To define classic humor: The Willie Daggett quest

Writer's note: I was born seeking both to express classic humor and to define it. At least it seems that way. Not that I remember my own birth or anything. But relatives on the Irish side of my family took great pride in laughing at disaster, picking themselves up, and going on.

Not a bad approach to life for Willie Daggett.

By age twelve, I'd written my first novel. It took another ten years to polish it (seventeen drafts!) and find a publisher, but the formula was set in that first book: Three main forces tangling with each other in every plot...and a belly laugh in every chapter.

The poem I submitted, and which Fred graciously accepted for publication on this page, is simply my way of asking the question: Really, what IS classic humor?

(To find out how to build a website using classic humor, click on the Beetle!)

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Classic Humor Defined
Copyright 2008 by Willie Daggett

Once upon a time in a far off land
Eighty-seven people gathered--people who planned
They planned to define classic humor for the ages
Was it a joke? Or a pratfall? Or some comic book pages?
Did a pie in the face qualify to make the grade?
Or forgetting to add sugar when you're making lemonade?
Could it be a lowly soldier on K.P. instead of chilling?
Or a boy too scared to kiss a pretty girl although she's willing?

The eighty-seven formed a panel, a team of seven judges
Plus four even teams of twenty, some of whom were holding grudges
Blue Team members were the weirdest; to limericks they were loyal
While Red loved attack comics and a rowdy battle royal
Yellow backed cartoons and comics, stuff all of us can see
Plus the everlovin' movies and the sitcoms on TV
That left the green, the mean machine, defending pratfall humor
And the sort of misunderstanding that makes legend out of rumor

They each presented what they thought was truly classic humor
From I Love Lucy lookalikes to jokes about a tumor
They had clowns stuffed in a Beetle Bug and mellow stuff like Benny
Plus one about a warrior who lost a magic penny
Yet when it all was over and the time came to decide
The judges got into a fight and laughed until they cried
One thing they drew from humor stew in comedy's great kettle
Funny is in the eye of the beholder; aren't you glad we got that settled?

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Publisher's note: We thank Willie for taking the time to share his poem with us. Of course, he might just be sneaky enough to--no, he wouldn't be laughing while we try to figure out WHICH crime writer he is under his pen name...would he?

Maybe--no, he's not that funny. Or...wait, no; he doesn't use a pen name. Ummm...well, who says it COULDN'T be a lady. Then again.... AAAGGHHH-H-H! The curse of the Enquiring Mind!

Thanks for reading,

Fred

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