Jokes: they're not just for breakfast anymore
Jokes are something very important to me. They're pretty high up on my list of important things in life, right up there with keeping sharp things away from my eyeballs and remembering to never, ever smell it when some guy says, "Hey, smell this." I really enjoy making other people laugh. I like to get to know people well enough to feel them out and know what tickles their proverbial funny bone.
(Fun fact: the "funny bone" takes its name from Latin word for the long bone of the arm, Humerus. Get it? Humerus? Humorous? Ha ha. The ancient Greeks believed that there were four basic humours, or liquids, in the body. But you don't hear anyone calling bile "funny juice", do you?)
But I think the main reason I make jokes is to make myself laugh. It's one of the basic ways I enjoy life. I want to keep being able to laugh no matter what situation I'm in. I want to see the irony and laugh about it, even if I'm getting the short end of the stick. I like to laugh at myself when I realize how stupid I'm being or when my ego starts acting up.
However, because of my insane amount of funny intake, I have somewhat of a refined palate when it comes to humor. I find that I am the toughest audience for my jokes. I've gotten to a point where many of the things I come up with don't amuse me all that much. Then, of course, I get to laugh at myself for being such a dork, but it also pushes me to be funnier. F'rinstance. I wanted to do some sort of picture for St. Patrick's Day, like I did for Valentine's Day. I didn't want to use the same idea as last time, and have Wendell the Worm biting off a leprechaun's head, so I tried to think of something else. I thought about Lucky the Leprechaun (of Lucky Charms fame) looking back over his shoulder, holding a box of cereal, and about to open a door, saying "They'll never find me here." On the other side of the door would be the typical group of kids, but holding various implements of destruction, like a board with a nail in it, a chain, a hangman's knot, or a steel pipe. Or maybe have "Lucky Charms: they're tragically malicious!" underneath the drawing. Aside from the fact that I'm sure it's been done before, when I started drawing it I just couldn't convince myself it was funny. I like my humor to be somewhat original (barring stealing really good jokes, which I consider to be one of the fundamentals of the trade). So then I thought up this scene: a rainbow, and at the end of it, instead of a pot of gold, a shiny toilet (maybe a gold toilet), and underneath it would say "Happy St. Potty's Day!". And I don't think I need to tell you how dumb that is. Besides, I ran out of time and energy.
In conclusion, there's a couple of things that bother me about the Lucky Charms commercials. One is that these kids never have any adult supervision (though that can be said about most cereal commercials, barring Apple Jacks and older Honey Comb ads). These kids were obviously never raised to think that stealing was wrong. They never think to offer to buy the Lucky Charms. Conversely, Lucky the Leprechaun is sitting on a goldmine. Why doesn't he ever realize the financial possibilities of his cereal? It's not like he has a pot of gold or anything; his only asset is an endless supply of Lucky Charms boxes. Lucky should wise up and start selling the cereal to the kids. But on the other hand, that probably wouldn't make too entertaining of a commercial, much less a funny advertising mascot. Forget I said anything.
(Fun fact: the "funny bone" takes its name from Latin word for the long bone of the arm, Humerus. Get it? Humerus? Humorous? Ha ha. The ancient Greeks believed that there were four basic humours, or liquids, in the body. But you don't hear anyone calling bile "funny juice", do you?)
But I think the main reason I make jokes is to make myself laugh. It's one of the basic ways I enjoy life. I want to keep being able to laugh no matter what situation I'm in. I want to see the irony and laugh about it, even if I'm getting the short end of the stick. I like to laugh at myself when I realize how stupid I'm being or when my ego starts acting up.
However, because of my insane amount of funny intake, I have somewhat of a refined palate when it comes to humor. I find that I am the toughest audience for my jokes. I've gotten to a point where many of the things I come up with don't amuse me all that much. Then, of course, I get to laugh at myself for being such a dork, but it also pushes me to be funnier. F'rinstance. I wanted to do some sort of picture for St. Patrick's Day, like I did for Valentine's Day. I didn't want to use the same idea as last time, and have Wendell the Worm biting off a leprechaun's head, so I tried to think of something else. I thought about Lucky the Leprechaun (of Lucky Charms fame) looking back over his shoulder, holding a box of cereal, and about to open a door, saying "They'll never find me here." On the other side of the door would be the typical group of kids, but holding various implements of destruction, like a board with a nail in it, a chain, a hangman's knot, or a steel pipe. Or maybe have "Lucky Charms: they're tragically malicious!" underneath the drawing. Aside from the fact that I'm sure it's been done before, when I started drawing it I just couldn't convince myself it was funny. I like my humor to be somewhat original (barring stealing really good jokes, which I consider to be one of the fundamentals of the trade). So then I thought up this scene: a rainbow, and at the end of it, instead of a pot of gold, a shiny toilet (maybe a gold toilet), and underneath it would say "Happy St. Potty's Day!". And I don't think I need to tell you how dumb that is. Besides, I ran out of time and energy.
In conclusion, there's a couple of things that bother me about the Lucky Charms commercials. One is that these kids never have any adult supervision (though that can be said about most cereal commercials, barring Apple Jacks and older Honey Comb ads). These kids were obviously never raised to think that stealing was wrong. They never think to offer to buy the Lucky Charms. Conversely, Lucky the Leprechaun is sitting on a goldmine. Why doesn't he ever realize the financial possibilities of his cereal? It's not like he has a pot of gold or anything; his only asset is an endless supply of Lucky Charms boxes. Lucky should wise up and start selling the cereal to the kids. But on the other hand, that probably wouldn't make too entertaining of a commercial, much less a funny advertising mascot. Forget I said anything.
posted by Casey at 3:41 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home