the once and future joke

Last Saturday, in honor of my birthday, the radio program A Prairie Home Companion put on its (mostly) annual Joke Show. APHC is an American Institution, and an integral part of my own childhood and, for better or worse, sense of humor. Saturdays were (maybe not as often as Mom would have liked) house cleaning days when I was growing up and we'd have the public radio trifecta of APHC, along with Whad'Ya Know? and Car Talk as the background. This is undoubtedly why I have the sense of humor of a 60 year old.

One of the hallmarks of the APHC Joke Show is the "best" non-joke possibly ever told:

Two penguins are sitting on an iceberg. One penguin turns to the other and says, "You look like you're wearing a tuxedo." The other responds, "What makes you think I'm not?"

And thats it. Its not really a joke, when you think about it. Yet it makes frequent cameos on Keillor's shows masquerading as one. I've really got a soft spot for it, and was pleased when it showed up in Robert Altman's movie, A Prairie Home Companion. This movie, while flawed like much of Altman's work, is a really fine meditation on death. Its an appropriate finale to Altman's long, varied, and distinguished career. But I digress.

Does this qualify as a joke? I would posit that it does, in the same way as the penguin joke. There's not really a punchline, but maybe the absence of a punchline is, itself, a punchline. Either way, I love that website.

Its Friday. Its supposed to rain this weekend, and life is good.

who do ya trust?

Its looking increasingly likely that Hillary Clinton will win Ohio. But will it be enough to change the course of the campaign? More on that tomorrow.

If she does win, perhaps some will claim this video put her over the top:


A couple of observations, if you will:

First, this opens with a line from the Joker asking "Who do ya trust?". You know what he says after that in the movie? "Now comes the part where I relieve you, the little people, of the burden of your failed and useless lives." Huh.

Second, near the end of the video Col. Jessup says "There is nothing on this earth sexier, believe me, gentlemen, than a woman you have to salute in the morning." Now, there have been accusations of sexism on behalf of supporters of both candidates in this race. Some of those claims have merit, some are exaggerated. But I'd like to know how pleased Clinton's supporters are with this line being used in promoting their candidate. It gets better, though. The rest of the line in the movie is, "Promote 'em all, I say, 'cause this is true: if you haven't gotten a blowjob from a superior officer, well, you're just letting the best in life pass you by."

So Jack wants us to vote for Clinton because she'll kill us all and/or give us the best head we've ever gotten. If any Clinton supporters care to reject and/or denounce that message, lets hear it. Oh what's that? Her campaign will say almost anything as long as it gets her elected? Huh.

If that one's got you annoyed, here's some funny to make it better (although I'm sure You Tube will take this down anytime now):

ready for the weekend

TGIF....am I right or am I right?

That never makes any sense.

I just spent too long preparing a post for next Tuesday about the Democratic Primaries. It may end up being a two-parter even. I'm really done with this primary fight, so I was surprised I wrote so much, but there it was.

If you're like me you were moved by Obama's 2004 DNC keynote address. Well here is a great article about how it all came together. Think of it as Obama's political origin story.

Its NSFW, but I still think this cartoon is one of the funniest things ever said about Iraq. It comes from the always crass, yet always amusing Get Your War On.

And on that note*, have a great weekend everybody!

*Old showbiz saying: Good to end on a donkey/Iraq joke.

somethings missing

You ever get the feeling something's missing in your life? Maybe that something is Garfield.