I had entirely forgotten about a crack
I made on the episode of “High School Bowl” that aired this past
weekend. There was a question that neither team was able to answer,
so I replied to it this way--
“The answer would be Midas. (pause for
effect) You know, the patron saint of mufflers”.
The kids looked kind of confused, like
they had no idea what I was talking about, while the audience
slightly groaned, after which I shot them a look perfectly captured
by the director of the show. We moved on and, like I said, I had
entirely forgotten about it until watching the show with Loraine
Saturday.
Since then, I've heard from two people
about the joke. One came into the station to pick up a prize and
commented on how she laughed when I said it. She also wondered if it
was something I had prepared ahead of time, and I had to tell her
that it wasn't. It was just something that came out of my mouth when
no one knew the answer to the question. That happens every once in a
while; I have no idea what I say until after I've said it. I don't
know if that's a blessing or a curse (although I'm guessing the
latter), but it happens.
Then yesterday I received a friendly
e-mail from someone who said she although she admired the fact that I
came up with the joke, she said she (like the studio audience)
audibly groaned when I said it. She went on to say, and I quote,
“I'd fire your writer if I were you”. I had to reply this way--
“I would fire my writer, except he's
been with me for a long, long time and knows where all the
(metaphorical) bodies are buried. Besides, that writer for me quite
cheaply, as is readily apparent by some of the material that leaves
my mouth.”
I will be the first to admit that it
was not the world's greatest joke. In fact, it probably doesn't even
fall within the parameters of the world's one million greatest jokes.
And the fact that most of the audience either didn't get it or
thought it was slightly on the stupid side proves that point. And
it's just basically a ripoff of a joke I told on the radio a long
time ago, when I claimed that Mercury was actually the god of flower
delivery. So if nothing else...
It proves that I love the obscure
reference. That I have a very bizarre sense of humor. And that
people actually do pay attention to the weird things that come out of
my mouth. As always, thanks for the kind (and funny) notes. Keep
'em coming, whether the jokes are good, bad, or just plain weird!
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