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Brooks Peterson

Monday, April 9, 2001
Make sense of humor? It is to laugh

   There is nothing more deadly dull, more relentlessly un-funny, than attempts to analyze humor. (Why Are Some Things Funny And Others Not? Because.)
   But if it is pointless to try to explain why we laugh at this or that, it is something else altogether to share our thoughts on what makes us laugh.
   The very essence of the age in which we live, suffused as it is with a sense that More Is Good, A Whole Lot More Is Better, and Sheer Wanton Overkill Is Bliss Itself, is nowhere more tellingly captured than in the things that make us laugh. Our age of excess has given rise to a comedy of excess.
   I will merely mention a couple of names: The late Chris Farley. The late Sam Kinnison.
   Farley, the "Saturday Night Live" cast member who idolized another SNL alum, John Belushi, was capable of an amusing turn. His portrayal of a berserk motivational speaker had its moments. More often than not, however, Farley's work bespoke desperation, not inspiration. He seemed always to wind up flailing around - usually in tanks of water - in pursuit of laughs which, if they came at all, were a little uneasy.
   And Kinnison? I never watched enough of his stuff to gain a feeling for his shtick: The incoherent screeching in which he specialized invariably had me scrabbling among the sofa cushions to find the remote and flip to something with more wit - like, say, QVC.
   Don't get me wrong. Broad humor - as opposed to the humor of desperation - can literally put me on the floor. "Animal House," "Caddyshack," "Used Cars" - none of which were devoid of, well, crudities - just flat laid me out.
   But there are subtler joys as well. I'm a sucker for deadpan humor - if for no other reason than it comes at you from an unexpected quarter and does its work before you've realized what's happening.
   A case in point arrived in the mail last week. As auto writer for this publication, I get all manner of stuff from the manufacturers: press kits, promotional gimmicks, and the omnipresent press releases. Boy, do I get press releases.
   A Mini hoax
   Many go directly into the round file. This one, however, caught my interest: It was from the people at MINI. This, you should know, is a tiny little division of BMW (sort of like Shoebox Cards and Hallmark) which is in the process of introducing a completely updated version of the Austin/Mini - a tiny front-wheel-drive box on wheels that managed to be an engineering tour de force without sacrificing traditional British, er, quirkiness - right here in SUV-land. (Why has the Mini become the MINI? Inquiring minds want to know.)
   So: Here is this very professional-looking press release: "MINI supports UK Road Switch Vote . . . Changeover period should mean fun driving for MINI owners."
   Eh? Say whut?
   It seems that "in the interests of World Harmony the UK is considering switching from driving on the left to the right hand side of the road."
   We read on: If approved, the switchover will take place in three stages: trucks and buses changing in the first week, SUVs and sedans in the second, and motorcycles and bicycles in the third.
   Hey. Waitaminnit -
   Citing MINIS' "supernatural handling prowess," a corporate spokesman observes that this "hair raising and memorable three weeks" will be particularly well suited to MINIS and their drivers, who, due to the "slalom effect," may actually "enjoy their drive to work even more than usual."
   And this spokesman is . . . Ima Kedeengya?
   OK. All right. Ya got me. It's no disgrace to have been hoaxed if it's done stylishly.
   Still, there's such a thing as going overboard. The MINI release continues: Should the experiment prosper, the British government will introduce "other proven New World initiatives such as decent restaurant food and cosmetic dentistry."
   Now, as a registered Anglophile, I must object: That smacks of lese majeste. One takes liberties with such tribal totems at his peril.
   Brooks Peterson can be reached by phone at 886-3772, or by e-mail at petersonb@caller.com.

Brooks Peterson can be reached by phone at 886-3772, or by e-mail at petersonb@caller.com

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