6.) Comedy. Yesterday I was inspired to write a very long [well, not that long, come on, really is our attention span that short we cannot take time to read maybe fifteen minutes worth of text? Bet if it had a cute picture of a cat, you might.] thankful message about Music, ranking it #5 in my November Month of Thankfulness, my friend had written about the effects of comedy and music in her life…citing George Carlin for inspiration. Comedy has always played a role in my life as well, and this friend, she inspired me to not only examine music's role in the soundtrack of my life but the effects comedy had on my life. So, long story short, it's Comedy…Number Six for 2013 is Comedy for me, I am Thankful for Comedy [you can stop here and shuffle on to the next status post about kittens, pandas, dolphins or whales…historical memes, funny pictures, or yard sale post, but if you want to take a chance…follow along, but it's not for the feint of hearts].
The first comedian who's adult humor first came to my attention was not George Carlin, like my friend, but Redd Foxx. Yes, Fred G. Sanford from the popular sitcom Sanford & Son was one of my first, true comedy heroes. His character on the sitcom was gruff, sarcastic, bombastic, a true junk yard showman without the stage, although surprisingly look back over the seasons, they sure figured many a ways to highlight Foxx's stage talents; singing, dancing, clowning. But it was not Foxx's work on Sanford & Son that inspired me, it was an old 8-track tape my Father had, Redd Foxx in a Nutshell. The 8-track was black with a red cover, it had an image of the man himself on it.
My Father owned his own businesses; a produce market, a donut shop, a restaurant, and several thrift stores and he would drive his own truck; panel trucks, small delivery trucks, 18-wheeler big rigs, anything to save himself money on picking up inventory. While he was gone on one of his many travels to Florida, Arkansas, Indiana…we kids would snoop. We found the 8-track and when I say "we" it was my older brothers Joe and Harold, along with little brother Jeffery. The words coming out of the speakers transformed me. It was not the clean, top rated American sitcom humor, it was the back alley, dark lit raunchy comedy of the street, and I was immediately hooked.
From Redd Foxx it wasn't far to stroll to Richard Pryor, from Pryor to Eddie Murphy to Carrot Top. Yeah, I'm not pleased with that last one either. Damon Wayans, Dave Chappelle. George Carlin, George Burns. Jerry Lewis, Jerry Seinfeld. Comedy reigned supreme in my life. A good joke could get you out of a tight situation. It allowed people to feel more comfortable around you. I was often the "new kid" at schools, as our family moved, gypsy-like…like roaming carnival folk, and it was difficult to make new friends by being myself, I didn't know who, what I was. But comedy, that would break the ice.
Jimmy Carter. I began doing impersonations of Jimmy Carter on the playground in Elementary School. It got laughs. It was gold. Later it was darker comedy. But Comedy was there. I was an avid, and still am, avid student of comedy. Abbott and Costello. Burns and Allen. Hope and Crosby. The Marx Brothers. Fatty Arbuckle. Charles Chaplin. My education was immense. Martin and Lewis. The Smothers Brothers. Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau. Lenny Bruce, although to be honest I have never heard a Lenny Bruce act, I respected for what he stood for; that sometimes the best comedy comes from those awkward, nasty, dirty, filthy aspects of life that everyone experiences, to one extent or another across all of the world. In Living Color. Mad Magazine. Cracked Magazine. Animal House. National Lampoon. Pauley Shore [again, not happy about it but will still watch Encinco Man or The Son-in-Law anytime it's on].
Ronald Reagan. Now, I know what you are thinking, how was Reagan funny? Well, remember the Genesis video? The puppets? Kills me everytime. So, on this the Sixth Day of November…I want to recognize how thankful I am for Comedy. It would ease my pain. When stuff wasn't going right in my life, when times were dark…when I thought my world would end [usually over some woman, that's how it is when you are a young romantic], I could throw in a Road Movie or Duck Soup and I would end up laughing.
I still prefer Comedies over Dramas. Comedies over Science Fiction even. Give me a Comedic Science Fiction Sitcom…whoa Baby I am there. So, today, dear Reader…take a moment and think of the comedians and the comedy that has played in your life. I once saw Emo Phillips in concert at a Funny Bone, I also once met the Russian Female Comedian Ivana Humpalot. [Not really, just hope you got the joke.]
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