Comics often refer to their various bits and jokes, terms that seem to be used almost interchangeably. “His joke about the beautiful butterflies always kills,” someone might say, or “I can’t decide if her bit about being a squirter is hilarious or just disturbing.” So what’s the difference between a bit and a joke? The [...]
Bald eagle in Edmonds: actual photo For the last month there’s been a small group of bald eagles hanging around in the city where I both work (at my day job) and live. I am actually staring out the window at one, right now, as I type this. It’s perched on one of those wooden [...]
The other night, a few of us were talking backstage about Jeff Dunham; specifically, whether his act could be characterized as little more than racism with puppets. That debate, like most of its kind, is unresolved and ongoing. The conversation segued to the general topic of racial humor, and we spent a little while feeling [...]
The most significant fact of the 20th century will be that the North Americans speak English. — Otto Von Bismarck, 1898 I’m feeling pretty warm and fuzzy about the English language these days. I recently watched a fantastic BBC program — I think those fruits would call it a programme — called The Adventure of [...]
You’ve heard of Chat Roulette, right? It’s the site that let’s you chat via webcam with strangers around the globe. Since it’s totally unfiltered, I’m sure you can guess at this scheme’s problems number one through eight hundred: dongs, dongs, and more dongs. This Daily Show segment on Chat Roulette is one of the funniest [...]
