On Humor

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny…’ — Isaac Asimov

The best humor goes beyond amusement. It can help people see the world from a new point of view and help people change the way they think. The humorist is a gadfly in the best sense of the word, one who annoys the powerful but provokes positive action. Even when kings wielded absolute power, they had the licensed fool or court jester to provide them with the truth in a humorous way. Considering how important humor is, it’s interesting that Donald Trump does not laugh. Below I have some humorous things that make you think and some things that are just funny.

• Some of my favorite humor takes something familiar and looks at it from a different perspective. If you spell American backward and you get “Narcirema.” In Body Ritual among the Nacirema, an anthropologist wrote about Americans from an outsider’s perspective. For some other funny perspectives look at: From C-3PO’s perspective, ‘Star Wars’ is a prolonged nightmare, It’s Time to Admit That Allowing Men Into the Workplace after WWII Was a Mistake, Heterosexual Undertones in Top Gun, Zach Morris is Trash, and A Person Paper on Purity in Language.
• It’s also interesting how non-white-male comedians can use humor to convey a greater truth about the world. Some of my favorite examples are Dave Chapelle’s Chip and Dave, Chris Rock’s Who Wants to Change Places?, Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, and Michael Che’s Just Civil Rights.
• Jay Forman can sing songs one syllable off. So the notes stay in the same place but the words move.
• I love wrong but creative answers to test questions.
• Gina Pell coined the term “perennial” for the ageless group of people that defy living in any demographic cohort. As an example, watch her recite the first 314 digits of pi while drinking Tequila shots.
• Spurious Correlations reminds us that just because two things are correlated, doesn’t mean that they have anything to do with each other (e.g., in the years that Nicholas Cage is in more films the number of pool drownings increases). Here’s a great New Yorker cartoon on the topic.
• This guy photoshops himself into Kendall Jenner’s Instagram with wonderful results.

Covid-19 Humor

• An overall review of 2020: Very Bad. Would Not Recommend.
• Robyn Schall, who went to my high school, has a great summary of her failed goals of 2020.
• The New Normal Under Quarantine. This Holderness family video is uncomfortably similar to how we’re actually living. We’ve also enjoyed their parody videos about quarantine like If Sitcom Songs Were About Quarantine and If Broadway Songs Were About Quarantine.
• The Girl Who Had a Total Meltdown When She Found Out McDonald’s was Closed.
• Here’s a list of things that we say in quarantine that wouldn’t have made any sense in 2019:
  • “Kids, remember to walk in the middle of the street–not on the sidewalks.”
  • “That sounds like a great party, but what did you do about peeing?”
  • “I don’t think they’ll let you in the bank if you’re not wearing your mask.”
  • “I really want to go to a children’s birthday party.”
  • “Well, I guess I don’t need pants for this conference call.”
  • “Please mute yourself during the Zoom Bat Mitzvah.”
• SNL has a good bit on how crazy 2020 predictions would seem from a fortune teller from 2019.
• Shiny, Happy, People in Quarantine is a satire of what some people are sharing on Facebook.
• It’s old but Dennis Leary’s A**hole song is a wonderful summary of Americans’ desire to avoid wearing masks.
• A “press conference” highlighting how difficult is to figure out what to do during the coronavirus.
• School reopening survey from McSweeneys.
• My friend Jay, who works at Colbert, made a home movie called Wild Discoveries Of The Secret Habitats Of Unseen Worlds: Nature Edition.
• What online learning in Star Wars would be like.
• How people are sick of social distancing on by Thanksgiving but convinced themselves they’re being safe.
• Gerry Brooks, a principal in the south, has some thoughts on classroom jobs during COVID.
• Jimmy Fallon’s year ending 2020 revue spectacular with Andrew Rannells. The best parts are when Rannells parodies his Book of Mormon songs.

Annual Updates

2024 Updates

• Alex Edelman‘s show Just for Us is out on Max. Abigail and I saw this show twice, first off-Broadway and then on Broadway. Mike Birbiglia presented him (fancy name for put his name on it). If you liked it, check out Alex’s BBC radio shows Millenial (Best Newcomer at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and Peer Group.

2022 Updates

• Each year comedy enters the national/international stage in a different way. In 2022, it’s all about comedian Volodymyr Zelensky, the unlikely President of Ukraine, who’s previous job was as a television star who played a schoolteacher who became the unlikely President of Ukraine. I’m starting to watch his show Servant of the People (subtitled in English, here’s a clip dubbed in English). In this profile in the New Yorker Zelensky says, ” ‘I started out making fun of politicians, parodying them, and, in doing so, showing what kind of Ukraine I would like to see.” Zelensky gives me the hope that politics doesn’t have to be about bad acting. He says, “Politics is like bad cinema—people overact, take it too far. When I speak with politicians, I see this in their facial expressions, their eyes, the way they squint… I look at things like a producer. I would often watch a scene on the monitor, and the director and I would yell, ‘Stop, no more, this is unwatchable! No one will believe this.” Instead, he says, “What the viewer loves in an actor, this feeling of humanity—of course I use it,” he said. “And that’s very easy to do, because I remain myself.” This guy actually plays the role of a hero president, inspiring his people and not running out of his country to hide. This is our hero comedian. Plus, he’s Jewish. For a more serious take on Zelensky, check out: An Unlikely Hero (Nytimes), Volodymyr Zelenskyy, explained in 8 moments (especially his speech to the European Parliment where the translater is holding back tears).
• On a much simpler and coarse note, my kids are very excited about rude tongue twisters.
• In the car, we’ve been listening to Cabin Pressure, a radio show starring Benedict Cumberbatch before he was famous. It was written by John Finnemore who has a fantastic and smart variety show called John Finnemore’s Souvenir Program. There are some amazing bits like The Interdivention of Winnie the Pooh and The Three Little Pigs. You can also download Cabin Pressure and Souvenir Program at archive.org for free.
• Holidays Talk if Jews Were the Religious Majority

2021 Updates

• It’s an oldie but a goodie. The Harry Baals scandal of 2011 shows how technology isn’t always the solution.
• COVID-19 humor doesn’t last very long. We all have the same feelings at the same time. I expect that tracking 2021 through Holderness Family Videos may be what I do:
  • The Holderness Kids (and my kids) every single morning
  • Come on Vaccine The Holderness Family awaits the vaccine. (January)
  • Kitten Zoom Mishap. This is what happens when kids play with your lawyer computer. This also won a Zoomy on Jimmy Kimmel (February)
  • One Year Wall Holdness Family laments 1 year of lockdown (March)
  • Vaccination day! The Holdness Family gets the vaccine! (March)
  • Jimmy Kimmel’s Bring Your Kid to Work Day (Zoom Edition) (April)
  • Going Back to the Office (September)

• You knew this would happen in real life. School meeting pranked as they unknowingly read out long list of rude names. This reminds me of the Saturday Night Live funny name skits: Earthquake News Report and Superspreader Event. Or The Simpsons prank calls.

2020 Updates

• I love a good one-man/woman show. The masters of this form are Mike Birbiglia (Thank God for Jokes is great) and Julia Sweeney (watch God Said Ha! which her boyfriend Quentin Tarantino produced). I saw a few really interesting performance pieces this year on Netflix. One is Nick Kroll and John Mulaney’s Oh Hello, a semi-improvised show of two 70-year-old friends. Hannah Gadsby did some great comedy/performance art in Nanette and Douglas. Also, there’s the quite timely What The Constitution Means To Me.
• It’s also interesting how non-white-male comedians can use humor to convey a greater truth about the world. Some of my favorite examples are Dave Chapelle’s Chip and Dave, Chris Rock’s Who Wants to Change Places?, Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, and Michael Che’s Just Civil Rights.
• The new movie Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a great satire on the state of America. If you think that Sasha Baron Cohen is just doing this for laughs, watch his American Defamation League speech.
• Jay Forman can sing songs one syllable off. So the notes stay in the same place but the words move. We heard a version of this at the kids’ school, it’s pretty amazing.
• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (soundtrack on Amazon Music) was a project of Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day during the writers strike of 2008. They also created an alternative musical commentary soundtrack that you can get on Amazon Prime.
• Possibly the dorkiest wedding proposal ever was when the founder of Slashdot proposed on Slashdot. I also really liked David Pogue’s mixed reality proposal.
• I’ve always loved the Mindset List which will help you empathize with college freshmen and also make you feel quite old. For example, the class of 2023 was born in 2001 and: 9/11 has always been a historical event, the primary use of a phone has always been to take pictures, and they are as non-judgmental about sexual orientation as their parents were about smoking pot.
• I love wrong but creative answers to test questions.
• Gina Pell coined the term “perennial” for the ageless group of people that defy living in any demographic cohort. As an example, watch her recite the first 314 digits of pi while drinking Tequila shots.
• In 2009, Yale students tricked Harvard fans at the Yale-Harvard football game to write the message “We Suck” in giant letters in the stands. My second favorite prank is when my college humor magazine, The Yale Record, pranked the temperance icon Carrie Nation into posing with a bunch of debauched college students.
• Lindy West wrote the book Shrill which then became the Hulu Series. She has an amazingly funny, mean, and probably accurate review of Sex and the City 2.
• At The Moth, a storytelling group, Margot Leitman gives a hilarious talk about being on Let’s Make a Deal.
• I saw a few really interesting performance pieces this year on Netflix. One is Nick Kroll and John Mulaney’s Oh Hello, a semi-improvised show of two 70-year-old friends. Hannah Gadsby did some great comedy/performance art in Nanette and Douglas. Also, there’s the quite timely What The Constitution Means To Me.
• If you’re interested in Jewish Humor, the Wikipedia page on Jewish Humor is quite good. Also, I’ve always enjoyed Isaac Asimov’s Treasury of Humor (which he wrote on vacation).
• Trump Team Holds News Conference Outside Drab Landscaping Firm, Next to Adult Book Store. Here’s the behind the scenes story.

2019 Updates

• Instead of naming their WiFi network something boring like “Schlaff WiFi,” some people have very funny names for their WiFi like “Girls Gone Wireless,” “Mom, Click Here for Internet,” “Definitely Not An FBI Surveillance Van,” “WeCanHearYouHavingSex,” or “C:Virus.exe.”
• Aziz Ansari had a great Netflix special that’s not only funny and thoughtful but tackles his #MeToo debacle head on.
• Chess Boxing is a sport that involves alternating rounds of boxing and chess.
• Some funny videos make great points about work. For anyone who wants to show adding people to a project isn’t better, look at this video of 3 professional soccer players against 100 kids. And for anyone who tells you that kids are just better with technology, look at this video of kids trying to dial a rotary phone.
• Aziz Ansari had a great Netflix special that’s not only funny and thoughtful but tackles his #MeToo debacle head on.

2018 Updates

• In a wonderful send-up of the “Ted Talk” trope, Will Stephen shows how to sound smart at your TED Talk even when you literally don’t have anything to say.
• Before Alexa and Google, we had corporate telephone systems to talk with. In 2002, NPR had a Valentine’s Day story about Tom, the United Airlines telephone system, getting set up with Julie from Amtrak.
• Camille Fournier, the former CTO of Rent the Runway, has a great parody called The Very Model of a Modern Exec-Technical set to the theme of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Major-General song.
• My friend Aaron Gertler played a good prank and became the expert on Microsoft Word on LinkedIn.
• Spurious Correlations is a great place to remind you that just because two things are correlated, doesn’t mean that they have anything to do with each other (e.g., Nicholas Cage films vs. Pool Drownings).
• Michael Hearst created a music album with lyrics written by famous people. When Michael Chabon sent a rejection letter, Hearst set that to music.
• I loved Mike Royko’s columns in the Chicago Tribune. His article about people with unfortunate names Killer? Murder? Many Find They Can Live With It is one of my favorites.

2017 Updates

• A great joke on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Apple’s planned obsolescence.
• The HBO show Silicon Valley did a great joke on Mansplaining. The only issue I have is that the real Silicon Valley is probably a lot like this
• OK Go makes some amazing videos. My favorite recent one is One Moment. They also have a great TED talk about how they come up with their ideas
• Yakov Smirnoff hasn’t been a household name for 20 years but his standup is really funny. Ben Stiller did a funny parody of Yakov’s fall after the fall of the Soviet Union.
• Chad saves the world is a great Saturday Night Live spoof on how a millennial might respond to an epic quest

2016 Updates

• NYC Tourism: For those of you who spend any time in New York, take a look at Johnny T’s NYC Tourist Tips

Funny Tech Videos

• Every TechCommercial Ever Made was created in the vein of Apple advertising from quite a while ago — but it’s stood the test of time well.
• What if Google was a Guy who had to answer everyone’s questions?
• Facebook in Real Life is an early video showing how your online friends are not real friends.
• For anyone who tells you that kids are just better with technology, look at this video of kids trying to dial a rotary phone.

Funny Work Videos

• A Conference Call in Real Life.
• It’s Not About the Nail was shown at Amazon to shows how you need to listen to people or they won’t see the answer right in front of them.
• Rowan Atkinson has a great satire of the insensitive school principal in Fatal Beatings.
• The Dollar Shave Club launched its business with this amazing ad.
• For anyone who wants to show adding people to a project isn’t better, look at this video of 3 professional soccer players against 100 kids.