You What, John?
A joke that didn't read while discussing our choice of music at the funeral directors' today:
ME: He quite liked the Everly Brothers.
MUM: Which one?
ME: I don't know. Don?
To be fair, most of my gags don't tend to land with my mum for the simple reason that she never hears them. This issue is a point of discussion every time we talk, as it's reached the stage where just about everything I say I have to say twice, which presumably makes my mum think I'm permanently irritable, because of the slightly pushed tone that pervades each second reading.
(Although I am permanently irritable, to be fair.)
It doesn't help that I specialise in undersold delivery, which isn't possible when the punter in question - as that's how I view everyone from my perspective as a comedian - doesn't have the audio range for subtlety; with my mum, the diaphragm has to be fully activated for anything to hit home. I sometimes wonder if Brian Blessed would be a better son to her.
Oh well, I guess this is just par-for-the-course. Hopefully one day she'll do something about it, though it has its uses; at least if I don't want to be heard, activate my own cloaking device and make sure she can't hear me; it's good clean fun.
ME: He quite liked the Everly Brothers.
MUM: Which one?
ME: I don't know. Don?
To be fair, most of my gags don't tend to land with my mum for the simple reason that she never hears them. This issue is a point of discussion every time we talk, as it's reached the stage where just about everything I say I have to say twice, which presumably makes my mum think I'm permanently irritable, because of the slightly pushed tone that pervades each second reading.
(Although I am permanently irritable, to be fair.)
It doesn't help that I specialise in undersold delivery, which isn't possible when the punter in question - as that's how I view everyone from my perspective as a comedian - doesn't have the audio range for subtlety; with my mum, the diaphragm has to be fully activated for anything to hit home. I sometimes wonder if Brian Blessed would be a better son to her.
Oh well, I guess this is just par-for-the-course. Hopefully one day she'll do something about it, though it has its uses; at least if I don't want to be heard, activate my own cloaking device and make sure she can't hear me; it's good clean fun.
