J is for Jester

 My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day. 

It's time for some  A to Z catch-up. , I am currently 4 posts behind.  The next letter is  J so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreicator

J is for Jester

I will use any excuse to play a scene from the classic Danny Kaye film the Court Jester.  

I used to describe myself as a court jester in the wrong century.  When you think about it a  jester is just an indivdualized comic.  

I like bringing my sense of humor to every occasion. I grew up watching the likes of Buddy Sorrell, Hawkeye Pierce, and Ralph Malph ( from the Dick Van Dyke Show, M*A*S*H, & Happy Days respectively.)  They were all great quipsters but they had a writing staff.   Just like I do my own stunts, I write, steal, or borrow my own material.  

One if the perks of being a substitute teacher is you don't get annual reviews.  Maybe this is different in other districts, and maybe some people don't consider this a perk, but one thing I do miss from annual reviews was when my bosses would write how funny I was.  I know that this is probably what they  write when they don't have anything else substantive to say but  reading that I had a good sense of humor was almost as important to me as my annual pay increase.   

At many of my jobs I have the opportunity to improvise and improve bits of comedy.  For example as a concessionist at a local movie theatre I do many of the same things multiple times a day like showing customers the sizes of our  drink cups. Many folks marvel at the size of our large cup so I told one customer that it was the only cup I knew that came with a diving board.  The next time a customer came in I changed diving board to life guard and that joke is the one I use now.   

Some of my jesting falls into the categories of timely quips based on the situation.  Others have me using the same joke over and over to different audiences.  The only cup with a diving board started as the former and is now the latter. One of my favorite types of jokes are the kind that seem like a statement and you don't realize there a joke it's too late.  A dated example of this is when people might be talking about a recording artist and I might say I have all their albums.  Then after a beat, I would say, "They  called me the other day, they want them back. ".   Since albums are not what they used to be I  don't make that joke a lot anymore.  A similar joke to that is when I see some one with any type of Notre Dame gear, I may tell them that my Dad and sister went there, and then quickly add in, "that's how they met.".  

Being a jester isn't all about jokes it's also about general merriment,  tricks, and enthusiasm.  When my son and I went to Joplin, Missouri to help provide tornado relief. We went in early August when the temperature could get over  100 degrees.  I would encourage everyone to drink water and make sure they had a water bottle.  Then I would say I was the hydration specialist and then add in the words "self appointed." At one point, our bus was having a little mechanical trouble and we had to make a quick stop.  I went to one of the teenagers and gave her a water bottle and said I was the hydration specialist.  Before I could say anything else she added in "self appointed." That's the kind of impact I  like to have. 

Here is an example of the kind of  tricks I am talking about from a video I used in my vlog a few years ago:

  

Two aspects of my Jester personality that I bring to the blog are limericks, which I featured at the challenge 2 years ago and parodies which started this years challenge.

I know I jest got started, but I should probably let you get back to the challenge and get back to catching up.  To find more A to Z challenge entries click here.  To get back to the A to Z challenge blog click here.

What's Next: Kindergarten Clear