Goodbye Mole!

Media_httpcaseycomblo_aejagAs a kid, I was introduced to Mad Magazine by my older brothers. It was outrageous and funny in a way you knew your parents would not approve, which made it somehow even more enjoyable. From time to time, MAD would re-cycle old material, by including a reprint of one of their earlier issues from the 50’s, and it is from those reissues that I was introduced to the work of one of Mad’s original artists, Will Elder.

It was in the second issue of MAD that Elder’s comic ‘MOLE!’, in which criminal Melvin Mole has a talent for digging with whatever he has at hand (a spoon, a toothpick, a nosehair), and when arrested and re-arrested after digging his way out of jail, he is tossed into his cell with the line, “In-side Mole!”.

Mole was just one of Elder’s many creations. He also created a hilarious parody of the Archie comics with this take titled ‘Starchie’, and his comic ‘Shermlock Holmes’ pariodied, well, you figure it out. It was not until reading his obituary in the Washington Post yesterday that I was aware that Elder was also the creator of ‘Little Annie Fanny‘, a comic found in Playboy magazine that I never ever saw before, ever (because I was reading the articles of course).

From the same obit, comes this tidbit of Mr. Elder’s sense of humor:

Among the pranks that earned the young Mr. Elder renown: putting clothes on cattle carcasses from a meat-processing factory, placing them at railroad crossings and screaming to horrified passersby that his friend “Moshe” had been killed.

Wow. R.I.P. Will Elder, and thanks for the laughs.

Will Elder, 86; Zany Cartoonist for Mad and Playboy
The Washington Post, 5/17/08

Groundhog Day & The State of the Union

This year, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address occur on the same day. And as it has been pointed out, “It is an ironic juxtaposition of events: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication, while the other involves a groundhog.”

Thanks to Alec for the laugh

A Cool Freebie on iTunes

Media_httpcaseycomblo_akbil

Here’s a great iTunes find. You probably know John Hodgman as the PC guy in Apple’s TV commercials. He recently wrote a book, The Areas of My Expertise, that I expect I may read someday. But yesterday on a Mac blog I learned that for a limited time the audiobook version is available free from Apple’s iTunes Music store. I grabbed it and listened to the first hour on my bus-ride home last night and can tell you it is laugh-out-loud funny. Really, it’s a free laugh well worth the download. Get it free at the iTunes store while you can!

Failure

Google knows all…

  1. go to Google
  2. type in failure
  3. press the ‘I’m feeling lucky button’
  4. laugh… or cry
  5. fwd to others

Do this, and you won’t be feeling lucky for long.

Thanks to sis for sharing

UPDATE: Ethan points out in his comments that there’s no need to ‘feel lucky’, a regular Google search will still put George at the top. And Google explains how pranksters can cause such results using a practice known as ‘Googlebombing‘.

Sponge Bath

A male patient is lying in bed in the hospital, wearing an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, still heavily sedated from a difficult, four hour, surgical procedure. A young, student nurse appears to give him a partial sponge bath.

“Nurse,” he mumbles, from behind the mask, “are my testicles black?” Embarrassed, the young nurse replies, “I don’t know, Sir, I’m only here to wash your upper body and feet.”

He struggles to ask again, “Nurse, are my testicles black?”

Concerned that he may elevate his vitals from worry about his testicles, she overcomes her embarrassment and sheepishly pulls back the covers. She raises his gown, holds his penis in one hand and his testicles inthe other, lifting and moving them around.Then, she takes a close look and says, “There’s nothing wrong with them, Sir.”

The man pulls off his oxygen mask, smiles at her and says very slowly, “Thank you very much. That was wonderful, but, listen very, very closely…..

“A r e – m y – t e s t – r e s u l t s – b a c k?”

Thanks to Marne for sharing this one

Asking Bush to Move On

The below monologue was in my email this morning. It’s comedian Bill Maher’s closing monologue to the September 9th episode of his HBO program, Real Time with Bill Maher. I’m a longtime fan of Bill’s. Much like another favorite of mine, John Stewart, his label of “comedian” does not do justice to the sharp and incisive political commentary that he consistently offers.

This one is definitely worth sharing, thanks to Karen and Jennifer for passing it along.

Mr. President, this job can’t be fun for you any more.  There’s no more money to spend–you used up all of that.  You can’t start another war because you used up the army.  And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people.  Listen to your Mom.  The cupboard’s bare, the credit cards maxed out.  No one’s speaking to you.  Mission accomplished.

Now it’s time to do what you’ve always done best: lose interest and walk away.  Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team.  It’s time.  Time to move on and try the next fantasy job.  How about cowboy or space man?  Now I know what you’re saying:  there’s so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in.  Please don’t.  I know, I know.  There’s a lot left to do.  There’s a war with Venezuela.  Eliminating the sales tax on yachts.  Turning the space program over to the church.  And Social Security to Fannie Mae.  Giving embryos the vote.

But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now.  Why?  Because you govern like Billy Joel drives.  You’ve performed so poorly I’m surprised that you haven’t given yourself a medal.  You’re a catastrophe that walks like a man.  Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes.

On your watch, we’ve lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans.  Maybe you’re just not lucky.  I’m not saying you don’t love this country.  I’m just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.

So, yes, God does speak to you.  What he is saying is: ‘Take a hint.’

Amen to that!

Tasteless Jokes

When camping recently with two friends and our four 12-year old sons, we found ourselves around a campfire, enjoying some smores, and sharing some laughs. But as I struggled to think of age-appropriate jokes, I was frustrated to realize how few I could recall. It seems my joke catalog has thinned, and the few that came to mind would have gotten me in trouble with their moms had I shared them with our boys.

Then I thought of a few…

What’s easier to load, a truckload of crates, or a truckload of dead babies?
Dead babies, you can use a pitchfork.

What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs in the middle of the ocean?
Bob

In each case, I knew I was remembering only a couple of what were many jokes of the same theme, and I knew I could count on the fact that I’d have an easy time finding them all online. And so I did. Enjoy, and don’t blame me if you’re easily offended. They are tasteless jokes, but I find them funny.

1 2 3