies just for you.

Back on page one of this epic, I said the joke didn't work out of context and that posting it had been a silly impulse. I now take it back: the joke, out of context, is so rich with layered irony that its brilliance cannot be fully appreciated, even by its writer. If the producers of the Letterman show had realized what they had here, they would have thought twice before revealing the joke to a mass audience. My ego is enormous, but even I am mystified by the power of the joke to seduce or repel, depending upn the audience. Chilled Vodka, in a meditative mood, might get it, but would he be able to explain it to the rest of us in simple terms? I don't know. Maybe we need these mysteries to keep us humble. (By "us" I mean the rest of you. I'm humility-impaired. It's a genetic deficiency comparable to the one that gave poor Camilla the face of an Afghan Hound. How I envy anyone who can grovel without faking it!)

Possibly this is why my favorite jokes are of the anonymous, "a man walks into a bar" variety.

I like the ones with specific types of men: priest, rabbi, duck, etc.

 

[Guest]

Do you realize this dumb thread has gone on for 86 hours, five pages and 105 posts - 106 counting this one. Why am I reading it and contributing? I should be writing and editing dirty stories.

It beats scrubbing gussets.

 

[TheEarl]

Is this thing still going?

Boy, now I am REALLY grateful that I have friends to haul me out for a sunny, spring, Sunday afternoon walk to the park.

Probably the only way to resolve this is if TBS’s recent "Is That Funny?" campaign is carried through in real life, so we can always check first, before we inadvertently laugh at something that is humorously incorrect.

If Ted does bankroll the service, I feel certain TheEarl and Gauchecritic can probably obtain upper management positions there, provided that they are willing to relocate to Atlanta, Georgia.

Sadly, I actually had nothign better to do than to post here. My brain won't let me sleep and the one time that I managed to raise my spirits enough to leave the house, it was to go down the pub to watch my rugby team lose a crucial game by a very narrow margin. So, I spent most of the nighttime hours listening to snide comments.

Feel free to add some more. Extra points if you get an insult to link in directly with a quote from this post.

The Earl

 

[BlackShanglan]

Hi Shanglan. You heard the horse-face comments and came by to have your hooves cleaned, did you? I made alfalfa brownies just for you.

Mmmm. My second-favorite herbaceously modified brownies. Many thanks.

Back on page one of this epic, I said the joke didn't work out of context and that posting it had been a silly impulse. I now take it back: the joke, out of context, is so rich with layered irony that its brilliance cannot be fully appreciated, even by its writer.

Back on page one, it wasn't brilliant. Now, in the context of this entire thread, it is at least mildly amusing. Ah, the transient joy that is humor. Never fear, though - I'm sure that we can argue about it for another four pages and make it dull again.

I like the ones with specific types of men: priest, rabbi, duck, etc.

I tend to like the ones about humans best. Really no telling what you rum little creatures will get up to.

Shanglan

 

[Guest]

Feel free to add some more. Extra points if you get an insult to link in directly with a quote from this post.

The Earl

Nope, can't. Won't.

But, I'd settle for some hugs instead. You give good ones. Cheers, mate.



P.S. Need any gussets scrubbing?

 

[BlackShanglan]

Sadly, I actually had nothign better to do than to post here. My brain won't let me sleep and the one time that I managed to raise my spirits enough to leave the house, it was to go down the pub to watch my rugby team lose a crucial game by a very narrow margin. So, I spent most of the nighttime hours listening to snide comments.

Feel free to add some more. Extra points if you get an insult to link in directly with a quote from this post.

The Earl

Sorry to hear that the rugby team lost, The Earl. But it did make me smile remembering your response to an earlier thread when some poor soul made the mistake of thinking that you played football (Soccer for Americans.) Still, there's a nobility in a narrow margin. My favorite American football team lost the biggest possible game to a team that badly overmatched them. I was as proud of the close game as I could have been of a win - they played brilliantly and made a tight match out of a game that no one in the entire country thought they had a chance at. Good lads.

Can't really come up with any insults. I'm just scouring about the Internet for a pillow-sized chunk of amethyst for you to lay your poor head on and get some sleep. In the meantime, I've tried poking an Ambien through the holes in the back of my computer - let me know if it gets to you.

Shanglan

 

[Guest]

I tend to like the ones about humans best. Really no telling what you rum little creatures will get up to.

Shanglan

This posh bird walked into a bar. The bartender asked her what she was drinking.

"How can I tell you what I want if I don't know what you serve," she replied. "Throw me a bone, will you?"

 

[shereads]

Do you realize this dumb thread has gone on for 86 hours, five pages and 105 posts - 106 counting this one. Why am I reading it and contributing? I should be writing and editing dirty stories.

That's what I mean! There's something about that joke that's impossible to shrug off. It's less like a set of words than it is a top-secret verbal weapon that escaped from an underground lab in Moscow.

Btw, Box, I've been meaning to tell you what a masterful job of leg-pulling you've done here. I don't know about anyone else, but you had me wondering right up until you called the weather into question. If you'd lengthen my other leg to make them match, I'd appreciate it. Thank you for the laugh and the extra quarter-inch of height.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

. . . pub to watch my rugby team lose a crucial game by a very narrow margin. . .

I feel that in a pinch I could do something like:

"If fans of winning rugby teams riot and break shit, what do fans of losing rugby teams do --- reseed their neighbour's lawn?"

But, until Ted Turner has actually brought the Is That funny? service online, I don't think I should take the chance.




Instead, I'll go take Seattle Zack 's Sexual Aptitude Test, and remind myself why I never felt the least desire to date Math Club geeks.




And no, that crack about Math Club geeks was not meant to be funny.

 

[shereads]

Ok, that was my turn to spit stuff all over the place.

Bless you, Sher.

I haven't forgiven you for calling the poor bitch a cow. The implication that the wife of a future monarch has one massive, pendulous breast with multiple nipples isn't funny. It's terrifying. I expected you, of all people, to be more sensitive.

 

[gauchecritic]

I hope I'm being Benny the Butt Faced Boy here. (Butt faced, butt of the joke? Yeah? No? Dust? Anyone?)

Sher? You read into: "Letterman (and his lazy writers) = lowest common denominator. (he wouldn't get the joke there)"

that:

Do the math. If Letterman audience = Lowest Common Denominator and shereads = Letterman audience, Gauche has just responded to a silly joke with a mean-spirited insult.

First, this isn't math(s) it's language. There's no equation.

Second, I responded to a mean spirited insult with an observation about most of Dave's audience, which you seem unwilling to accept.

Stop bringing yourself to what I write.

How can I say this any differently? When someone tells a poor, 'superiority' joke then a lot of the people who laugh will laugh only at the joke, not at any irony, pathos or bathos which surrounds it.

Forget it. You're American, you're (as always) if not forgiven then at least condescendingly patted on the head. Don't bother reading anything other into that last sentence than what I've written.

PM me and tell me that this is all Vienna and I'll PM you back and tell you to fuck right off.

I poured a lot of work into those few posts, filling them with sly, bitter and subtle back hands. And what do I get in return? Nothing. Go home Yanqui.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

I haven't forgiven you for calling the poor bitch a cow. The implication that the wife of a future monarch has one massive, pendulous breast with multiple nipples isn't funny. It's terrifying. I expected you, of all people, to be more sensitive.

What I think Lou was trying to indicate, is that as a future former ruler of India, Camilla has become a Sacred Cow and can no longer be called a bitch no matter if ALL her teeth can be scientifically verified as canines.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Forget it. You're American, you're (as always) if not forgiven then at least condescendingly patted on the head. Don't bother reading anything other into that last sentence than what I've written.

(...)

I poured a lot of work into those few posts, filling them with sly, bitter and subtle back hands. And what do I get in return? Nothing. Go home Yanqui.

Quite the contrary. Some of us do, indeed, catch the backhand. Including those who feel that they've done little to deserve it.

 

[shereads]

Sher, even though I still haven't slept since we spoke last, and even though I still think your supercilious attitude points to a major superiority complex that seems to manifest itself in a smug self-satisfied style of debating, I am sorry that I ranted at you. You were there, you caught the vent and I shouldn't have said most of that. I'm sorry.

Your style of apologizing points to a desire to make sure your target knows you don't like her, in case she missed it before. I didn't miss it. I was surprised by it, to be perfectly honest, just as I was surprised by Gauche's first reply to this thread.

In retrospect, I doubt that Gauche meant to insult me when he said what he did. His teasing sometimes makes me feel out-classed and embarrassed. With anyone else, I might have replied to a perceived insult with one of my own; with Gauche, I can't win at a game of one-upmanship so I try to cover my embarrassment in other ways.

I did that here by pretending we were all having fun. When Gauche wasn't able to dumb-down his posts to my comfort level, I blew a fuse.

(I'm sorry, Gauche. Don't sod off. I've missed having you around. If you do sod off, have fun andcome back when you're done.)

Other than telling Gauche to sod off, until I reacted to your rant last night, I hadn't said anything here that was was meant as a personal shot. I had a tough time believing that anyone was taking this seriously, until Lou explained why she disliked the joke. She made it clear she didn't blame me for laughing, and got in on the game. Box played along. It became fun. I was high on silliness and sarcasm, my drugs of choice. And believe it or not, I didn't have an inkling that you felt personally attacked until you said so last night. In fact, I thought you had either lost interest in the thread and moved on to better things or were being marvelously tolerant and thick-skinned.

Earl, I don't know you well enough to presume that I have the power to insult or belittle you, even if I wanted to. I certainly didn't care enough about Camilla Letterman to do it here. I've never intentionally wounded anyone in the AH outside of the political threads. I take those seriously, to the extent that I sometimes forget to care how people feel. This was nothing but an ill-advised lark; an attempt to salvage my pride by playing a game. I'm sorry you were hurt by it. It wasn't intentional.

I usually soften my posts with smilies, to make sure people know they are harmless. But Gauche considers the use of smilies to be a sign of laziness. I have a lot of personality challenges to overcome, but if my need to earn Gauche's approval is any indication, a superiority complex is the least of them.

Make him stop picking on me and I'll be nicer.

 

[Guest]

<nostalgia mode>

This thread has felt so much like the AH of old. It's luvverly.

</nostalgia mode>

*ducks and runs from the fallout from that little bomb*

What? We haven't had one of these posts for a long time, have we? I used to love this kind of "discussion" it kept me from going do-lally. Now all I have is an alter-ego who's gone out of control.

FEED ME!

Aunty Loulou (fuck, I've missed that more than anything)

 

[shereads]

Gauche, you forget that we Americans give unearned credence to anything said by a Brit, because you make the words sound so fancy. Even your written language looks more sophisticated than ours, because of your lavish use of vowels. Before you've finished typing a post, any one of you is automatically credited with extra points for wit and intellect. Vivian on "The Young Ones" could belch Rule Brittania, and I would be paralysed with awe.

When one of you really is unusually smart or talented, we fugitives from the potato famine are tormented with self-doubt. You are like the 90-pound Great Dane puppy at the dog park who wonders why the chihuahuas get so nervous when he wants to play.

That said, my Unified Theory of Humor was a masterpiece of one-upmanship and you should have acknowledged it. Until you do, I refuse to recognize the slyness of your backhands.

 

[gauchecritic]

Quite the contrary. Some of us do, indeed, catch the backhand. Including those who feel that they've done little to deserve it.

NOOOOO. When I'm insulting Sher by calling her uneducated or yanqui and her playing whistler to my wilde, and me putting obscure references into posts that I wouldn't imagine that she would be aware of (but that the audience would, else why ever would anyone be a wit?) [also even though she may not understand the reference I credit her with quite a lot of nous and able to at least see that the barb is there even if she has to google it] The fun is in the audience. Which makes the whole thread and its raison the whole joke.

On my part it was all a joke. It got a little bit serious in the middle when I mentioned the Germans but I think I got away with it.

I can't apologise for anything I've said, but I can be sad that someone was hurt by any of it.

Lighten up. Yanqui running dog.

Ooh ooh. Mr Peevely Sir. The whole thread has been a microcosm of the fat joke with ulterior motive theme. What went around came around. I am become David Letterman. There's irony for you. (that's a swipe and Schere's accent)

 

[shereads]

<nostalgia mode>

This thread has felt so much like the AH of old. It's luvverly.

This is what you were missing?

 

[Guest]

On my part it was all a joke. It got a little bit serious in the middle when I mentioned the Germans but I think I got away with it.

You did? I never noticed. How could you? How could I not? I tell you something, if I had noticed you'd have known about it.

Fuck, I hate it when I miss a laugh...