I think this captures the reason why Degeneres was an appropriate recipient
for this prize. There is a difference between a comedian and a humorist, and
she is the latter. Like Twain, she has delivered her humor in different
media, something that cannot be said for many "funny" people today. The
sources of her humor and her targets of satire are not unlike Twain's. Those
not familiar with her humor may enjoy watching the PBS broadcast. The
radiantly lovely woman with shoulder length blond hair sitting in the 3rd
row, center stage, is my wife. The fellow sitting next to her displaying the
universal sign for choking (but being ignored) is me. I sometimes choke when
I laugh, and some of what got edited out of the broadcast was chokingly
funny. The camera angle (the backs of our heads and some brief profiles) and
bright lighting creates the illusion that I have a bald spot on the back of
my head!
Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB
*************************
You may browse our books at
www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "McAvoy Layne" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2012 12:44 PM
Subject: Re: The 15th Annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is . . .
> My wife chided me for not pronouncing her name correctly, =93It=92s
> DeGeneres, not Dee-Jen-Heiress.=94 But I think I=92ve got it right now,
> and am in love with her humor.
> For the first time in the 15 year history of the Mark Twain Prize for
> American Humor I was able to watch the 90-minute event as it aired on
> PBS. In thanking PBS Ellen teased, =93I=92m so glad to be a part of your
> farewell season.=94 Even Oscar the Grouch had to guffaw.
> Finally, this year for the first time, the Mark Twain Prize goes to a
> humorist instead of a comedian. We've had hundreds of comedians in
> this great land of ours but very few humorists, Ben Franklin, Twain
> (portrayed today by Hal Holbrook), Will Rogers, Garrison Keillor...and
> the difference between a comedian and a humorist is ever so vast.
> The comedian's job is to make us laugh, and laughter is good for us,
> it=92s like massage on the inside, cuts down on the doctor bills, keeps
> us from souring. But the comedian oftentimes bestows this favor upon
> us at the expense of somebody else, or at the expense of decency, and
> leaves feeling guilty for laughing at pejorative humor.
> President Taft once said, "Mark Twain never wrote a line that a father
> could not read to his daughter." Yet George Carlin, a previous winner
> of the Twain Prize, was famous for his "Seven Dirty Words You Can
> Never Say on Television."
> The humorist's job is merely to show us the good natured side of the
> truth. The humorist is not looking for a laugh, the humorist is
> looking for a nod of acknowledgement or perhaps the hint of a smile.
> Twain reminds us that =93Laughter without a tinge of philosophy is but a
> sneeze of humor. Genuine humor is replete with wisdom. Humor must
> not professedly teach, and it must not professedly preach, but it must
> do both if it would live forever =96which is thirty years.=94
> As she took the stage to accept the prize, Ellen lamented the fact
> that she had to follow so many funny people, and how she had hoped to
> follow Ken Burns, thus making light of a truism that Sam illuminated
> so long ago. =93Set a diamond upon a pall of black if you'd have it
> glisten.=94
> She went on to say, =93I have not read Twain, but then he has not seen
> my HBO special.=94 To wit an admirer of both responded, =93It would be
> impossible to give the faintest idea of her talk on paper. Written or
> spoken by another it would lose half its points of value. We can only
> congratulate those who heard her and pity those who did not.=94
> Lilly Tomlin stole my heart when she called Ellen, =93Our Huckleberry
> Friend.=94 Ellen, like Huck, stuck by her friend to confront society
> and challenge conventional thinking, conventional notions.
> Twain railed against human foibles and humbuggery, yes, but he did it
> with a scalpel, not a switch-blade. Twain's discriminating
> irreverence was drawn not from the warrior's quiver, but from the
> artist's pallet. He would not kick a humbug in the shin, but would
> place a bench strategically in his path so that he might bark his own
> shin.
> It=92s one thing to have a sense of humor, it is something more to have
> a humorous outlook on life. Ellen DeGeneres has a health-giving
> outlook on life, and is a humorist of the blood royal. To my mind she
> is the very first to truly deserve the Mark Twain Prize for American
> Humor. We might go another generation to find another of her rank, or
> perhaps another generation for her to find us...
> McAvoy
>
> McAvoy Layne
> ghostoftwain.org
> Chautauqua-Central.org
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> PO Box 4522
> Incline Village, NV 89450
> 775-833-1835
>
> Diligently train your ideals upward toward a summit where you will find
> you=
> r
> chiefest pleasure in conduct, which while contenting you, will be sure to
> confer benefits upon your neighbor and the community. -Mark Twain
>
>
>
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