humor

[stumpy]

Hey NT,

I was wondering if you could share something about how you developed your sense of humor, who you looked up to. Were there any family members that imparted the witty sarcasm? When I was a kid I remember my grandfather was the one who got me to appreciate a good punch line or an interesting story, but of course as with all good things in life, he's not around anymore. You mention in the podcasts that you don't read much, but I find that hard to believe since you come across as very educated. Perhaps there is already a thread about this?

The funny has always kept my spirits up in bad times, your work is highly appreciated.

[EK]

Yes, Todd does manage to fake "educated" fairly convincingly. It's all an illusion of course, as N.T. Bullock is actually a highly sophisticated animatronic puppet -- a kind of advanced humanoid Teddy Ruxpin, if you will -- programmed and operated remotely by a 12-year-old kid in Japan named Akihiro Watanabe.

In fact, the entire I Ran Against Us film was actually the result of a malfunction in the ToddBot's servo mechanisms. The script that Jared (a real human, by the way) wrote was originally an introspective character study set against the last days of the French Revolution, but when "Todd" got to the set to direct, his malfunctioning limbs and voice synthesizer shaped it into the movie it is today. Interestingly, the Burnsy character is the only element that remains intact and unchanged from Jared's original historical drama.

No, but it's true -- Todd Bullock hates books.

[ntbullock]

Alright, just got to the party here. I just got done laughing at Eric's answer. Nice.

Stumpy, the best advice I ever pretended to receive was this: Always use strange, convoluted words that are way too transaxial and complicated for whatever simple matter you happen to be explaining. If you roll past the word quickly enough and with obstinacious confidence then no one will think less of you. They will think they are dumb for not knowing a word that was used so casually. I've always pretended to keep that with me as I navigate this life.

Personally, I don't consider myself to be all that smart. There's no test I've ever taken that would argue with that. My stronger point may be in logic rather than general intelligence, and even as I type this I think of all the dumb, illogical shit I've done. Did you see I Ran Against Us?

Honestly, I really DON'T read a lot of books. I'm a slow reader who's obsessive about his time. Books are casualties to living a life worth writing a book about. BOOM! Good answer, NTB! *five hard pats on the back*

When I do read books they tend to mostly be nonfiction science books. I did, however, read the entire Hitchhiker's Guide.

I've had too much coffee. Alright. To answer your question, I don't know if I'd point to anyone in my family specifically, or even a particular comedian, but I will name drop a few that I always knew I loved: Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, "Bill Cosby as Himself" by itself is a good case study. Honestly, I accumulate specific words, timings, and tones of voice from everywhere. If something gets me laughing I'll try and reuse that element somewhere else in a completely different manner, time, and place - repackaged for consumption. That being said I've stolen elements from those comedians and my family and friends alike. Timing alone is a tricky thing to pay attention to, retain, and re-purpose on the fly, but MAN IS IT IMPORTANT. It'd be a hard thing to teach, but if someone offered me $100 an hour I'd muster up a syllabus real quick.

My family, like hopefully most families, were rampant users of what I personally call boomerangs. When something gets a solid laugh you hold onto that element and try to tie in the reference on some level back into the conversation, coming full circle. The more clever the tie-in, the more imaginary points I award myself. I've got notebooks full of points. Feels great.

Being humorous is the only counterbalance to my complete lack of social grace. If it weren't for that I'd be COMPLETELY unbearable.

Didn't mean to write this much. Coffee. Ok.

I hope my answer was transpoducive enough for your query, Stumpy. [/boomerang] *awards point*

[stumpy]

I will keep that boomerang idea in mind; I remember you using it quite a bit in the podcasts.

I haven't *yet* seen I Ran.. which I am not proud to admit. I do plan on making that purchase in the near future, though. I remember looking for it on Amazon like.. 6 months ago, but it was during a period when I believe you took it off for a while, or something. Then I proceeded to be distracted by school and unemployment.

Why do you ask? Does it fall under the category of "illogical shit I've done?"

As far as the reading thing, I definitely see your point, especially when you want to spend your time productively. I wanted to share an article that changed my perspective on reading:

http://artofmanliness.com/2009/10/18/how-to-speed-read-like-theodore-roosevelt/

hope I'm not breaking any forum rules by posting a link. The site is respectable.

It's good to hear from both yourself and Eric (who's post unequivocally matches that avatar picture). How's Anthony doing these days?

All the best,

[ntbullock]

Interesting article. It took me FOR-EEEHHHH-VVVAAARRRR to read. I actually made a point to try and read it as fast as I could. The z method was fun to try out. I actually do speed read when I'm researching something, but I guess I feel like I need to over-concentrate when I read a book. Some books read easier than others. I couldn't speed read a Christopher Hitchens book, too many big ass words.

[EK]

Stumpy --- That's actually a really great link you posted. Interesting article on Roosevelt's speed reading, but even better was the discovery of the site itself. I dug around that site for a while and found a lot of really great articles and links there. Definitely added to my bookmarks.

[stumpy]

Oh yeah, enjoy that site, because I sure have. It gave me many ideas, including replacing my razor with an old fashioned safety razor and shaving brush, saving lots of money and making shaving more.. interesting.