Nothing like the Sillies (and the laughter of a kid)

This video was sent to me from my niece and nephew last weekend when they were celebrating the end of Nikki's colorguard season and the beginning of more free time for both the Barnwells and Isgards (Dave no longer has to plow). The scene was shot at Twin Trees in North Syracuse and I can listen to Sean laugh again and again and again. That is pure joy and bliss.

It reminded me of one of my freshmen's papers from this semester where he analyzed humor, its importance and when it fails. His friends invented a game called "Flop" where they yell the word whenever a joke dies. If the deliverer of a flop knows it will flop he or she can call cancel and not get harassed.  If a flop is called and the jokester doesn't like the call, he can yell stiffy in protest. The goal, however, is to score a hit - the delivery of a funny joke or scene. The video above was a hit for me and what follows is the acrostic I wrote for Gerard, the student's paper I reference.

viii.

G uy walks into a bar and asks the

e ager bartender, “Do you have any helicopter-flavored potato chips?”

r ight then, the bartender shakes his head

a nd responds, “No, I only have plain.”

r ewind. stop for a second. think.

d ud. yup. Flop.

M an walks into a bar and sits down next to another

c ustomer with a dog at his feet. “Does your dog bite,” the

M an asks as he takes a gulp of his beer. “No,” the customer said.

u nder the stool stood the dog and a few minutes

l ater it bit a HUGE chunk out of the man’s leg. The man was not

l aughing. “Ouch. I thought you said your dog doesn’t bite,” he scolded

i ndignantly. “He doesn’t,” the customer replied. “That’s not my dog.”

nope. no one yelled cancel either.