True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Heather Higgins ·
Jun 18, 2010 at 5:31am
Need suggestions for short stories to read aloud that are as LOL funny as Pigs Is Pigs. OK, maybe that's a high bar, and nothing else is as tear-streamingly funny as that, but pointers to what comes close would be appreciated. Several fishing trips with the boys and their friends upcoming, with long boat rides to fill...
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May '10
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Hmm. Comedy is hard. Leastways, it's hard when reading from a script that's supposed to be funny. Often, what works best is to read from a straight but ponderous script, or a script that's supposed to be funny, but simply isn't. Then ham it up. Dramatic pauses, "hey pay attention, this is important" that kind of thing. Sort of a Mystery Science Theater vibe. Working with a sow's ear, you can unite the audience in ridicule of the text, so the performer can relax.
Camping/fishing/outdoorsy trips can always use a good ghost story, especially with boys. "Rainy Season" by Stephen King (been hitting that note a lot lately) fits the bill nicely. Starts with mockery of rubes and flatulent dogs, ends in stark screaming terror as the toothy toads move in for the kill. Doesn't try too hard to be funny (always a plus), but manages it.
May '10
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
How about a funny poem instead?
May '10
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
This classic Thanksgiving letter is from one of my favorite websites.
May '10
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Depending on the age of the victims, the best relatively young kids read-aloud book is Fox In Socks, because the reader can't do it at normal speed without screwing up; I still quote it to grown daughters. For anyone older (have Mr. Steyn confirm), several chapters from PG Wodehouse's America I Like You induce helpless giggles; I always start with "Life Among the Armadillos".
For slightly less wholesome language, due to the string of blasphemies (names of The Deity) and mild expletives by a crusty old Norwegian who doesn't suffer fools gladly, there is a scene in Max Shulman's The Zebra Derby, where all the Communists in Minneapolis take over an abandoned WWII boom town called "Bonanza". The newly arriving protagonist sees the farmer, "every inch a Worker" and goes up to him and embraces him, saying "Brother." And the guy starts talking: "You must be anodder one of dem crazies." That 2 page soliloquy on what "dem crazies" do may be the funniest set of equivalent length sets of words in the English language.
But only for conservative grown-ups who will ignore the expletives (which are not intended as blasphemy and are totally in character for their speaker)
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Well, the short answer is: anything by Wodehouse.
But maybe that's not what you had in mind, Heather, for a fishing trip with the boys.
How about reading from the Flashman series? The chapters are pretty much self-contained, and they're awfully funny.
May '10
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Ukridge's Accident Syndicate! A good un by Wodehouse, involving a bunch of down on their luck nee-do-wells who pool their cash to buy accident insurance and then draw straws for who has to walk in front of a passing truck. The plan doesn't come together. Another Wodehouse would be part of a novel, but a neatly self-contained vignette. Gussie Fink-Nottle is dragooned into handing out the academic prizes, is trying to impress a girl, and is therefore horribly nervous. His friends naturally lace his OJ with copious amounts of gin. The results are explosive. Should appeal to boys out of school.
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Thank you for the many suggestions. We love Wodehouse, though admit that our preferred rendition is the novels on CD in the car. Henty novels are the current vogue for read-aloud at home. But as there are often friends on adventures, the brief downtimes there require short items whose totality is in short format. Let me know if you think of
others, assuming any of us still read short stories....
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Okay, instead of funny stuff, how about something equally fun?
Two Minute Mysteries and the Encyclopedia Brown series are great ways to pass the time: the stories are short, contain a mystery, and are fun to solve.
Perfect for a group experience: one person reads aloud, the others try to solve the mystery.
May '10
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Flashman is a favorite at our house, very funny with a good deal of history thrown in, but if reading to a group with young boys you need to be aware of the "racy bits."
Jun '10
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Mark Twain's short pieces from the complete works or other collections. Journalism in Tennessee and Fennimore Cooper's Literary Offenses are two favorites. Both of which may be over the heads of younger boys but they will be amused at watching you read through gasps and guffaws. If they are young teens it would be perfect.
May '10
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Not sure of the age appropriateness, but Larry Miller's Spoiled Rotten America and all the books I've read by David Sedaris crack me up. Short essays in each.
May '10
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Cindy
Flashman is a favorite at our house, very funny with a good deal of history thrown in, but if reading to a group with young boys you need to be aware of the "racy bits." · Jun 19 at 8:46am
True. There is the awkward necessity to explain the meaning and conjugation of the verb "to roger".
Mar '11
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
I'm way late with this because I just joined up. But here's my two-cents:
Scoop, by Evelyn Waugh.
It's is the only book I've ever read that made me laugh out loud. It's the literary equivalent of watching Peter Sellers. It literally made my sides hurt the first time I read it.
It's about journalism, so maybe that will make you check it out.
It takes place in Ethiopia in the '30s. So the original rastaman, Haile Selassie, if part of the story as well.
If there was a top-ten for satire, this book would be number one, forever.
Sep '10
Re: True Humor -- suggestions appreciated
Coyote v Acme from the 1990 New Yorker
Edited on Mar 10, 2011 at 1:56pm