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Saturday, October 22, 2011

-10

i remember that you had to be there.
a long time back monty python did a sketch about the most dangerous joke in the world, so funny you would laugh yourself to death. on one bright afternoon i experienced a mutated strain of that joke.
when i was a teen i was quite a funny bloke (yes i know people who tell you that they are funny are generally not, in this case i am telling the truth) i have no idea why i stopped being funny, it coincided with my move from being sociable to curmudgeonly.
there i was in my office. it was a big office with an air conditioning (how i miss that) i was probably looking at some spreadsheets when the phone rang. it was jim. jim was one of the co-owners of forbidden planet international and someone i considered to be a friend. we had known each other for a long time. we shared a love of comics, movies and music. besides that he was a bruce willis fan; that made him ok in my book.
he probably called to place an order or to make a complaint. as with every call we spent a fair amount of time chewing the fat, shooting the breeze and chatting shit.
i think i had recently been to visit a couple of the shops he owned and that is how we got around to the incident.
jim told me his story.
even before the end we were laughing. jim was having trouble finishing his story. all that mattered was that we both found it funny. more than funny it was hilarious.
we laughed.
we laughed some more.
the laughing verged on mania.
just as one of us would be stopping the other would say (well try to) something and that would be us off on it again.
i was laughing so hard my ribs were hurting, i think i was close to tearing a muscle in my or two in my stomach. there were tears rolling down my cheeks. i could feel a vein throbbing in my temple.
i could hear jim grasping for breath.
neither of us could say a word without doubling up.
the door of my office opened in walked a colleague. she said she had come in to see what the noise was all about. that just made me laugh more. she sat down and watched. i just kept laughing.
she smiled and then started laughing.
that made it all worse.
she walked out of the office shaking her head. a few others popped their heads in to see what was going on.
didn’t matter to me i was too busy laughing.
i have no idea how long we were laughing. eventually it came to an end.
unlike those in the python sketch i survived but i hurt.
i don’t think i have ever laughed so hard or for so long since.
there is no point trying to explain what it was that was so funny. every time i have tried to explain it people just look at me as if i am mad.
i guess you just had to be there.

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