Take my wife…please. ~Henny Youngman Open any how-to book on comedy and the first lesson begins with some variation of the following. The key to being funny is not what you say but how you say it. The secret is timing. Even though this admonition customarily refers to a specific joke or punchline, it also … Read more
(Chutzpah)…that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan. ~Leo Rosten/The Joys of Yiddish I have been pretty tough on white evangelicals the past few weeks. And with good reason as most recently evidenced by the latest Pew … Read more
The title of today’s post is what you get if Carl Jung sang backup for Stephen Stills and Neil Young on Buffalo Springfield’s 1966 single “For What It’s Worth,” often mistakenly called by its opening line, “Something’s happening here.” This past weekend synchronicity, Jung’s theory about the connection between seemingly unrelated events, did, in fact, … Read more
Before there was George Carlin or Lewis Black, there was Mort Sahl. In August 1960, Sahl appeared on the cover of Time Magazine and was lauded as the person who could, through social satire, help voters understand the choices in the upcoming presidential election. In what seems unimaginable today, Sahl befriended several presidents despite his sometimes critical … Read more
The title of this post is a reference to the 1979 movie The Seduction of Joe Tynan, written by and starring Alan Alda. I have a personal connection to this film as it was shot in Maryland at a time when I worked for the state Department of Economic and Community Development in Annapolis. The … Read more