I remember a joke from a hundred years ago, when I was a child. It went, “What goes hahaha-bonk?” The answer, which had me laughing like a drain, was, “A guy laughing his head off.” We’ve done a fair bit of that, lately, and I wish we could have done more.
I spent a day in Liverpool last week. I went there for work and, apart from seeing (from the outside) the Beatles Experience Museum and spying the shining waters of the Mersey, I could have been in any city in the world. I’d love to go back and spend more than twenty minutes exploring the city.
I travelled with three colleagues to a meeting in Liverpool, and we really had a lovely and useful day. We stopped at Crewe to change trains on the way up, and we decided to go and buy some sustenance for the continued journey. We stood and waited for about 20 minutes to get served at a station cafe and eventually abandoned our would-be purchases and ran. It’s not like we had a train to catch, or anything.
I spotted a well-known UK comedian in that station cafe. I am pretty sure he’s still there today, waiting for his sandwich. He’ll gather good material doing that.
On my return from Liverpool, we went to have supper with some friends. They invited us, after supper, to go with them to a comedy night at their local community centre. “Apparently it’s really fab,” our friend told us.
We got to the community centre, knowing little about what lay ahead and even less about where on earth we’d find a place to sit. We eventually benefited from the kindness of a stranger bearing chairs, and sat and waited for the show to begin.
The first half of the show was a Whose Line is it Anyway? kind of deal. Four comedians – I’m not sure if they were professional comedians, but they sure were funny – took improvisation and improbable scenarios to a whole new level. They would glean ideas and suggestions from the audience, and work off each other to great and hilarious effect. They shared the telling of an improbably-titled story at the random, pointed command of one of their colleagues. The story rambled and roamed in all directions as each one took the mic. It was clear they worked together often, as they played off each other so crisply and intuitively.
My favourite was the monologue of the Latvian cat-juggler, kindly interpreted into English by his fellow comedian. The disconnect between the body-language expressed as the Latvian cat-juggler spoke and the words that emerged in English, was just cryingly hilarious. The interpreter said, “All of which leads me to my favourite Latvian folk song that I am now going to sing to you.” Too funny.
We laughed ourselves silly in that first hour. There was then an interval, and we waited in anticipation for the second half to begin. The MC introduced the next act and when he couldn’t think of any more descriptive words to say about him, than to say “he’s a real ****er”, I thought we might be in for trouble. Enter the manic, un-funny clown, with his physical, slapstick and hysterical (in the true sense of the word) act. We sat wide-mouthed and hopeful that he would actually become funny, but it didn’t happen. Not even once.
When we got home, I Googled him to see if I could find out if he was for real or not. Turns out he has the dubious accolade of having been the first person, live on TV (in Germany’s Got Talent, no less) to have placed a firecracker in an unmentionable orifice (of his own) and set it alight. I think you get what I mean. He must have laughed his *****cks off.
Sunshine signing off for today!
Sunshine in London 
I’m cracking up over “laughing like a drain.” And the joke was funny, too, which goes to show the calibur of my sense of humor. The Latvian cat juggler was a runner up. Big news here: The airline tikets are purchased and I will be in London from the end of June to almost the end of July! I will print out all of your sites-in-London posts, as I’ll have lots of free time on weekends. And, of course, I’ll see you again. Hurray!
You’re commenting about the calibre of your sense of humour – what about mine? hahaha! Yay, that we’ll see each other again – what fun. We’ll have to talk dates, though, as I’ll be away around then too.
A guy laughing his head off. What a silly, corny, wholesome, dopey joke. I LOVE silly, corny, wholesome, dopey jokes. Thanks for making me have a good guffaw today !
I am so glad to make you guffaw, Carl – that makes me smile!
sunshine you are always very entertaining and I luv luv your writing!!!!!!
Thank you so much, lovely cathi!
LOL well, now I really must see him, Sunshine. Nothing like a firecracker in an orifice, is there?
Hahaha, Kate! Do tell me if you go to see him …
Lol I loved the joke at the beginning. My mom and I always crack up over an old knock-knock joke:
Knock, Knock.
Who’s There?
Dwayne.
Dwayne Who?
Dwayne the bathtub, I’m dwowning!
It gets us every time!!
It’s so funny that it makes you laugh over and over! Thanks for coming by, Lauren; welcome to my blog.
Hey Sunshine! Where do you find a dog with no legs?……..Right where you left him! What do you call a dog with no legs?………It doesn’t really matter because he won’t come anyway! How’s that for dopey, corny jokes? Oh, I’ve got a million of ’em, but I’ll try to keep them to myself.
XO Patty
Hey, vampiregran – good to see you again! Thanks for the dopey, corny jokes – they’re the best, aren’t they?
You’re a hoot. Sorry about the second half not being funny.
Thanks, Cindy! But at least the first half was … should have been the other way round, though.
For whatever reason, I laughed out loud at the well known comedian who is STILL waiting for his sandwich at the station cafe– sooooooo funny! Poor fellow must be sooooooooooo hungry by now!
Kathy
And so thin! Glad that made you laugh out loud, Kathy!
I LOVE that joke! Always have.
Who was the comedian? Do tell.
That’s so funny, Tilly – it’s such an old joke, but I’m glad you know it and love it! The comedian was Greg Davies – do you know him?
I’m laughing like a drain over your hundred year old joke too. Good one that I will definitely be sharing with my kids today. Lighting a firecracker in one of your orifices…what the H-E- double hockey sticks are people thinking…LOL. ♥ Diane
My sentiments exactly, dear Diane! What was he thinking? I’m glad you liked the old joke!
The TV show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway” made an appearance here for a while. I thought it was brilliant. The skits they dreamed up and their comedic timing made me laugh until I cried sometimes. One such skit was called dating service wherein the comedians would root around in a box of crazy hats . Then each would adopt a persona based on the hat chosen and perform a “dating service” video. I know I wouldn’t have wanted to go on one date with any of them! 🙂
That sounds hilarious, jacquelin! You’re right, the comedic timing is amazing – I so admire comedians who are clever like that. The four we saw certainly were – you would have loved them.
Few things are worse than sitting through an unfunny comedian. We had tickets once to see a comedian named A. Whitney Brown, who was on “Saturday Night Live” at the time. He was kind of brainy, topical and very funny. He cancelled, but they booked another comic, so we went, anyway. She looked like a biker, dropped F-bombs constantly, and whenever someone would try to leave, she’d make fun of them. It was awful.
Oh, Todd, I so know what you mean. That kind of humour is not funny or clever at all, is it? Wait till I write about the comedy club we went to on Sunday night …
Glad the first half of the show was good. We love improv…a couple of years ago, we went to an improv version of a Christmas Carol…it was hilarious!
Isn’t it maddening when you’re in a hurry, but the person supposed to serve you isn’t?
Hugs,
Wendy
That sounds brilliant, Wendy – improv is a great form of comedy; so clever.
Sunshine, I absolutely love your joke. I’ll be sure to share it with the boys; I’m hoping it will replace their joke about knowing your bum is broken because it has a crack in it. (Ba dum, bum.)
Who was the famous comedian? I want to know!
So glad to hear you’re having so much fun with your colleagues. It makes all the difference, doesn’t it?
Happy weekend, friend!
That’s so funny, Maura – maybe your boys will find the joke lame! It’s an oldie but a goodie, I guess! The comedian was Greg Davies – I’m not sure if he is well known outside of the UK. Have you heard of him?
Yes, I’m loving my job and having loads of fun – what a pleasure. Enjoy your weekend too, lovely Maura.
I don’t know how I found your blog….but I ‘m glad I did.
Loved it! Very funny.
My hubby is from Liverpool, but we are now in America.
See you in Cyber – space 🙂
Thanks, kim – I’m glad you found my blog too! I’ll check your blog out too …
The train station should have serve-yourself items to save time.
They did! We were just waiting to pay, which makes it all the more ridiculous.
Oh my goodness…a firecracker in his…you know???
wowser. Anything for a laugh, I guess…
I look forward to your posts–when you get the chance, and as always, feel like I was along for the ride with you to Liverpool.
blessings
jane
Can you imagine, jane? And plenty of people would laugh at that – oh my goodness!
I wish I could spend more time writing and reading (I’m horribly behind) … I’ll get there, I hope! xx
That must have been so dissapointing! Such an anti-climax.
Xx
That’s exactly what it was – an anti-climax! Oh the disappointment … 🙂