St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-01-10
Funny Men.
THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
THEY LABOR UNDER-HUMOBISTS AS
PLAGEES-TTEIR POSITION IN
SOCIETY-WIT AS A NATU-
RAJ GIFT-DISMAL

London Saturday Review.1

Ing Is usually such Il bore that we over
look his wit when he has any. Small
jokers, like great takers, are more
plague than pleasure. They worry as
when we want to rest, and are so afraid
of our missing their point that they eX-
| tingulSh any possible amusement by
oveistating, it not 10y explaining it.
For company, the sprightly man is bet
ter than the witty man, and the spright-
ly woman better than either; but who
ever heard Of a funny woman? Yet,
on the average, women greatly exceed
men both in liveliness and wit. A
good joker should have short memo
~, both lest he should remember and
repeat the jokes Of others, and lest he
| should be troubled by remembering
them when he repeats his own. If he
| has constantly to think whether he
said this or that in the same company
before, he will lose all the freshness
which Is an important element In his
success. 1t is no doubt Il mistake con-
sciousy to repeat; but when it is done
unconsciously it is of very little conse
quence, SO long as the repetition is
merely verbal. The best fun does not
bear repetition or descriptions, bnt
vanishes when written down. All
Sydney Smiths recorded jokes would
not account for the great reputation he
had us Il wit; but it was well said of
him, as of many another funny man of
slighter pretentions, that after ynu have
been IN his company you remember not
so much the witty things he said, as the
amount OF laughing you yourself have
undergone. 1t is here that the uistinc
ton comes which must be drawn be-
tween good things and fun. A good
thing is by no means always funny
when it is funny it is often ill-Datured
toward somebody present, and to have
Il laugh at it may disturb enjoyment in
It's favor. The alderman complained to
Coleridge that in consequence of the
poets joking he had swallowed a mag
niticent piece of fat without tasting it. |
We confess to the deepest sympathy
learn his name it would be enshrined |
in the tablets Of our memory. He was
not stupid; he could see IL point-only |
too well, indeed, for his own comfort |
He had come to eat, not to laugh, and |
he wished to be allowed too choose his
own time for either pursuit.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
To be funny without i'll nature is not
ii common gift. 1t is but too easy to
see and remark the Weaknesses of
other people. Many funny men have
no friends, because every one is afraid
OF them. 1t is their misfortune to say
biting things, to wound the susceptible
lities of unotfending neighbors and to
give nlclnames which stick. To be
able to suppress a joke is, in some
cases, much better than to be able to
make one. Ii a man is able to hold his
tongue rather than wound, the chances
ire he can command his wit and be as
nm hl ,tn.,
hands. Such a person is invaluable at
| dull party or when others are mean'I
holy or tired. He is able to relieve
anxiety, to comfort sorrow, to brighten
he wettest of days and be cheerful
snder the most cheerless of circum-
stances. If he knows how to temper
lis wit he may be Il beneficent visitor
everywhere. He must have sympathy
or the sorrowful, and be able to enter
nto the views of people who differ
widely from himself, not only in OBI
lions and natural gifts, but in attain
nents and experience. He will often r
ind comedy and tragedy as closely al
led as. they are in Shakspere, who we'll
new, as indeed every true artist must
now, how inseparaole they are.
FUNNY CHARAC lERS AND NOVELS. c
Funny characters in novels are sell il
ON consistent, because they are made II
unny and nothing more. Lever and z
'ockton are merely tiresome to some (
eaders on this account. Charles Lever
,pathos and fun with much
uccess, but even he found the task too
luch in his later years. Frank Smed-
" succeeded in being very funny. as L
id Capt. Marryatt, but they we're
sually nothing more. 1t is only the
reatest genius that can unite the two
1t is often supposed that a
IAN only requires a good digestion I
nd a hard conscience to be amusing.
Mt the snppostion is not we'll founded,
Ugh spirits are, no doubt. a good thing
they be not too high, but they often -,
orrespond TO depression which moth g
'g can mitigate. Consciously or not.
high-spirited man is always amusing.
ut there is much higher walk in the
ind which can command it's wit. AS -
rule, the most cultivated people are
e most agreeable. No man, it is true.
IN absolutely set. himself to learn -,
1mor; but no man is naturally so wit I'll I'll
that he can afford to dispense with art.
Sheridan was, funny by nature, yet
zen he worked up joke before he :
ons, and Goldsmitll's best things have 4 L
zen traced, like Sterne's. tIronob to-
any authors before his day. It is the q;
me with most other writers of come phi
:, Swift perhaps being the only one no no
English literature who can bear the &c &c
vestigation of the critic. Some of tri
G most famous hits in "Gulliyer,n wi
We, however, been found in Rabelais. LIE
st as Shakspere's plots are found in
'ccaccie. The real natural wit is -
my to the last. Raleigh and More e,.
ling on the scaffold are not examples %
point. Both were playing a part in
3 end. But when Sydney Smith -
ties of Holland House in his last
,ments, that it had every convenience
: sickness and death, we feel sure
It his spirits had not tagged, and I
1t the presence of his end did not one
stroy the readiness of his mind. n nnl
ere is not of necessity any want of WV
rerence in true fun. It has been we'll il
marked that any fool can make a -
'e OF serious things, and mere course
IS is often looked upon as a form of
!: The man who has to distort F
'lpture, or say what is nasty, or re- , ,ed
e at his neighbor to raise a laugh, con con
y often succeed, but at best his wit
OF Q second-rate order. A close OBJ
walton of things on the surface, q ri
id appreciation OF shades and charac-
AS thew are f3reaaptaI RI, 49,