each grain is its own tiny rock

patrick warburton is a funny man. i started watching rules of engagement b/c of david spade - who i think is high-larry-oos - but now i think i like ol' patrick better, in this show. this is patrick's picture. remember him from seinfeld? elaine dated his character -- puddy or putty. not sure exactly what his name was....

who do you think is funny? david spade. patrick warburton. dana carvey. mike myers. some folks are only funny in an ensemble. julia louis-dreyfus is super in new christine & seinfeld, but i can't imagine her doing standup. does she even do standup? some folks were funny, but then they skidded off the funny track and landed in the ditch of stupid. roseanne would be an excellent example of that.

in my book, nothing beats good standup comedy for solid entertainment. can you imagine how difficult standup would be? imagine getting out there on a stage with the technology of microphone & lights, and... geeyah... nobody laffing? man, oh, man... that would be torture. it's tough enough if you make a joke at the dinner table & nobody laffs. but, in front of a crowd of people? gee willikers. and, it's one thing to stumble into a joke - to comment on a funny situation when you see it - but to purposely put together the material and bravely go out there and present it - man, that is a whole nother ball of wax. it would be a replay of the nightmarish 5th grade oral book report every.single.night.

well, it would be nightmarish unless you were good at it. there are not really that many truly good comedians. there are some funny guys with a funny schtick who can come out & do an act & make you laff. but, comedians - they're funny night after night with solid, original material. they don't replay the same material over & over... unless it's something so totally classic that it never gets old. so, i guess i'd have to admit that your best comedians have a mix of new & classic.

take ol' ron white & his tater salad story. that is a classic. he doesn't always tell it the same, though, and i think that's cause his prop bourbon is generally actual bourbon. you have to get the tater salad story early in the evening, or it's simply a prolonged tale of banality.

speaking of the classics - remember john heffron from way back on one of the early years of last comic standing? i think he was the winner on year 1 or 2. man, that guy is the real deal. totally a laffing-to-tears riot. christmas paper wrapping paper tube... yeah, now there is an all-time classic!

what makes stuff funny? the truth in it. something we've all done or all seen or all said. a tough spot we've all been in. it's funny b/c we can relate to it, b/c somebody is holding up that mirror and showing us what's funny about ourselves, and we go - oh, yeah! i've done that! that's funny when that happens! christmas paper wrapping paper tube... oh, yeah....