I went to a bookstore and asked the salesperson, "Where's the self-help section?" She answered, "If I tell you, it will defeat the purpose."
That's how I feel about jokes in general. If you know it's a joke----listen to this! listen! it's SOOOO funny! you're gonna laugh, I promise!!!---then, meh. Not so great. On the other hand, if you know something's going to make you cry, then knowing about it ahead of time makes you cry even more. At least it does for me.
Jules posted a clip from It's a Wonderful Life today. I knew it would get me, right in both tear ducts, and it did. I also reliably bawl at the moment in Homeward Bound when the old retriever finally comes loping over the hill. I always think he's not coming.
As for perennially funny movies, my daughter used to laugh at the same place in the Jungle Book every time, when Mowgli bops Ballou in the nose. She'd belly laugh like she'd never seen it before. And one of my favorite sounds is my son busting out in a fit of laughter at a Simpsons episode he's seen umpteen times.
But what about funny books? Are they funny, over and over? Or does the surprise wear off? Calvin and Hobbes never grows old for me, but those are visual creations as well as literary ones. A straight text book that makes me laugh, over and over? Hmmm. I'm thinking...
P.S. Mother Reader knows all about funny and she spills her trade secrets. She's also hosting a fabulous, tip-filled Carnival today.
I can think of two scenes I used to go to over and over when I wanted to laugh out loud. One was the phone conversation in Jane Langton's Her Majesty, Grace Jones and the other was the climactic monologue from Brock Cole's Celine, where she spills it all to a very confused therapist. Jane Eyre's bitter little description of Miss Ingram rattling on at the piano also gets me every time.
ReplyDeleteAll right! THREE entries. Do you think a written passage might have to be witty and not just funny in order to hold up over repeated readings? Is that the secret? Or is it that you get to know the characters so well after multiple encounters that you understand their metaphorical tumble down the hill that much more?
ReplyDeleteStraight Man by Richard Russo has laughing out loud every time I read it, and I've read it at least 6 times. Ditto for The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N by Leonard Q. Ross. Here's an excerpt.
ReplyDeleteFurther encouragement revealed that in Mr. Kaplan's literary Valhalla the "most famous tree America wriders" were Jeck Laundon, Valt Veterman, and the author of "Hawk L. Barry-Feen," one Mock-tvain. Mr. Kaplan took pains to point out that he did not mention Relfvaldo Amerson because "He is a poyet, an'I'm talkink abot wriders."
Okay, everybody! Do what Tricia did and slip me a quote! Let's all giggle together.
ReplyDeleteThese books are for younger readers, but they get me laughing out loud everytime. Grade school humor is the perfect prescription for bad days.
ReplyDeleteClementine by Sara Pennypacker and ALL the Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park. They are simply hysterical.
The Princess Bride (the book -- and movie, for that matter) made me laugh out loud. In many spots. Back when I worked at a McDonald's in high school and was waiting on my dad to pick me up one day. I sat there, reading the book at a table and was sputtering and spit-taking from laughter and getting many funny looks. I'll always remember that.
ReplyDeleteOf course I've seen the movie, Jules, but I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't read the book. D'oh! Must do it.
ReplyDeleteHipWriterMama, Clementine makes me smile. Not belly-laugh, but happy to my toes.
I think you'd love the novel, Sara. Of course, it's been yeeeears since I read it. Maybe we can re-read together one day. And then co-post about it.
ReplyDeleteI always cry at that moment in Homeward Bound, too! ALWAYS.
ReplyDeleteOne text book that never fails to make me laugh hysterically, for some reason, is Freaky Friday...the phone call at the end with the cop and assorted others...it's so hilarious.
I have to admit (sounding like a geek here) that the Hitchhiker's Guide makes me laugh every single freaking time. It just can't be helped.
ReplyDeleteOh, and my quote--I love the scene with the Vogon poetry (the worst poetry in the universe): "...Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon, see if I don't!"
ReplyDeleteI have to say that the scene in The True Meaning of Smekday where Gratuity and J.Lo confront each other through the convenience store freezer door has made me laugh THREE times now. "Sooooo....can I come into the out now?"" I can't wait to hear that line in the movie. There's going to be a movie, right?
ReplyDeleteComing in late to say, thanks for the mention of both the post and the Carnival. And to add that I rarely get through reading a Junie B. book without laughing out loud at least once.
ReplyDeleteFor an adult fiction book that makes me laugh - really laugh - every time I read it, I recommend Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About by Mil Millington.