It’s been an extra joyful week, so I just had to post one of these. (Our little Bubby stayed overnight last night, so I’m over the moon. Plus, after completing all the translations and primary source analyses, I started writing chapter 1 of my dissertation.) I can’t remember the last time I posted a Friday Fun Day. Let’s see if I still remember how to do it. 🙂 Samuel is smitten with his new Cocomelon school bus. And I’m smitten with this laugh-out-loud meme. Enjoy!
Final episodes of long-running television series are notoriously disappointing. The ending of Newhart, however, was the best of all time, hearkening back to the earlier series featuring the eponymous star of The Bob Newhart Show and his wife Emily, played by Suzanne Pleshette. The final scene on Newhart was a well-guarded secret, kept from most of the cast and crew. They even wrote a fake ending to the show to throw off the tabloids. I was glad I got to see this one live. What a hoot.
Some called him “The Clown Prince of Denmark.” Others called him “The Great Dane.” I call him a musical hoot. Enjoy a couple clips of Victor Borge tickling the ivories, not to mention our funny bones.
All of my previous Friday Fun posts have had a paragraph or two of introduction, but I know better than to write anything on this particular occasion. It’s from the folks over at Good Housekeeping, and I’ll just leave it right here.
As a bonus, here’s a Valentine’s Day related segment from “Ask Steve.” Again, no comment on my part. 🙂
And please try to remember, it’s actually “Valentino’s Day.”
Thanks. 🙂
I Love Lucy fans will remember the iconic 1956 episode, “Lucy’s Italian Movie,” where Lucy hopes to get cast in a film about Italian winemaking. In the process, she ends up in a comedic situation involving squished grapes and a hostile grape stomper. Rumor has it Lucille Ball nearly choked to death at one point while filming the scene. All are glad she survived to keep making us laugh over the years. As a bonus, enjoy another classic Lucy (and Ethel) scene—this one at a chocolate factory.
O.k., I know I overdo the memes sometimes (especially with my “Just between You and Meme” posts), but this was way too good not to share.
For those too young to catch the reference, on January 6, 1994, Olympic figure skating hopeful Nancy Kerrigan was attacked after a practice at the Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The hitman was Shane Stant, who used a collapsible baton to strike Kerrigan’s right leg. When the full story emerged a week later, the nation was caught up in a real-life soap opera.
One of Kerrigan’s chief rivals for a place on the U.S. Figure Skating Team was Tonya Harding, who had a hand in the attack via her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and the hitman he hired to do the job. With Kerrigan unable to skate, Harding won the championship and a place at the 1994 Olympics. Long story short, Harding was eventually banned from U.S. Figure Skating for life, and Kerrigan went on to take the silver medal at the Olympics.
The meme is meant to poke fun at the current Vice President pondering how she might take out the President, replacing him in the top slot of the U.S. government.
(Save your outrage. No political message is implied with the posting of this meme. Simply good old-fashioned fun.)
Here’s a classic Monty Python sketch to make you smile on this wintry weekend. It’s also a reminder that there’s a government grant for just about everything under the sun these days. The first time I saw the presentation, I laughed my way through it until the secretary made her appearance. Then I just let out a full-throated cackle. Poor Mr. Teabag never did get his coffee.
You can enjoy some background information on this sketch here.
I got to see Tim Hawkins live in concert several years ago, and I wound up getting a migraine from laughing so hard. Others around me had the same experience. Never before had I gotten to the point of wanting a comedian to stop making me laugh, but it happened that night. He crescendoed to a rapid fire finale that was almost unbearable. Here are a few of his more gentle riffs, separated out so you don’t get a headache.
I got to see John Branyan do this riff in concert about seven or eight years ago. As something of a word nerd myself, with an affection for good literature, I had my socks knocked off, and I snortled my way through the whole thing. So, this clip is a gift for all my word-nerd friends out there. It’ll have to suffice until I’m able to play the real “Words with Friends” game with you again. 🙂
Note: The first minute is the remnant of a riff on marriage. That’s funny, too.
Somebody once said to be successful in life you need a backbone, a wishbone, and a funny bone. Here’s a little something for the funny bone. It’s been out for several years, but I get a nice chuckle every time I see it. It’s the Silent Monks singing the Hallelujah chorus. Sort of.
This is wrong on so many levels—but in a hilarious kind of way. I’m not sure about the efficacy of the preacher here, but the guitarist is spot on. And if the televangelist can get the Governor of Pennsylvania to stop issuing decrees, I’ll become a true believer. I may even start preaching this way myself.
The issue of innovation has always been a challenge to the church, and this brief video clip shows a case in point. It’s a Christmas pageant that strays a bit from the text of Scripture. Not everyone appreciates the deviation.
A few weeks ago I was driving to the Lebanon YMCA for a morning swim. I usually listen to upbeat music to get jazzed up for my workout, letting the tunes take over where the coffee left off. On this particular day, my Spotify randomizer took me to a song called, “Dynamite,” which I had never heard before. I was digging it and thought, “When I get home I need to research who does that one.”
Turns out I was listening to BTS, a K-pop (or Korean pop) group made up of seven members (Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook) who come from various parts of South Korea. I WAS LISTENING TO A KOREAN BOY BAND…and kinda liking it!
Naturally, I started wondering what was happening to me. (“Really, Tim? A boy band?”) My solace came in the realization that: (1) BTS launched in 2013 and has since rocketed to global stardom, so they must have some real musical chops and showmanship; and (2) Spotify was throwing random workout songs my way; I didn’t go looking for this one myself. Small comfort.
So, I guess this post is more of a confession than a “Friday Fun” spot. Either way, enjoy the song if you’d like. I’m going swimming.
Do I detect some choreographic allusions to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video in this dance routine?
I fell off my bed one night laughing at Jim Gaffigan’s “Whales” routine. That riff gives way in the clip below to a few pokes at Domino’s Pizza. “It’s carbolicious!”
Anyway, I still fall off the furniture whenever my son comes around. He can imitate Gaffigan’s whale sounds to a tee. I’m not exactly sure why I find it so funny. Your psychoanalysis is welcome, but please try to be nice. 🙂
I’m finally getting my tooth fixed that I cracked last spring while touring the Bodleian Library in Oxford, so my mind has been on the dentist lately. Thankfully, my dentitst is a whole lot more competent than Tim Conway in this classic sketch with Harvey Korman from The Carol Burnett Show.
Conway plays a recently graduated dentist who accidentally injects himself with Novocain during his first day on the job. Korman, the straight man, keeps losing it. You might, too.
Have a great weekend. And be sure to laugh a little. Let others see your pearly whites, and then watch them smile, too.
Be blessed!
