Fast Fiction

LA Blogs’ topic for this week, in memory of the passing of Rodney Dangerfield, is Rodney Memorial Edition (comedy is hard).

1. OK funny girl, what’s your favorite joke?

Have you heard about the new corduroy pillows?

They’re making headlines.

I read that joke in Bloom County when I was 17 years old and just got off a horrific 22 hour cross country plane trip (that’s another blog entry someday) and was jetlagged and sat up all night reading it. I thought it was hysterical. It’s probably not, but I remember my fits of laughter fondly and this joke is a way to connect with a time in my life when I would feel free to laugh out loud when I’m all alone. Okay, I do that now, but there was an intervening time when I wouldn’t have.

2. Where do you go for comedy in LA?

I don’t think I’ve ever gone anywhere for comedy. I’ve found some things funny, like the lounge singer on Thursday nights at The Red Lion.

3. Have you been to an open mike night? If so, where?

Nope. Well, there was one at our Unitarian Youth Weekends when I was a teen, but I don’t think that counts.

4. Was it good, bad or tolerable?

Um, we were Unitarians.

5. Who is the funniest comedian you have seen in town?

Well, since the Unitarian things were in Baltimore or Philadelphia, I guess they don’t count.

6. Who is the unfunniest?

See above.

7. Beyond the places that you have been to see comedy, are there any places that your friends have recommended?

I’m not one for going and seeing comedians in the flesh. I don’t know why, but it just doesn’t interest me. I really enjoyed Second City though, when I was in Chicago once. So I’d probably say that something like Groundlings would fit me.

8. OK, so you’re not that funny, what’s your worst joke?

It’s really long. It’s called the Green Ping Pong Ball Joke. I didn’t feel like retyping it here (I could have copied and pasted it, but I tell it a little differently).