Deliriously Happy: and Other Bad Thoughts
“Had this collection not been packaged as it is, the reader might feel rewarded at some of the cleverness, but if you’re looking for truly funny, there’s a strong probability you’ll be disappointed.”
There’s an old joke about a woman seeing her gynecologist. “Mrs. Arnold, I’m confused,” says the doctor. “I see that you’re a virgin but you’re married.”
She responds. “Actually I’ve been married three times. My first marriage was to a wonderful, handsome, and chivalrous young man. As we left the church as man and wife, it began to rain. He told me to wait and ran across the street to the limo to get an umbrella and was hit by a speeding motorcycle. He didn’t survive.”
“Oh dear. I’m so sorry. But you remarried?”
“Yes. Timothy was so sweet. He just couldn’t do what I expected him to do and, after a few months of frustration, he realized he was gay.”
“That’s something I’m hearing more of these days. But you’re married now?”
“Yes, I am. Tom’s an advertising man. He sits at the edge of the bed and tells me how good it’s going to be.”
Deliriously Happy might more successfully be titled Mildly Amused. Between the title and the blurbs, hilarity is promised but not delivered. Each of the brief sections might have worked well in the context in which they were originally published (some are new to this collection) but here it’s confusing. Liberal use of old, 1930s clip art doesn’t help at all.
“Huck of Darkness” adds purported lost chapters to Huckleberry Finn, complete with voluminous footnotes. Tedious.
“Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One” is four pages of footnotes and one page of text.
Reading this is hard work and there’s no graduate degree to follow.
“Freelance File” is three pages of random ideas. Some have merit but none are developed. Too bad.
The preface to “How to Talk to Your Dog” starts “This is my favorite humor piece. The only problem with it is that it isn’t funny.” Pity.
Had this collection not been packaged as it is, the reader might feel rewarded at some of the cleverness, but if you’re looking for truly funny, there’s a strong probability you’ll be disappointed.