THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOKES

Evening Star, Issue 22720, 6 August 1937, Page 11

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOKES

Popular tastes change very slightly (from century to century, writes Robert «. Sherwood in the / Rotation.’ In tragedy, in drama, in poetry, in rottuance, and in sentiment, that ■which (pae good enough for the ancient (Greeks is good enough for us. The team* standards have been applied to these things since the day history first tagaa. But it is terribly different fwim humour. We can’t-laugh at the «amd jokes more than once, and the iwisecracks that were considered highly comical 10 years ago are now as out-nf-date as last Thursday’s shave. Jokes age rapidly and die young. If doubt this go to see any of Shakespeare’s comedies arid count the numIber of laughs that you can derive (therefrom. The beauty of the bard’s (verse remains, hut the humour is terrible. Ring Lardner’s sentiment, as Expressed in such stories as ‘ The Golden Honeymoon ’ will survive; but lifr matchless wit will follow Pat arid (Mike into oblivion—and with it, too, twill go Montague Glass’s * Potash and frerlmutter,’ Wallace Irwin’s ‘ Hashitfnnra Toga,’ George Ade’s ‘ Fables in 61ang,’ P. G. Wodehouse’s delightful (Britons, Kin Hubbard’s Abe Martin, And all the other recent sources of mirth. As for the grotesque individuals who frolic about in the newspaper comic atriM—what will become of them? You WiU find them all in a scheduled corner of that same graveyard of Old (Tokes. They are pushing up daisies. ' There is, however, one gleam of (hope for the old joke; reincarnation is always possible. _ If you go to the (graveyard any night, yon will see a riumber of souls engaged in the furdivfs work of disinterment. It is their (business to retrieve forgotten wheezes, 'dust them off, and present them puhdicly as brand new. No renovated jokes could have gone on in their original form; if they possessed the essentials of humour, they could be perpetuated. But they would always bo confronted with the fact that styles and tastes are undergoing radical alterations. To all those who want to qualify as the life of the party, who wish to be known as droll fellows, irrepressible clowns, or mad wags, who aro anxious to fascinate mixed audiences with the rapier-like quality of their wit, these words of advice are apologetically offered;— Don’t ever start off any story with the introduction: It seems Don’t ever confess that you are ■“ reminded of an anecdote.” Don’t ever explain beforehand that the joke you are about to toll is funny. That is a contention which it is always hard to prove. Don’t ever repeat a nifty joke that you heard in a musical revue.' It’s presence there is a guarantee of its age. Don’t over tell dialect stories. Don’t ever assume that a joke which has been told effectively by Irvin S. Cobb will sound funny when recounted by you. A man’s joke, like his toothbrush. is his own exclusive property. Don’t over follow up a humorous climax by digging your victim in the rib's. And, above all things— Don’t ever prefex your remarks with; “ Stop me if you have heard this one,” It is an utter waste of words —(a) because the chances aro 100 to 1 that your listeners have heard that one, and (bj because they all know perfectly well that it would be useless for them to say so. The persistent joke-teller will never be stopped by anything short of a milleninm.