“The last time I spoke in public, at a bookstore in
Connecticut, I spent the whole time trying to make the sullen woman sitting in
the back row laugh. Just once. Just a titter. Just a halfhearted chuckle.
Forget about eliciting a guffaw. A wisp of a smile would do. I used my best
material. I went into overdrive. I swung for the fences. I reached back for the
old fastball and let ‘er rip.
“But my wife never laughed once.”—Humorist Joe
Queenan, “Speak No Evil,” The Wall Street
Journal, June 14-15, 2014
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