You know what else is funny? A guy getting hit in the nuts.
Posted by: Keir Graff
On Slate (“Defenders“), Jack Shafer defends Alex Heard against all those people who are defending David Sedaris. Shafer especially takes issue with the notion that sometimes fiction makes facts funnier:
Jon Carroll thinks humorists require “latitude” to make things funny, a notion I find bogus. I find stories that are absolutely true – like the time one of my neighbors, dressed up to party on Saturday night, fell into a 55-gallon drum filled with human excrement and urine – the funniest.
I’m guessing Shafer’s neighbors think of him with equal fondness. Now, I don’t always find Sedaris as sidesplitting as do his fans, but I’ll take his brand of humor over America’s Funniest Home Videos any day.
(Shafer would probably laugh at the obligatory comedy-movie scene where everyone jumps into the pool wearing their prom clothes — if only that weren’t made-up, too.)
Oh, and way down at the bottom of the page — the ideal spot for one of those “full disclosure” phrases — Shafer notes that Heard is a friend of his. Nothing wrong with having your buddy’s back, of course.
April 12th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
If the press ever finds you out, I’m dropping you like a hot rock…
April 13th, 2007 at 11:28 am
As long as you don’t laugh at me when I’m covered in human excrement and urine.
April 13th, 2007 at 11:41 am
[...] Yes, that is hilarious. Almost as funny as a man, dressed up to party on Saturday night, falling into a 55-gallon drum filled with human excrement and urine. [...]