Humor is relative, but...
June 5, 2015 8:09 PM Subscribe
Have you ever read a book (or a comic book, or an article) and you came across an excerpt that make you laugh? (And I don't mean chuckle or exhale real quickly, I mean laugh out loud). Can you give some examples (or better yet, the actual excerpts) of some? It doesn't matter if somebody else thinks it's silly, but I'm genuinely interested in what makes other people laugh especially if its in written form (or even comic book form).
This post was deleted for the following reason: Hey, sorry -- fun topic, but "what have you read that made you laugh" is chatfilter -- taz
This is from one of my favorite books, Crome Yellow, which I've recommended here on metafilter approximately eleventy bajillion times. The book follows a group of self-important upper class folks during a few weeks one idle summer. Think: Downton Abbey, but with hipster stereotypes. It's full of subtle mocking humor. In this scene, Mary checks in on the progress the resident artist is making on his secret project. This book makes me chuckle out loud every few pages, even on multiple re-reads, but this passage is one of my favorites.
posted by phunniemee at 8:21 PM on June 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
David Sedaris wrote a short story about someone in his family secretly wiping their ass on bath towels that made me laugh loudly on the subway- relevant passage starts here. His story about speech therapy to lose his lisp made me legit LOL, too.
And Mallory Ortberg's Two Medieval Monks Invent Art series has made me laugh out loud, she's real funny.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 8:22 PM on June 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
And Mallory Ortberg's Two Medieval Monks Invent Art series has made me laugh out loud, she's real funny.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 8:22 PM on June 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
In terms of comics, do ha-ha comics count, and not just graphic novels and such?
One of my favorite genuine laugh-out-loud ones every time I'd read it for a few years is a Far Side comic where some boys are standing next to a horse that is crumpled up into a tree, just like a car. One of the others says to the boy who was riding the horse, "What are you gonna tell your dad?"
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:29 PM on June 5, 2015
One of my favorite genuine laugh-out-loud ones every time I'd read it for a few years is a Far Side comic where some boys are standing next to a horse that is crumpled up into a tree, just like a car. One of the others says to the boy who was riding the horse, "What are you gonna tell your dad?"
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:29 PM on June 5, 2015
I laughed out loud through "A Confederacy of Dunces" and "Chronicles of Doodah"; sorry, no excerpts.
posted by coldhotel at 8:33 PM on June 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by coldhotel at 8:33 PM on June 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
The Martian made me laugh several times. It's super silly but, and be sure to follow the logic here, there's a particular excerpt where the protagonist lays out his case for being a pirate.
In space. A space pirate.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was delightfully weird and wonderful and funny. Catching new acquaintances with "a suffusion of yellow" is good - and laughing is a very good sign.
posted by mce at 8:43 PM on June 5, 2015
In space. A space pirate.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was delightfully weird and wonderful and funny. Catching new acquaintances with "a suffusion of yellow" is good - and laughing is a very good sign.
posted by mce at 8:43 PM on June 5, 2015
Almost any section of the various stories of Roy Orbison In Cling Film can induce actual out-loud laughing in me. The extremely dry, gramatically odd prose is a little reminiscent of Werner Herzog or Karl Ove Knausgaard, but with a monomaniacal (duomaniacal?) focus on exactly what the title suggests.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:45 PM on June 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:45 PM on June 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Ever hear of a comic called "Footrot Flats"? There were collections and my girlfriend owned a bunch of them. I was reading one of the collections and scared her by suddenly starting laughing uproariously; I think it took several minutes to stop.
But explaining what got me that way will take a bit, since it's almost a "you hadda be there" kind of thing. Anyway, I'll try.
The main characters in the strip are Wallace (a NZ sheep farmer who is almost always called "Wal") and "The Dog" (his working dog, a border collie). The Dog has a name but he hates it, and it's never revealed in the strip. (My girlfriend claimed it was Murray, the same name as the cartoonist.)
So the strip in question? It's birthing season and Wal is out in the fields helping his female sheep. I think it was raining, too. Wal's Aunt Dolly has a Corgie named "Prince Charles", and Prince Charles charges into the field yapping at the top of his lungs. The next frame was just sound effects: Poit! poit! poit! poit! And in the final frame there are dozens of lambs laying on the ground, all ejected at the same instance. Wal does a face-palm.
I can't explain why that got to me, but it did.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:02 PM on June 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
But explaining what got me that way will take a bit, since it's almost a "you hadda be there" kind of thing. Anyway, I'll try.
The main characters in the strip are Wallace (a NZ sheep farmer who is almost always called "Wal") and "The Dog" (his working dog, a border collie). The Dog has a name but he hates it, and it's never revealed in the strip. (My girlfriend claimed it was Murray, the same name as the cartoonist.)
So the strip in question? It's birthing season and Wal is out in the fields helping his female sheep. I think it was raining, too. Wal's Aunt Dolly has a Corgie named "Prince Charles", and Prince Charles charges into the field yapping at the top of his lungs. The next frame was just sound effects: Poit! poit! poit! poit! And in the final frame there are dozens of lambs laying on the ground, all ejected at the same instance. Wal does a face-palm.
I can't explain why that got to me, but it did.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:02 PM on June 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Another David Sedaris piece. This story is about his adventures with his Fitbit.
He's also got another story about a taxidermist. That one had me laughing enough that I had to be careful driving.
Really, if you can find the audio versions of him reading, it's worth hearing. His voice definitely lends hilarity to his work.
posted by dancinglamb at 9:08 PM on June 5, 2015
He's also got another story about a taxidermist. That one had me laughing enough that I had to be careful driving.
Really, if you can find the audio versions of him reading, it's worth hearing. His voice definitely lends hilarity to his work.
posted by dancinglamb at 9:08 PM on June 5, 2015
Michael O'Donaghue's "How to Write Good" had me pretty much on the floor the first time I read it.
posted by holborne at 9:26 PM on June 5, 2015
posted by holborne at 9:26 PM on June 5, 2015
The complete set of John Hodgman's fake (?) Encyclopedia is so incredibly LOL funny to me that I haven't been able to actually read 30% of it because I have physically hurled the book accros the room in order to protect myself.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:41 PM on June 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:41 PM on June 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
This passage from Good Omens always slays me:
The book was commonly known as the Buggre Alle This Bible. The lengthy compositor's error, if such it may be called, occurs in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 48, verse five:
2. And bye the border of Dan, fromme the east side to the west side, a portion for Afher.
3. And bye the border of Afhter, fromme the east side even untoe the west side, a portion for Naphtali.
4. And bye the border of Naphtali, from the east side untoe the west side, a portion for Manaffeh.
5. Buggre all this for a Larke. I amme sick to mye Hart of typefettinge. Master Biltonn if no Gentelmann, and Master Scagges noe more than a tighte fisted Southwarke Knobbefticke. I telle you, onne a daye laike thif Ennywone half an oz. of Sense should bee oute in the Sunneshain, ane nott Stucke here alle the liuelong daie inn thif mowldey olde By-Our-Lady Workefhoppe. @*"AE@;!*
6. And bye the border of Ephraim, from the east fide even untoe the west fide, a portion for Reuben.
[The Buggre Alle This Bible was also noteworthy for having twenty seven verses in the third chapter of Genesis, instead of the more usual twenty four.
They followed verse 24, which in the King James version reads:
"So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life," and read:
25 And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying Where is the flaming sword which was given unto thee?
26 And the Angel said, I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next.
27 And the Lord did not ask him again.
It appears that these verses were inserted during the proof stage. In those days it was common practice for printers to hang proof sheets to the wooden beams outside their shops, for the edification of the populace and some free proofreading, and since the whole print run was subsequently burned anyway, no one bothered to take up this matter with the nice Mr. A. Ziraphale, who ran the bookshop two doors along and was always so helpful with the translations, and whose handwriting was instantly recognizable.]
posted by BurntHombre at 10:02 PM on June 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
2. And bye the border of Dan, fromme the east side to the west side, a portion for Afher.
3. And bye the border of Afhter, fromme the east side even untoe the west side, a portion for Naphtali.
4. And bye the border of Naphtali, from the east side untoe the west side, a portion for Manaffeh.
5. Buggre all this for a Larke. I amme sick to mye Hart of typefettinge. Master Biltonn if no Gentelmann, and Master Scagges noe more than a tighte fisted Southwarke Knobbefticke. I telle you, onne a daye laike thif Ennywone half an oz. of Sense should bee oute in the Sunneshain, ane nott Stucke here alle the liuelong daie inn thif mowldey olde By-Our-Lady Workefhoppe. @*"AE@;!*
6. And bye the border of Ephraim, from the east fide even untoe the west fide, a portion for Reuben.
[The Buggre Alle This Bible was also noteworthy for having twenty seven verses in the third chapter of Genesis, instead of the more usual twenty four.
They followed verse 24, which in the King James version reads:
"So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life," and read:
25 And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying Where is the flaming sword which was given unto thee?
26 And the Angel said, I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next.
27 And the Lord did not ask him again.
It appears that these verses were inserted during the proof stage. In those days it was common practice for printers to hang proof sheets to the wooden beams outside their shops, for the edification of the populace and some free proofreading, and since the whole print run was subsequently burned anyway, no one bothered to take up this matter with the nice Mr. A. Ziraphale, who ran the bookshop two doors along and was always so helpful with the translations, and whose handwriting was instantly recognizable.]
posted by BurntHombre at 10:02 PM on June 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
...an open can of sardines and a piece of Roquefort cheese.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 10:32 PM on June 5, 2015
posted by Confess, Fletch at 10:32 PM on June 5, 2015
Chrome Yellow is a very silly and weird book....there was a curious brownish smell...
posted by Confess, Fletch at 10:35 PM on June 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Confess, Fletch at 10:35 PM on June 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I would also say pretty much anything by David Sedaris. Especially his story about how in France chocolate is delivered on Easter by a bell that flies from Rome. The ending line "A bell, though, that's fucked up." (Though, all of his books are amazing.)
OMG and my husband and I crack up at his story "Understanding Owls" and reenact it with eachother. His partner is painting a ceiling and...
All Hugh needed was a reference, so he went to the Museum of Natural History and returned with “Understanding Owls.” The book came into our lives almost fifteen years ago and I’ve yet to go more than a month without mentioning it. “You know,” I’ll say, “there’s something about nocturnal birds of prey that I just don’t get. If only there was somewhere I could turn for answers.”
“I wish I could help you,” Hugh will say, adding, a second or two later, “Hold on a minute . . . what about . . . ‘Understanding Owls’?”
Also, Tina Fey Bossypants has many funny moments.
posted by Crystalinne at 10:37 PM on June 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
OMG and my husband and I crack up at his story "Understanding Owls" and reenact it with eachother. His partner is painting a ceiling and...
All Hugh needed was a reference, so he went to the Museum of Natural History and returned with “Understanding Owls.” The book came into our lives almost fifteen years ago and I’ve yet to go more than a month without mentioning it. “You know,” I’ll say, “there’s something about nocturnal birds of prey that I just don’t get. If only there was somewhere I could turn for answers.”
“I wish I could help you,” Hugh will say, adding, a second or two later, “Hold on a minute . . . what about . . . ‘Understanding Owls’?”
Also, Tina Fey Bossypants has many funny moments.
posted by Crystalinne at 10:37 PM on June 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
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