MEMORABLE HUMOR

I can never remember jokes. I once collected humor but no more (I couldn’t bring everything to Thailand). Out of the thousands of jokes I’ve heard I remember only a handful.

Here’s one:

A guy asks a pretty young thing, “Do you smoke after sex?”
Pretty Young Thing: “I never looked.”

If I were asked who is (was) the best stand-up I’d have to say Bob Newhart. Talk about memorable. When he does stand-up now, a good portion of his audience recites his monologues along with him. That is the definition of memorable. I can even remember lines from his “lesser” routines such as (without looking anything up):

The submarine bit.
A movie in Africa.
Seven lost cities of the Incas.
Bus driver school.

Those are some of his “B” list material that I haven’t heard or heard of in over 20 years. Still it is all familiar to me.

His writing and delivery are unmatched in American humor. There was never an excess word. I’ve often wondered if he dashed it off in moments of inspiration or if he labored over every word as I have to do (without near the success).

Lenny Bruce was great in his own way. He paved the way and took all the heat for comics to come. But for pure stand-up, Bob Newhart is the king.