Sunday, March 1, 2020

"Why Are They Laughing?"

King Tanner here.

I declare that I realized something over break. 

The very special bond that I share with Mrs. King has always seemed familiar to me, and it recently hit me over the head why.

Mrs. King and I have a very Groucho Marx-Margaret Dumont type of relationship.


Groucho Marx was an American comedian and actor famous for performing with his brothers Harpo and Chico (and sometimes Zeppo) in a troupe known as The Marx Brothers. Performing as the Marx Brothers, they made one of my favorite movies, Duck Soup. I highly recommend it. It's only an hour and for a movie made in 1933, it holds up.

Anywho, I digress. Margaret Dumont was an actress who is famous for her work with the Marxes. She is known for playing the straight woman to Groucho's antics. In fact, she was so good at being the straight woman that she didn't even understand any of Groucho's jokes. During the opening of A Night At The Opera (1935), she said "Julie, what are they laughing at?" (Groucho's real name was Julius).

This is EXACTLY my relationship with Mrs. King; I'm hilarious and she never laughs or understands why people think I'm funny.

To wrap this up, I leave you with one of the opening scenes to Duck Soup, where Groucho plays Rufus T. Firefly, a newly appointed leader to the failing country of Freedonia. Margaret Dumont plays Mrs. Teasdale, a wealthy Freedonian widow who has the hots for Rufus. Watch as Groucho rapid fires some jokes at her and she understands none of them.


I gotta go! King stuff!

Bye!

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