Out of the car steps forth a bad-ass chick, darker than her jet black hair and ready to beat the snot out of anyone who looks at her sideways. She performs a monster hair flip and says out loud the answer to the question that everyone is asking but is too afraid to ask.
"Welcome to the skewered literary world of G.B. Miller, whose sense of humor knows no bounds, and will literally lick my boots if I snap my fingers!"
Having spoken her piece, she casually gives the proper one finger salute, before sauntering away from the blog in a cloud of sulfuric smoke.
So the other day, my wonderful editor asked me to list 10 things that influenced my humor. They could be individuals, groups, novels, t.v. shows, etc. The reason as to why she asked this very interesting question, is that she wanted to get a better grip on just exactly where/how my humor came to be, which in turn would help her do a more thorough job of editing (among other things).
I told her that was a very tough question to answer, since I don't think any one individual/group/t.v. show/novel really overtly influenced my humor. But I would try to answer it to the best of my ability. And this is what I gave her for an answer.
I do enjoy the warped humor that is Monty Python, although it has taken me quite a few decades to fully appreciate the subtleties of their type of humor.
I also enjoyed Steve Martin while growing up, as well as Robin Williams, for stand alone artists. I was/am very big into novelty songs/parodies, both as a teenager and an adult.
MAD Magazine had a very big influence on my type of humor, early 80's thru the late 90's.
Other than that, I don't really know who or what else had/has an/a influence on my humor. A good portion of my humor/dry wit/sarcasm is very observational (i.e. people, events, situations, places, conversations) and I'm not quite sure who had any influence on me when I was developing it.
I find humor in a lot of things, and I don't think I can pin it down to any one particular novel or t.v. show. I've enjoyed a lot of t.v. shows over the decades, from Dick Van Dyke to Carol Burnett (in reruns), Fraiser I found to be quite funny in its own special way, but I don't think any of them consciously influenced me in any way.
I can say that I'm a sucker for dry wit/humor, and I use humor as a good mechanism to get through the work day and beyond.
I also want to add here that I grew up on a steady diet of both Warner Bros cartoons and the politically incorrect shorts of The 3 Stooges and The Little Rascals.
My humor knows no boundaries, and it is about as politically incorrect as you can get w/o being offensive. As you can see by both the opening paragraphs as well as the picture, I have no problem in using provocative innuendo and dark humorous pictures to get my point across.
To quote a line from a well-worn/often seen episode from M.A.S.H. that I like: "This is me!"
And being true to myself is the only way that I know how to be. And I'm sure no one else who knows me would have it any other way.
{c} 2019 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved
I like dry wit - Monty Python and Fawlty Towers overflowed with it.
ReplyDeleteSome of those Bugs Bunny cartoons were a bit politically incorrect as well.
I tried watching Fawlty Towers, but I really couldn't get into it. Might give it another shot in the near future.
DeleteA lot of those Bugs Bunny cartoons were politically incorrect, but you really can't use today's iffy values and apply them to the past. The social mores of the early-to-mid 20th century were what they were.