Philosophy
My Fellow Comedists,
It is a sad week indeed. After 35 years, Tom and Ray Maglozzi have decided to hang it up. Car Talk will continue in a rerun type format, but in a few months, no new craziness will emerge from atop of Car Talk Plaza in Cambridge. It has lasted this long because it is a funny show, improbably funny. Tom and Ray are not comedians, they have great timing and make the obvious jokes, but they are just a couple of smart goofballs who -- no matter what you are doing -- are having a better time than you.
In part, it is sympathetic humor. Just as we can mirror the heavier emotions of others, so too we can find humor in something simply because we are seeing or hearing someone else having a good time. In India, laughter yoga is being investigated for its health effects. Being around people who are laughing makes you laugh. Every comedian knows about humorous inertia. Once the laughter is rolling, it is much easier to keep it going than it was to start. Tom and Ray start their own laughter yoga class each week.
As a punster myself, however, my favorite part is the end (because it's almost over, the boys would say). The ending credits are always magnificent:
"The Accounts Payable Clerk, Moscow Office is Dasha Chekhov. The Complaint Line Operator is Xavier Breath. The Exercise Guru is Liza Round. The Marine Biologist is Frieda Wales..."
Great stuff. Tom and Ray, thank you for years and years of laughs.
Live, love, and laugh,
Irreverend Steve
- Do We Pass The Funny Down To Our Kids?
My Fellow Comedists, Some speculative comedist sociology this weekend. Are you more likely to be funny if you come from a funny family? Is the funny something biological that some folks have and others don't? Is it something we get from our environment?...
- Funniest Places On The Web
My Fellow Comedists, It comes to my attention that these new-fangled intertubes can be used for the funny. What are the most humorous places on the web we should be reading? The Onion, The Borowitz Report, and Funny or Die certainly have highest profiles....
- Is A Sense Of Humor A Virtue?
My Fellow Comedists, Thinking about a paper at today's Lighthearted Philosophers' Society meeting. Is a sense of humor a virtue? Is a sense of humor a necessary part of a well-lived human life? If you do not have an appreciation for things funny,...
- Happy Keister
My Fellow Comedists, This weekend as our Christian friends celebrate their holy day of Easter, we Comedists celebrate our holy day of Keister, a day dedicated to that part of the human anatomy that not only sounds funny, it looks funny. The displaying...
- Commercial Comedy And The Problem Of Seriousness
Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere, This week a couple of deep philosophico-theological Comedist questions were raised by good brother Hanno -- well, brother Hanno, anyway. So let's consider them both. Brother Hanno asked, How...
Philosophy
Dewey, Cheatam, and Howe Are We Going to Live Without Them?
My Fellow Comedists,
It is a sad week indeed. After 35 years, Tom and Ray Maglozzi have decided to hang it up. Car Talk will continue in a rerun type format, but in a few months, no new craziness will emerge from atop of Car Talk Plaza in Cambridge. It has lasted this long because it is a funny show, improbably funny. Tom and Ray are not comedians, they have great timing and make the obvious jokes, but they are just a couple of smart goofballs who -- no matter what you are doing -- are having a better time than you.
In part, it is sympathetic humor. Just as we can mirror the heavier emotions of others, so too we can find humor in something simply because we are seeing or hearing someone else having a good time. In India, laughter yoga is being investigated for its health effects. Being around people who are laughing makes you laugh. Every comedian knows about humorous inertia. Once the laughter is rolling, it is much easier to keep it going than it was to start. Tom and Ray start their own laughter yoga class each week.
As a punster myself, however, my favorite part is the end (because it's almost over, the boys would say). The ending credits are always magnificent:
"The Accounts Payable Clerk, Moscow Office is Dasha Chekhov. The Complaint Line Operator is Xavier Breath. The Exercise Guru is Liza Round. The Marine Biologist is Frieda Wales..."
Great stuff. Tom and Ray, thank you for years and years of laughs.
Live, love, and laugh,
Irreverend Steve
- Do We Pass The Funny Down To Our Kids?
My Fellow Comedists, Some speculative comedist sociology this weekend. Are you more likely to be funny if you come from a funny family? Is the funny something biological that some folks have and others don't? Is it something we get from our environment?...
- Funniest Places On The Web
My Fellow Comedists, It comes to my attention that these new-fangled intertubes can be used for the funny. What are the most humorous places on the web we should be reading? The Onion, The Borowitz Report, and Funny or Die certainly have highest profiles....
- Is A Sense Of Humor A Virtue?
My Fellow Comedists, Thinking about a paper at today's Lighthearted Philosophers' Society meeting. Is a sense of humor a virtue? Is a sense of humor a necessary part of a well-lived human life? If you do not have an appreciation for things funny,...
- Happy Keister
My Fellow Comedists, This weekend as our Christian friends celebrate their holy day of Easter, we Comedists celebrate our holy day of Keister, a day dedicated to that part of the human anatomy that not only sounds funny, it looks funny. The displaying...
- Commercial Comedy And The Problem Of Seriousness
Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere, This week a couple of deep philosophico-theological Comedist questions were raised by good brother Hanno -- well, brother Hanno, anyway. So let's consider them both. Brother Hanno asked, How...