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Politicians And Humour
I'm sure many of you remember the Vice Presidential Debate in October 1988, between Senators Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle. In one exchange, Quayle made the mistake of comparing the length of his congressional service with that of John F. Kennedy.
This was a foolhardy comparison, however valid it may have been, because in effect he was comparing himself directly to the assassinated President. That gave Bentsen the perfect 'in,' and he took it.
"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." I forget what Quayle said, or didn't say, to that one. The point was that Bentsen had swung the whole onus of humour onto Quayle's shoulders. And he fell short.
If he'd simply said; "And that, Senator, makes two of us," while that's by no means a brilliant riposte, it would have defused the situation and shown that Quayle could think on his feet with the best of them.
When we were talking about great leaders and their instinctive ability at humour, we left out Abraham Lincoln, which was a serious omission.
A man once asked this great President how long a man's legs should be.
"Just long enough to reach the ground," Lincoln replied.
This type of humour asks politely, 'What type of damn-fool question was that?'
Basically, we laugh at something because it's totally unexpected. The man on the banana skin effect, especially if the man's dressed in a smart three piece suit and carrying a brolly. One second he's the smart, dignified gentleman striding down the street. The next, his legs have shot into the air, and he's flat on his back.
Surprise. Complete opposite. Result; laughter.
I remember many years ago in England, one of our top comedians named Harry Secombe, who also happened to possess a brilliant operatic tenor voice, appeared on one of those live variety shows which were so popular in those days. It was a year or two after Nicholas Monsarrat's wonderful book, and film of the same name, The Cruel Sea, came out.
I was in my late teens at the time and not very fond of opera, but even I was enraptured when Secombe started to sing. He was quite superb. My mother and I sat there spellbound, when all of a sudden, he stopped dead, right at the top of the range.
Then he gave his trademark, high pitched laugh, and said; "The Cruel 'C.'" He had, in fact, hit the note C above top C. But this was classic humour. One minute, the whole audience was enthralled by his magnificent operatic rendition, the next he went from the sublime to the ridiculous with a joke in perfect harmony, (no pun intended!), with what he'd been singing.
The book and film were still fresh in people's minds, so of course they understood the play on words.
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