True enough. But explaining a joke usually makes a poor one worse. That was as true in 1866 as it is today. Sent from my iPhone > On Jun 18, 2014, at 5:34 PM, Jerry Vorpahl <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > I don't think the difference is as much in who wrote the material as in hum= > or then and now. Now, it's the big set up followed by a snappy one-liner yo= > u didn't expect. Then, MT and many others would tell a story with multiple = > endings, each funnier than the last. To wit: Twain's advice to an older wom= > an to give up smoking and drinking and swearing to cure her lumbago. "But h= > ow can I" she said, "I=C2=A0don't do any of those things." To which Twain r= > eplied, "Well, there you are. She'd neglected her habits. She was a sinking= > ship with no cargo to throw overboard."=C2=A0=C2=A0=20 > =C2=A0=20 > Each line gets a bigger laugh than the last. Only George Carlin and Tim Con= > way have used this style effectively since Twain.=20 > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Alan Kitty" <[log in to unmask]>=20 > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 1:54:28 PM=20 > Subject: Re: Jay Leno=20 > > Perhaps the larger difference is that Twain wrote his own material. =3D=20 > Listen to Jimmy Fallon, who never explained his jokes until he took over = > =3D=20 > for the long-chin host. An entire staff of writers - not a Twain in the =3D= > =20 > bunch.=20 > > > On Jun 18, 2014, at 2:39 PM, Denis Donovan wrote:=20 > >> Johnny Carson, who was as unlike Twain as you can get, nonetheless had = > =3D=20 > =3D3D=20 >> something in common with him that was absolutely not shared by either =3D= > =20 > =3D3D=20 >> Leno or Lederman. Like Twain, Carson never explained a joke or a =3D3D=20 >> routine. Carson let his performance carry the meaning and shape the =3D3D= > =20 >> experience just as Twain let his written or spoken performance shape =3D= > =20 > the =3D3D=20 >> experience. Carson may have laughed enough during the process to fill =3D= > =20 > =3D3D=20 >> several studio audience recordings with every laugh he needed -- but =3D3= > D=3D=20 > >> Twain's enjoyment of his verbal and written performances clearly is =3D3D= > =20 >> palpable in everything Twain ever wrote ... and really comes across in = > =3D=20 > =3D3D=20 >> the autobiography. Twain's piece on German sentence-building is as =3D3D= > =20 >> hilarious as anything Carson ever did and much of both of their =3D=20 > material =3D3D=20 >> carries high-powered socio-political-cultural commentary. And, as read = > =3D=20 > =3D3D=20 >> by Grover Gardner, had me laughing as hard as I ever laughed at =3D=20 > Carson, =3D3D=20 >> a laugh tinged with infinitely more respect.=20 >> =3D20=20 >> Just a thought.=20 >> =3D20=20 >> Denis=20 >> =3D20=20 >> =3D20=20 >> On Jun 18, 2014, at 1:42 PM, Scott Holmes wrote:=20 >> =3D20=20 >>> I don't know about the rest of you, on Twain-L, but I never thought =3D3= > D=3D=20 > >> Leno=20 >>> was particularly humorous.=20 >> =3D20=20 >> Denis M. Donovan, M.D., M.Ed., F.A.P.S.=20 >> Director, EOCT Institute=20 >> =3D20=20 >> Medical Director, 1983 - 2006=20 >> The Children's Center for Developmental Psychiatry=20 >> St. Petersburg, Florida=20 >> =3D20=20 >> P.O Box 47576=20 >> St. Petersburg, FL 33743-7576=20 >> Phone:=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0727-641-8905=20 >> [log in to unmask] >> [log in to unmask] >> =3D20=20 >> Please reply to: [log in to unmask] > > Alan Kitty=20 > 908-310-2117=20 > [log in to unmask] > www.marktwainslaststand.com=20