Trumpian Plague notes 2
CORONAVIRUS RE-CHRISTENED Why, asked my ever-literal brother, did I choose Trumpian to identify the plague. I pointed out the virus is unpleasant, so’s Trump, they are in fact a matched pair. Quod erat demonstrandum.
MORE LAUGHTER PLEASE I sent this comment to a blog where things were getting serious.
Look, I lived through WW2. Aged 5 - 10 I wasn't at the height of my intellectual powers as I am now but I recognised that unrelieved gloom would be a destructive mono-diet. We didn't just hate Adolf, we laughed at him. To Colonel Bogey, the tune made even more famous in the movie Bridge Over the River Kwai, we sang:
Hitler has only got one ball,
Göring has two but very small,
Himmler
Is very similar,
While poor old Goebbels
Has no balls at all.
Which is why I maintain we are presently suffering from the Trumpian Plague.
If you think the vocabulary or the sentiments of the lyrics above may offend the sensibility of your readers feel free to use the Delete button. And erect a sign: "Look what testicular inadequacy did for them."
BUYING THE GUARDIAN We do it via pre-paid vouchers, it helps the paper’s cash flow. The nearest source is Tesco’s filling station. How might we reduce mutual infection risks? The staff agreed to use the night-payment “drawer” in the daytime. No change is involved, no breath intermingled, contact is minimal
Ok, It's not directly related to your post but you made me think of Dad's Army which although written after the event extracted endless fun from WW2 for 80 episodes. An interesting compaison with Fawlty Towers which only ran to 12 episodes many pundits suggesting that if they had tried for more the quality would have been diluted, so how did Dad's Army manage to sustain quality for 80 episodes?
ReplyDeleteWho do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler
If you think we're on the run
We are the boys who will stop your little game
We are the boys who will make you think again
‘Cos who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler
If you think old England's done
Mr. Brown goes off to town on the 8:21
But he comes home each evening and he's ready with his gun
So watch out Mr. Hitler, You have met your match in us
If you think you can crush us, We're afraid you've missed the bus
'Cos who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler
If you think old England's done
By the way - I am impressed with your Photoshop masterpiece.
ReplyDeleteWholly agree that humour is essential in tragic as well as comic times. The apocalyptic ambiance which hovers over images of deserted Paris and other disturbing scenes since Corona struck seems to forbid humour. Understandable, especially if one is gasping for breath, but rebellion is good for the soul. Meanwhile wash hands for 20 seconds every 20 seconds and carry on.
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh: The point I was trying to make is that laughing at one's enemies (especially Trump) is often a more effective response than shaking your fist at them. "Who do you think..." suits the more or less gentle humour of Dad's Army which I quite enjoy. But in the end it's a successful but formulaic sitcom.
ReplyDeleteFawlty Towers aims much higher, basing its laughter (often quite cruel) on the creation of truly original characters and the varying interplay between them. In this day and age FT might even have been thought to have gone too far; Basil Fawlty is clearly suffering from a well detailed form of mental illness.
Interestingly both series employ slapstick but differently: in Dad's Army it tends towards familiar pants-falling-down humour; in Fawlty Towers (eg, Basil throws the typewriter at the ringing phone, tries to strangle Manuel) the slapstick supports the idea of Basil's madness.
One reason Fawlty Towers didn't continue is - I think - that John Cleese had other, more financially rewarding fish to fry. There's no real wealth in writing continuously for the BBC. Also, FT was co-written with Connie Booth (Polly in the series), John Cleese's then wife, subsequently divorced. I'm not sure how long such a writing duo would have lasted. Cleese is not the most congenial type of person as his behaviour on chat shows demonstrated after he divorced his second wife.
Natalie: I agree, no one could find the results of the plague funny. But one might - if one was inclined - turn the plague into, say, a character (preferably villainous) and laugh at that. I could add that the plague has actually driven the sniggers and smirks out of our unbeloved Prime Minister; his addresses to the nation are both banal and incompetent, both things we can laugh at, if somewhat wryly.
Another blogger commented that he met his nurse daughter whilst he was about to go into his front door. She remarked, quite seriously, "you should clean your knob" and wondered at his wide grin. It does seem good advice in each and every direction though.
ReplyDeleteAvus: I didn't get this immediately. As a natural-born self-deprecant I blamed myself. Then I considered; my slowess might be attributable to the fact that the relevant noun has so many synonyms it is probably impossible to know them all. Which is one reason why I never responded well to this couplet in my youth:
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter how much you shake your peg,
The last three drops roll down your leg.
Has that synonym ever appeared elsewhere in any other context?