Jokes and Reminiscing
|
|
The Best Comedians of the Twentieth Century?
Clean certainly used to be funny. Jack Benny is a prime example of what comedy was like in the 1950s. He got his start on radio in the ‘30s, as so many did in those days, but he is best remembered for his television show. He began the show with a few jokes in front of the audience, but skits portraying the life of a forever-39-year-old tightwad made up most of the show. He is probably most remembered for his great comedic timing. He could get a laugh with just a well-placed pause. Who can forget the slight turn of his head, fingers on his chin, and an exasperated “Well!” Comics such as Red Skelton and Jackie Gleason were also big. Remember Red Skelton’s Clem Kadiddlehopper and his jokes about the seagulls, Gertrude and Heathcliff? What about Jackie Gleason and such characters as Joe the Bartender and Ralph of The Honeymooners? And let’s not forget the women: Moms Mabley, Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller, and Minnie Pearl. More recent comics such as Carol Burnett, Lily Tomlin, Bill Cosby, and Flip Wilson paved the way for such modern favorites as Ellen DeGeneres . . . whose routine never needs “bleeping.” Clean can still be funny: you may just have to look a little harder! Last Updated (Thursday, 22 October 2009 03:14) |
||
|
|


Tweet me!
Those were the days! That’s probably what a lot of us think when reminiscing about some of the first comics in the 20th century. Back then, being a comic meant more than just standing on stage in front of thousands and rattling off one joke after another. That seems to be the business of comedy today—a lot of off-color jokes, with every 10th word “bleeped” when routines are shown on television. Can’t “clean” be funny these days?
What is a generation? The common meaning includes those who were born at about the same time you were. Another definition is the amount of time between when your parents were born and when you were born. So, usually a “generation gap” means about 20 to 30 years before or after our own age . . . though new generations seem to be popping up with much more frequency these days.
It's true that some things in the military never change. Case in point, the age-old rivalry between the service branches. The Marine Corps pokes fun at the Air Force, the Air Force jeers at the Army, the Army mock the Navy, the Navy ridicules the Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard takes potshots at the SEALS (later realizing their mistake and deciding a better target would be those pesky E-2C Hawkeye pilots who keep trying to infiltrate . . . )