Years ago I was shopping at Lunds - a grocery store in Minneapolis - and I was picking out cat food. There was an elderly gentleman standing nearby muttering, "All they do is eat and sleep." I looked at him quizzically, and he said, "Cats."
He reminded me of George Burns without his signature cigar, but I didn't know how to respond to him. I was in my 20's and not well socialized with old people. I wasn't sure if he was joking or being critical. After he walked away I realized he was being funny. I ran into him later with his wife, who was shopping and discussing what to buy. The man looked at me and gave me an exasperated look, nodding towards the wife. Then I got it and I laughed and she said to me smiling - "Don't pay any attention to him."
I loved that guy. I loved his deadpan humor, his George Burns style comedy act with his Gracie Allen wife. I always wish I would have been less self-conscious/self-absorbed, less concerned about being cool in the yuppie-class grocery store near Lake Calhoun, and free to engage the old guy. He was so funny.
Anyway. I bring that up because it's kind of my humor as well. Just saying random stuff. No ill will intended. Just dumb stuff. I crack myself up, though very few really find my humor funny. You see, I sort of have a sitcom going on in my head.
That said, I don't think that many people online are all that funny.
One guy I really like is Kevin O'Brien - he's funny and talented. Unfortunately, he's not blogging anymore. Fr. Z is funny too - I think a lot of people take him way too seriously though - all of the time - but sometimes he is really funny.
I like dumb humor the best. I don't take serious very well. Which is why I sabotage my friends' com boxes every once in a while. Then the wife in my head says, "Don't pay any attention to him."
When most people online try to be funny, they're not.
Including me, obviously.
