Word: warded
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Then I read Andrew Ward's Fits and Starts, touted by its publishers as "one of the funniest books in years." I didn't laugh once. Dismayed by the prospect of discarding either the theory or my own pretensions, I read it again. I laughed less...
...decided that its neither the theory nor the pretensions that must go, but the book. It's simply not funny. Ward tries to use words he finds intrinsically funny like "airsick bag," "acne," and "sweater vest." This comic strategy can work with great success, as with Esquire's annual lists of funny words. Ward, unfortunately, chooses the wrong words...
...seeks laughs through what might be called the comedy of recognition--the creation of familiar situations with which the reader will identify. This method depends on the sort of person who will shout "Hey--that's ME" when he sees his face in a group photograph. To this end, Ward gives us accounts of riding in the family car, going to high school, fertilizing his lawn, etc. He doesn't realize that this is not enough; these situations can at best serve as a matrix for creative comedy...
...Ward leans most heavily on self-deprecation, recounting complexion problems, physical and sexual awkwardness, troubles with athletics and school, which only embarasses the reader. Woody Allen, among others, used self-deprecation as a vehicle for more complex comedy; Ward flails away at himself and expects laughs. His self-deprecation seems less a comedic device than an unholy bargain, trading self-respect for laughs, resembling nothing so much as a child banging his head against the crib to gain attention...
...traveling around the country to interview top comedians and give them psychological tests. So far, he has tested 76 Jewish humorists, including Milton Berle, George Burns, David Brenner, Sid Caesar, David Steinberg and Mort Sahl. Most, he says, were ambivalent about their Jewishness and compulsively turned to humor to ward off their private demons. As Joan Rivers told Janus, "If I were marching to the ovens, I'd be telling jokes all the way." What makes them funny, says Janus, "is their pain...