The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-06-17
HE'S STILL FUNNY
An Attempt at an Interview with
Mark Twain.
His Advice to Humorists-The Plain Truth
Ii the Most Amusing Thing You
Can Tell-.sTom sawyer
In Real Life.
[coprRIGHr, ise4l


hanged wrote Mark Twain. He had
doubtless never attempted 20 find and
interview the greatest living American
humorist- L have. 1 found him-once.
When next l tried he had fed to Eu-
rope. 1t may have been because he knew
was coming the second time. Who
knows? Mn Clemens is singularly mod
est and retiring.
THE future of American humor,"
he said, SIS interesting, but problem
atical There are only thirty-five
jokes You may set that down as a
first principle. All others are varia-
tions. Only thirty-fve jokes exist.
Perhaps some American will discover
the thirty-sixth- That would be worth
living for.
But there are more than thirty-five
ways of being funny" he continued.
These may be divided into two great
groups-being funny Intentionally and
being funny urconsciously. There are
more men who do the latter than there
are who do the former. l suppose it is
to the first you refer mainly. l can
give professional funny men one piece
of advice, and at the same time reveal
20 you trick of the trade. The fun
niest thing in the world is the truth.
Tell the plain truth and people will
always laugh at it, take it as joke.
If get up at dinner and refer to a
man as an insincere galoOt-I mean a
man who is present at the dinner-he,
as well as every body else, will laugh.
Everybody at the table knows that he's
fraud, and always has been fraud,
and always will be fraud. But when
/ tell them of it they smoker and laugh
and think I'm just the funniest man
alive.
II got a man once-a most serious
minded man of most serious line of
employment-to write his autobiogra-
ply. He was painfully truthful man
he just couldn't lie. Such men don't
turn up often, but every once in awhile
you find one who is absolutely deficient
in ability TO lie. Well, he wrote it, and
it was the funniest thing / ever read.
i have never run across a better joke
than that autobiography.
''Now, my mathematics do not go
beyond twelve times twelve, but don't
you suppose 1 would enjoy an encyclo-
pedia article on mathematics? l read
one the other day, and was greatly en-
tertained, although 1 didn't under
stand word of it. 1t was facts. Facts
are so amusing.
sect your facts first" he said loudly,
'tand then" here his voice died away to
an almost inaudible drawl, you can
distort them as much as you please"
Twain, despite his scorn of England
and her monarchical institutions, is as
well known there and as heartily
loved as he is in America. Rudyard
Kipling, in telling of visit to him,
said:
''Once, indeed, he put his hand on my
shoulder. 1t was an investiture of the
Star of India. blue silk. trumpets and
diamond studded jewel, all complete
If hereafter, among the changes and
chances of this mortal life, l fall to
eureless ruin, shall tell the superin-
tendent of the workhouse that Mark
Twain once put his hand on my shout
der, and he will give me a room TO my
self and double allowance of pauper' 8
tobacco"
1t will interest most people to know
that Mr. Clemens has contemplated a
sequel to Tom Sawyer" 1t of course
ought not to be said. because of the
nature of the man, that he has contem-
plated it seriously. He says he has had
two inspirations about il, one being to
let Sawyer grow 10 a manhood of great