Iron Mountain ski jump

Iron Mountain ski jump

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

KNOWING WHEN TO QUIT [W, 1-22-20]



We watched the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards on PBS. We thought it would be a good place to find shows the very grownup people at our house should watch. It was. Also, it wasn’t as boring as awards shows usually are. But… [You knew there would be a “but,” didn’t you?]

One presenter was Conan O’Brien. He is funny. For one joke. The problem is that he tries to turn one good line into four. He won’t let it go. He keeps working a funny idea until it becomes tedious. Humor turns to boredom very quickly.

I understand the impulse to multi-use. As a story-teller, I always tried to get more than one use out of a story idea—sermon, short story, newspaper column, chapter of a novel, even a letter.

But working an idea over and over, in the same way, with no time lapses in between, even if it starts out as a funny, fits Einstein’s definition of insanity. [Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.]

Part of the problem is that O’Brien, like many current comedians, base their humor on complaining. Some, like Jim Gaffigan, are very adept at that. But whining and complaining can get old in a hurry. Gaffigan moves quickly from one complaint to another, even if he stays on the same subject. O’Brien works the same complaint over and over.

I know I’m sounding like an old man, but Steve Lawrence, Jack Parr, Johnny Carson—they almost always let a funny stand by itself, or followed it up with only one line if it increased the humor. They knew when to quit.

Knowing when to quit. That’s one of the main secrets of humor. And of aging.

I hear a voice saying, “Take your own advice, old man.” Okay. I apologize. Sort of. I’m done. For now. I’m sure I’ll have some more complaints later. I want to get more than one use out of this.

John Robert McFarland

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