We're Funny

   C and I both belong to the Small Town Toastmasters group. We have a custom that we end each meeting with some form of humor. It can be joke or a funny story. I have always liked that custom.
   A couple of weeks ago I was assigned to provide the humor. Sometimes I can think or find something right away and sometimes I can't. I was coming up dry. It was late on Wednesday afternoon and I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do.
  C remembered something he read on the Internet about a battleship that demanded another vessel move out of the way to avoid a collision. The other vessel refused and a small verbal battle ensued. The exchange ended with a furious demand from the battle ship's commander to move immediately or action would be taken. The other vessel replied that it was actually a light house and that the commander could do what he thought best. C found a copy of the joke which was written in dialog form. I had intended to read it as a story told to me by a friend. C suggested that we do it as written. He would take one part and I would take the other. It sounded like a good idea.
  When the toastmaster of the meeting called me up for humour, we both went to the front of the room. C and I had a few brief moments while each tried to set up the story. That in and of itself was worth a chuckle from a few of the members. Then we launched into the dialog. C did a great job as the pompous commander of the battleship. I held my own as the stubborn lighthouse staff. At the end everyone was laughing and the meeting was adjourned.
  I was happy with the way it went. C and I have performed together a few times and I always enjoy it immensely. Even when I screw up and he gets frustrated it's still fun.
  The next week the person signed up for humour was unable to attend. I watched all week. There were no volunteers. On Wednesday afternoon I asked C if he would find a copy of the script for the comedy skit "Who's on First". I told him that there was no one assigned to do humour and that it might be a good idea if we had something ready. He told me that he would do it. By the time I came home from work he had a copy printed off.
   The next morning I picked up the two copies of the script that we had and put them in my Toastmaster's bag. I decided it might be a good idea to to take a ball cap to wear while doing the skit. I grabbed my St. Paul Saints cap. C thought that was a good idea and asked me to grab his Twins cap too. As we drove to the meeting I read through the script acting out the part as best I could.
   When we got to the meeting I saw that the humour part was still unassigned. I casually mentioned to the toastmaster that C and I would be happy to step in. Inside I was really excited. We were going to get to do it.
   I participated in the rest of the meeting with a little impatience. I was scared that the meeting would run long and there would not be time for humour. I looked at the scripts that we had sitting face down on the table in front of us. Would there be enough time?
   The Table Topics part of the meeting ended. The evaluations had been given and it looked like there would be time for humour. I was grateful. The toastmaster called us up. I grabbed the ball caps out of my bag. I had a little trouble getting mine on.
   We went to the front of the room,ball caps on and our scripts in hand. I looked out at the members and said, "This is a little something you may recognise." I took a breath and started the first line. The ball ( if you will) was rolling and we were off. Both of us were getting into our parts. I tried to use gestures as much as I could, but it's hard when you have a script in your hand. C was playing Costello's part of the script and I was doing the lines read by Abbott. We bounced those lines off each other like two tennis players in an exhibition match. It was an Abbott and Costello skit, but it was being performed by Crain and Story. It was exhilarating to me as we went back and forth.
   Finally we wound down and the skit was over. We had done it. The group was laughing and smiling. We nailed it.
   I spent the next hour or so smiling so hard my face hurt. I was so pleased with what we had done. It was a bit of a gamble. We had not rehearsed it. I had only heard the skit performed once or twice. I was counting on the fact that C and I had been together long enough that we instinctively would be able to have the correct timing and pace. My gamble had paid off. We nailed it.
   One nice thing about being married to the right person is that they can help you to stretch in directions you never thought you could. I never thought of myself as funny. When I was younger my friends banned me from telling jokes because I did such a bad job. It didn't matter, as I pharmacist I felt I had to be SERIOUS. You can't be humorous and expect people to take you seriously, right?
  I learned that I was capable of being funny and making people laugh. C is helping me to learn that it is all right. That meeting was a good experience. We were funny and I had a good time being that way.