(Source Photos and Video: Andy Blumenthal)
Category Archives: Comedy
When The Wires Get Crossed
So the flight coming back from Israel was technologically challenged.
I’m sitting toward the front of the plane…more room, that’s good.
But there are a bunch of families with small children and babies…and that ends up being bad.
The flight attendants bring out this contraption to hook up a crib device to a front wall of the plane for the parents to put the baby in to sleep.
But there ends up being one small problem.
The overhead lights are seriously messed up.
This passenger with the baby tries to use his button next to his seat to turn the bright reading lights off–this is like row 10 or something.
But when he hits the lights off button–instead the lights go off in row 22.
And they stay on in his row keeping his baby awake and crying virtually the whole flight.
The stewardesses are going crazy trying to figure out where the “wires got crossed” here.
When they go to row 22 and ask them to turn off their lights–thinking maybe that will turn off the lights in row 10 that is keeping the baby up and crying–but instead that turns off the lights further in the back of the plane in row 30-something.
This was a really bad comedy going on this plane.
The baby keeps crying and crying.
The stewardesses keep running around trying to figure out how to get the lights working where they are supposed to be working.
And the parents are frustrated as hell trying to calm the baby and get some rest on this lengthy, cross-ocean flight.
Needless-to-say, all the other passengers trying to get some rest weren’t thrilled at this ridiculousness going on.
The plane got us home, but the electrical system didn’t inspire any confidence and kept the baby (and us) up almost the entire flight.
When you think that this was just the lights–oh boy!
Because what if the wires had gotten crossed between something important like the accelerator and the brake instead? 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
What’s So Funny About Non-Proliferation?
Here’s what they are saying online in some satire on the Iranian Nuke WMD Deal.
The Spanish comedian is talking about something else (I don’t know what), but the subtitles were dubbed to make the points about the issues with this deal.
No disrespect intended to anyone, but the points illustrated are well made.
Is this how we want the world to view us?
We are hoping and praying for a real and verifiable peace.
Favorite Hypnotist Act
This is my favorite comedy hypnosis show with Marc Savard.
He suggests under hypnosis to this big guy that whenever he hears the Mexican Jumping Beans music, the guy will become active and his shoes will go 100 mph dancing an Irish Jig.
And sure enough, this guy dances away…and he does it well.
The music stops and the guy settles down.
Marc Savard scolds him that he is interrupting the show with his wild dancing.
The big guy is embarrassed, says “really sorry,” and that “it won’t happen again.”
But it does!
Savard threatens to have the troublemakers escorted out by security.
The big guy says “don’t do that.”
Savard says, I’m watching you.
Each time the music comes on and the big guy can’t control himself and starts dancing, and when the music stops and he realizes what he’s doing, he is visibly exasperated with himself.
It’s also funny, when Savard goes “you wouldn’t go to the Blue Man Group (another competing act in Vegas) and do that Sh*t!”
I am a skeptic when it comes to hypnosis, but overall, this act gets an A+. 😉
Mr. Universe of Leadership
A colleague at work told me about a book called Compelling People by Neffinger and Kohut.
The thesis of the book is that the most effective and powerful leaders balance projecting strength and warmth.
If you just show strength, then you would potentially be seen as dictatorial, a micromanager, unapproachable, all work and no personality, and maybe even a tyrant.
And if you just project warmth, then you would likely be seen as wimpy, emotional but not intellectual/skilled, managing by friendship and not professionally, and not focused on results.
That’s why combining and projecting a healthy balance of strength and warmth is effective in leading towards mission results, but also in being a “mensch” and caring for the people you work with.
You can’t have sustained strong performance without a happy workforce.
And you can’t have a happy workforce without strength to achieve meaningful work performance.
In funny, but in a sense Arnold Schwarzenegger is a good example of someone who combines the two.
On one hand, he represents the big and strong “Mr. Universe,” and was able to play in numerous action movies, such as Terminator, Predator, Conan The Barbarian, and more.
At the same time, Schwarzenegger always had a warm, softer side and stared in comedies like Kindergarten Cop, Twins (as the intellectual twin of street-wise Danny Devito), and Junior (where he undergoes a male pregnancy!).
While no one is good at everything and it can be hard to effectively balance strength and warmth, leaders that master this can become the real Mr. Universe for their organizations and people. 😉
(Source Photo: Left from Andy Blumenthal and Right from here with attribution to Eva Rinaldi)
Murderous Customer Service
This is a funny video about some really bad customer service experiences.
– From Seinfeld who goes to the trouble of making a reservation, which the company doesn’t hold.
– To Steve Martin who waits and waits for customer service, but the attendant keeps yapping obnoxiously on a personal phone call.
– To Michael Douglas who just wants breakfast, but the order taker will only serve him lunch.
– To Rod Farva who can’t order a burger without the threat of the fry cook spitting in it.
– To Judge Reinhold who refuses to give a customer’s money back, despite the 100% money back guarantee hanging prominently overhead.
Wow, we’ve all been there…”mad as hell and not going to take it anymore,” but just when you think it can’t get any worse, the customer service rep disconnects you and you have to start all over again. 😉
Zach Galifianakis at 7-Eleven
I think this is probably as close as I will come to seeing Zach Galifianakis.
Someone at 7-Eleven had this awesome coffee mug with Galifianakis’s photo on the side.
That face is pretty hilarious–he doesn’t even have to say anything and you sort of start laughing!
And The Hangover Part III is coming out next week…
Fill’er up Zach with lots of fun and comedy.
I’ll drink a good coffee at 7-Eleven to that. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Go Curly!
This was a funny picture hanging around a local eatery in D.C–at election season.
Curly for President–sort of reminded me of when I was in grade school and had a head full of curly hair and some of the other kids (especially the females in the class) fondly called me “chief curly chicken”–yeah, it stuck for about a year or two.
Anyway, maybe this is something both Democrats and Republicans can agree on: the three Stooges–Moe, Larry, and Curly–were pretty darn funny.
With the big looming issues facing America today (exploding national deficits, high unemployment, endangered social programs, declining global competitiveness–now 7th, and more), we can certainly use a little humor to get past it, along with a good dose of strong leadership and breakthrough solutions.
Whoever you vote for–keep smiling! 🙂
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
andyblumenthal 