Comedian - Part Two

I thought I should mention, that Emma was in good company in the joke depreciation department. Our very close friend from college, who we consider a family member, also has a reputation for not immediately appreciating certain kinds of jokes. In fact, we have rather vivid memories from college of telling jokes in Sarah K's presence and her responding, "I don't get it." We would follow up with a tedious explanation of why our joke was funny that would suck the life out of any joke. And then  Sarah K would inevitably get the last word by listening to our long-winded explanation and proclaiming, "Oh, I get that. That's not funny."

My mother is the other one who has a problem with jokes. She's 93 now and not telling a lot of jokes, but there was a time when she did, or at least tried to. When she told a joke it was always hilarious - not so much because the joke was funny, but because the way she told a joke was funny. She would start and stop several times, leave out important parts, and always screw up the punch line. But by the end of the joke, she was laughing so hard, tears would be running down her cheeks. It was impossible not to laugh along with her, even if you weren't sure what you were laughing at.

And while my mother got that people found Peter's dry sense of humor funny, she often had a hard time figuring out the jokes for herself. Peter would say something, people would laugh, and my mother would smile and ponder. Often we would be shutting the doors of our car and about to drive away when my mother would run out and wave us down. "I get it!" she would proudly shout. "I get your joke!"

So Emma was in very good company during her humor-impaired years. Her grandma didn't get it either. And Sarah K got it. She just didn't think it was funny.