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Since April begins with April Fools’ Day, I thought I’d write about those who make us laugh and push our buttons. In the first book of my time travel series, I introduce you to Alan a Dale—Robin Hood’s famous minstrel and part of his band of merry teens. In my version, Alan is a teenage jongleur—a.k.a. juggler— and is instrumental in helping the Timekeepers with their mission in Nottingham. Jongleurs and juggles and jesters all fall into the same category: their purpose was to entertain royalty and commoners alike. In fact, the word ‘jester’ derives from the Anglo-Norman (French) words gestouror jestour meaning storyteller or minstrel.
Jesters (or fools as they were known) held a position of power and privilege within a royal or noble household. They could get away with saying or doing anything to the king or queen or nobles—literally anyone—without being punished. Compare the antics to our modern day comedians like Tim Allen, Robin Williams (still miss him), Ellen DeGeneres, or any past or present Saturday Night Livecomedians and you get what I mean. Comedians will say and do anything (most times for the shock value) and get away with it.
Now, if you think about it, books are a huge part of the entertainment industry. We writers are present day jesters and fools too. Words are power. And like comedians, we can pretty much say whatever we want in the written form, and publish it on Amazon or any other on-line publishing site. But there’s a fine line here. Back in the day, when jesters got a free pass for their behavior (with the exception of a few who did get reprimanded or whipped), they didn’t have the social media circus that we have now. Nowadays, if someone says something out of turn, you can bet it will be tweeted or shared! The jester’s main job was to entertain through stories or music or juggling. They poked fun at others, helped them to lighten up, and made them smile and laugh. Sometimes they even stopped wars from happening by detonating a situation between royals.
Imagine if writers had that kind of power? To write a book so powerful it could stop a war. Put down prose that would allow a reader to visualize walking in a character’s shoes. Or just create a story that will take readers away from their mundane existence. Keep in mind the intent of such power, and use intention as a foundation, and you’ve probably written a generational book that will continued to be talked about and read in the future. Think To Kill a Mockingbird or Les Miserables or The Catcher in the Rye, and you know what I’m talking about. Jesters, like authors, aren’t so far apart after all. We just have to remember to lighten-up, ourselves.
So, what makes you laugh-out-loud? Do you have a favorite modern day jester? How about a book that affected you so deeply that you’d recommend your kids and grandchildren should read it? Would love to read your comments! Cheers and thank you for reading my blog!
Seinfeld famously added a ton of terms to English, such as low talker, high talker, spongeworthy, and unshushables. It also made obscure terms into household words. Shrinkage and yada yada existed before Seinfeld, but it’s doubtful you learned them anywhere else.
Another successful Seinfeld term has gone under the radar: Jerk Store. The term was coined in “The Comeback,” when George is unselfconsciously stuffing his face with shrimp during a meeting. A co-worker sees George’s gluttony and says, “Hey, George, the ocean called. They’re running out of shrimp.” George is speechless, but later he crafts a comeback: “Oh yeah? Well, the Jerk Store called, and they’re running out of you.” The episode shows George going to absurd lengths to find a way to use his comeback, as well as his friends’ unwanted workshopping of the joke.
In a way, that workshopping has never ended—at least on Twitter, which is likely the largest collection of jokes, good and bad, by professionals and amateurs, ever created. Many of those jokes involve formulas, and the Jerk Store has become a popular one. On Twitter, every day is the Summer of George.
Most variations start with “The Jerk Store called,” which is as trusty a joke starter as “Relationship status:” and “When life hands you lemons.” From there, the joke can go just about anywhere. Comic Warren Holstein makes a food joke out of the formula: “The Jerk Store called but I couldn’t understand their thick Jamaican accents.” Matt Koff reveals what would likely happen to a real-life Jerk Store: “The Jerk Store called. It’s closing because it couldn’t compete with Amazon. :(“ Some use the formula to comment on politics: “The Jerk Store called; they’re no longer hiring because of fear of Obamacare mandates.” I particularly like this joke, which finds the funny in sadness: “The jerk store called. We didn’t chat for long but it was good to hear their voice. It was good to hear anyone’s voice. I’m so alone.”
Other tweeters abandon the formula when making Jerk Store jokes, like Laura Palmer: “I’m applying at the Jerk Store and I need references.” This holiday tweet sounds like perfect storm of jerkdom: “Looking forward to the Black Friday deals at the Jerk Store.” Food trends also get spoofed: “when will the jerk store start getting organic jerks. tired of getting these jerks full of gmos.” Here’s a particularly clever joke, playing on an annoying Frankenstein-related correction: “Actually, the jerk store’s monster called.”
This term/joke formula isn’t going anywhere for at least a few reasons. Seinfeld is still omnipresent in reruns, and I reckon the entire series is imprinted on the collective unconscious. Plus, the world is full of jerks. The following are some recent epistles from the Jerk Store to help you get through the polar jerk-tex. Jerk Store might never make the OED, but it’s one of the most successful joke franchises in the world.
The jerk store called, you left your credit card at the register. They are open until 8 if you want to pick it up today.
Sketches have just begun for "Nickerbacher" written by director and choreographer Terry Barto.
0 Comments on A fire breathing, princess protecting Dragon who tells jokes? Meet Nickerbacher - the Funny Dragon - Coming Soon! as of 6/5/2014 11:39:00 AM
Fleischman, Sid. 2010. Sir Charlie: Chaplin, The Funniest Man in the World. New York: Greenwillow.
For many, particularly the younger generation for whom this book is written, Charlie Chaplin is an icon, but not an icon in the sense of its earlier definition - as a symbolic star, an iconic idol of the silver screen, but an actual icon - a face with a ridiculously small mustache and bowler hat; a silhouette with bowed legs, a cane, and over sized shoes. Sid Fleischman's book, Sir Charlie Chaplin, The Funniest Man in the World, breathes new life into this icon, the genius of the silent screen.
From Chaplin's meager beginnings as the son of minor vaudevillian performers, a drunken father and a mother beginning to lose her voice - Chaplin fell still farther into the depths of London's Cockney slums. Already educated in the school of hard knocks, seven-year old Charlie and his older brother Sydney were sent to a workhouse in 1896, "owing to the absence of their father and the destitution and illness of their mother," according to the ledger entry at the "booby hatch." His mother, as she would many times throughout her life, was admitted to a ward for the mentally ill.
Using period quotes and engaging prose packed with personification and similes,
...Chaplin was losing confidence in his isolated and bullheaded judgment. Disaster holding aloft a mallet, as in one of his slapsticks, might be waiting for him in the theater. Silent films had become as out-of-date as the once-stylish spats he still wore over his shoes.
Fleischman gives a chronological account of Charlie's rise to fame with the creation of his signature character, The Little Tramp, his personal foibles (including paternity scandals), his wartime contributions, his fall from favor with the American people (including his investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee and J. Edgar Hoover during the notorious "red scare" years), and his eventual arrival at the place of elevated regard that he finally held in his later years and beyond. He was belatedly honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1972, and knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1975.
In the book's preface, Fleischman reveals that he arrived in Hollywood in the 1950s to write movie screenplays only shortly after Chaplin had left for Switzerland, but "his (Chaplin's) footprints were everywhere." Fleischman credits Chaplin's films with tutoring him in the school of "spectator theater" and the gift "of the visual." Fleischman's interest in and connection with his subject is apparent throughout.
Fans of Chaplin will appreciate this intense look into the ups and downs of a life devoted to the entertainment of others; sometimes at great cost to Chaplin himself and those closest to him. Those who know Chaplin only as a bowler-wearing icon will (hopefully) scurry out to the public library in sea
0 Comments on Sir Charlie Chaplin, the funniest man in the world as of 1/1/1900
Why does Richard Lewis remind me of every member of my family? I was gone once he went for "Wasilla as a yeast infection." If someone asked me what comedian most resembles your writing style, it would be hands-down Richard Lewis. Check out his Fred Astaire-George Bush song-and-dance moment. Finally, something to laugh about after 8 years!
Richard Lewis on COUNTDOWN on MSNBC, Monday, October 13th, 2008 Anyone up for a moose pot pie?
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