A funny brother in EQ

[Brian Johnston]

There's a guy in my ward who is super-smart (a scary memory for scripture) and loves to talk and participate in classes. He talks a LOT! but is usually interesting, which helps the teachers. I like him. Anyway, his mouth got ahead of his brain, and he was trying to make an announcement about a social event in PH Opening Exercises where people would get together to talk about cars and fixing them at his house. He was trying to make a joke about manly men who drink beer and talk car shop, but couldn't stop himself.

He wins the grand prize for saying the word "beer" the most times in any priesthood announcement ever!

Lol, he probably said it 6 or 7 times trying to be funny and then attempting to back himself gracefully out of his joke, but failing. It was hilarious.

[Curt Sunshine]

I would love to have heard that!

[SilentDawning]

Reminds me of the standup comic who asked my daughter what her name was. She replied "Kathy". He said "Gee that was my name when I used to be a girl!!".

Then he saw the reaction of the parents, and myself (my daughter was only 10 at the time). He tried to back his way out of the situation. No one laughed, except me, inside.

I had a similar problem in HP Group. There was a facilities guy counting the number of brethren in our Sunday School room. He asked how we were coping. I piped up and said "One of the biggest concerns is that we can't serve alcohol in here because we've hit the maximum occupancy limit".

My comment was so ridiculous it was hilarious in my view. Instead, I got all these disapproving looks from the quorum, which included an ex-Stake Presidency member and a former Bishop. The facilities guy's face lit up as if he was about to smile and laugh, and then he saw everyone else's reactions. So he quickly turned his facial expression into a frown. And THAT made me laugh out loud, which made the situation even worse.

I'm surprised they didn't release me on the spot!!! Oh, wait, that never happens in our Stake...sorry.

[Curt Sunshine]

I crack jokes all the time - just about anywhere I am. Solemnity is not a strength of mine.

Sometimes the jokes work; sometimes they don't. I figure it's worth it to go through the one or two that don't to get to the one that is stinking hilarious.

Some people don't agree - or disagree about the proportion of the good to the bad.

[Orson]

This talk of jokes reminded me of the most hilarious thing I have ever seen in sacrament meeting. The speaker was a real crack-up, a truly funny guy. During his talk he mumbled something about thinking he should read a scripture or two as part of his talk, but hadn't used his scriptures in quite a while. While opening them and fumbling about he caught an itch in his nose (presumably from the dust), sneezed, and a noticable cloud of fine white powder billowed off the pages!

It was classic! Though probably not an original idea, I couldn't imagine trying to pull that off myself.

[Tom Haws]

Orson.

[BeLikeChrist]

nothing like a good laugh at church ! Ray, from your posts i thought you were the solemn type.

my mother attended a stake meeting years ago and Dallin Oaks was visiting. we know how solemn he is at general conference ! he was quite a ham at the adult stake meeting (saturday nite session). he shared with the congregation that he is serious at conference because he wants to give people the impression that as an apostle he's pretty serious. but like Ray, outside of General Conference he's quite a comedian. Nice to see this human side of our apostles ! (and Ray !)

Mike

[Curt Sunshine]

Ray, from your posts i thought you were the solemn type.

He don't know me too well, do he?

I don't think there is anyone who knows me in person to any significant degree who would call me "solemn" - although I am capable of being serious in situations that require seriousness.

My posts tend to be serious, since they often are focused on my attempt to be more Christlike, but my sense of humor is . . . off . . . might be the best way to say it. Seriously, I've ruined too many songs for my wife by changing the words to be sexually suggestive (including hymns that I whisper to her in Sacrament Meeting ) . . . and I have to be careful in public to keep my natural sarcasm in check, since I'm not sure how people I don't know will react. I pretty much live with a smile on my face - largely as a conscious decision I made many years ago and partly because I just have an irreverent personality.

If you want a peek at that, there are lots of comments I've made here that give a hint - but I've written so many comments that it might be like looking for a hundred needles in a multiple-thousand comment haystack.