View Full Version : Isn't humor a part of mando culture?
There seems to be a lot of seriousness on this board, and for good reason. It does seem, however, that humor, especially of the banjorial nature, is a valid part of mandolin and BG and should be recognised as such. I don't know if I've ever been to a jam where some crack about banjos or mandos wasn't made. Isn't it possible that some people have fogotten the roots of the music many of us listen to-THE EARLY GUYS WERE FUNNY AND NOT ASHAMED.
maynard g. krebs
Oct-16-2007, 12:28pm
bumper sticker seen on car in moab utah:
PADDLE FASTER, I HEAR BANJOS
JEStanek
Oct-16-2007, 12:32pm
The subtleties and nuances of a joke are often lost on an electronic medium. #A really brutal joke can be funny with proper delivery. #These forums, sometimes, aren't the best place for subtle delivery. #I love a good joke; clean, dirty, knock-knock, puns (espescially) but a lot like a good player can get "The Sound" a good joke needs a good context and setting to work. #This is a different space than an old time radio or stage act.
Just because we all love the mandolin doesn't mean we all have the same humor sensibilities. If any joke could possibly offend someone count on hearing about it. It's very easy to heckle on the internet.
Jamie
MikeEdgerton
Oct-16-2007, 12:37pm
The owner of the Mandolin Cafe chooses what he will and will not let stand. That is his option as the owner of the board. We as guests in his house have a choice to abide by his rules and wishes or we have the option of leaving. Scott pays for the disk space used to host this forum. If he chooses to keep things in a more serious vein that is indeed his choice. There is humor intermixed with serious conversation all over this board. If he chooses to not allow threads that he feels are silly and not worthy of the disk space they take up then so be it. It's his house, he makes the rules.
John Flynn
Oct-16-2007, 1:09pm
I think there is some very good humor on the board and Scott graciously allows it when it is within posting guidelines. He even adds to it sometimes, such as with the "photoshop the system admin" thread. BTW, you can find plenty of fun banjo-bashing threads here!
The problem with humor here is there are people here, as in any group, who:
1. Are too darn sensitive.
2. Are not as funny as they think they are.
3. Use humor as a means of trolling.
Two banjo players walked into a bar. The mandolin player ducked.
In addition to the above, this is a pretty international bunch, and I can never be sure how something goes over in a different culture. While I have traveled quite a bit, there are people right across town who don't think I am funny. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
It helps to use these smiley thingies BTW.
I wasn't nessasaraly refering to the rules of the board. There are things that I might not agree with but it isn't my house. I guess it was a larger question because it seems that BG and acoustic music as a whole have started to lose thier sense of humor,especially on stage. I also know that there are banjo joke threads but they get knocked by some even if they aren't blocked. Do people agree that it is a part of the culture?
Potosimando
Oct-16-2007, 1:48pm
jflynnstl (aka Mando Johnny) is right on (re. above), for better or for worse. #His quote again (worth repeating):
The problem with humor here is there are people here, as in any group, who:
1. Are too darn sensitive.
2. Are not as funny as they think they are.
3. Use humor as a means of trolling.
I plead "guilty" to having committed at least two of these offenses in the past (but not the one about being overly sensitive...at least I don't think so).
Question: How many mandolin players does it take to change a light bulb?
Answer: That's not funny!
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
MikeEdgerton
Oct-16-2007, 1:56pm
On stage I mix a healthy dose of humor with the music in our shows. It's part of connecting with the audience. You need to connect. Putting a group that is technically brilliant on a stage that doesn't connect with the audience will make a few folks happy and generally get the act a walking ovation. I offer any Richard Greene set at any festival as an example. Great fiddler, not real entertaining beyond that. Then put someone that actually connects with the crowd like Nothin' Fancy on stage and you'll see that humor is alive and well in the bluegrass world.
Jonathan Peck
Oct-16-2007, 2:10pm
Q: Where can you find the lamest jokes on the planet?
A: At any bluegrass festival.
"It seems it's a treasured part of the bluegrass performance tradition to pepper a performance with the lamest jokes imaginable. Everyone knows the jokes at a bluegrass show are going to be lame and that is part of the fun. To present smart, clever humor on a bluegrass show would just seem out of place."
what do you call a beautiful woman on the arm of a banjo player?
a tattoo
for audience connection in general with humor in the mix -
Mike Marshall and Darol Anger - - like you are in thier living room
Doc Watson - great stage presence
Norman and Nancy Blake - politley southun
Sam Bush- crazy
Peter Ostroushko - very down to earth with plenty of food and Ukrainian jokes
the late great John Hartford was about as real as it can get - plenty of side ways humor mixed in with genuine showmanship
Thile I found very relaxed and layed back
Dawg - a bit on the serious side
Tony Rice - way serious
some of the more hard core BG groups I've seen have leaned towards the serious ( Skaggs, Del McCrory, Rhonda Vincent)
Seldom Scene was a good mix
well I think I'm funnier than I think I used to think I was
MikeEdgerton
Oct-16-2007, 2:30pm
Rhonda Vincent was serious? Her shows that I've seen (twice in the last year) were pretty relaxed and humorous.
I think Ron Thomasson is a genious, for example, but he is learned in the art of humor and that art seems to garnish less respect than it deserves.
BlueMountain
Oct-16-2007, 2:52pm
Yes, I was just about to mention Ron Thomason (who plays a Loar, by the way). He is a master at folksy, relaxed humor and the tall tale. Watching him is like watching Abe Lincoln come back. I imagine that Lincoln was much like him in delivery. And of course Ron has many more wonderful qualities (and some annoying ones), as well, not least that he's a very fine mandolin player and does some of the tastiest old time bluegrass around.
By the way, he says that these days he likes to listen to Hazel Dickens and Fiddlin' John Carson. Those two are both "the real thing" when it comes to singing. Good models for bluegrass singing.
Jonathan Peck
Oct-16-2007, 2:57pm
Well I can't say I get him...but, maybe this clip of him doing 9 minutes of stand-up between songs isn't typicalDry Branch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIfkqTqaieg)
powercat
Oct-16-2007, 3:00pm
I've seen a few people try to dissuade folks from telling banjo jokes here. It seemed that their point was that banjo players are people too and that they are great artisans who deserve respect. Well, duh! (However some might argue otherwise http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif) Where would bluegrass and other music forms be without the banjo? However, that doesn't mean that we can't poke fun at them every now and then like one does their siblings. I'm sure there are some doozy mando jokes out there, but I'm not going over BanjoHangout.org (http://www.banjohangout.org/) and whine when someone tells one.
BlueMountain
Oct-16-2007, 3:10pm
No, sorry, but mandolins just aren't funny. Some mandolin players weary funny clothes, but mandolins don't sound funny or look funny. Mandolins give pleasure, but pleasure and humor aren't necessarily the same thing.
(And yes, the nine minute stories are one of the bad sides of Ron, as well as one of the good sides. It could be frustrating for the other players, unless he allows them to eat their supper or buy refreshments while he's telling stories. But I enjoy the stories.)
Santiago
Oct-16-2007, 3:28pm
Just exercise good personal judgment. Don't hijak a serious thread with silly comments -- I've been guilty of that too. It's just good "netiquette and hamanity to be considerate." I know serious threads are the easiest to make fun of, but sometimes people have serious issues to discuss and it annoys them.
That said, IMHO, I think people have been a little quick to complain about humor lately, particularly in humor threads, but Scott's been letting it through. I recognize this site has many levels to it, and on one level its a gathering place for serious academics. I think that's a credit to Scott, and he can create a section for that if he feels the masses are antagonizing the experts.
I think that this site has done more than just bring mandolin players together, it's forced us to recognize and validate the many styles of music and musician that share a love for mandolin.
JGWoods
Oct-16-2007, 3:29pm
Tell me a new banjo joke...if there is one.
I already heard the old ones, laughed then, yawn now.
Tell me a new banjo joke...if there is one.
I already heard the old ones, laughed then, yawn now.
Well there's the one my friend told me, I shared it on another thread here somewhere.
My friend is a lawyer and plays the banjo. He told me that means:
"Not only will I pick your pocket, but I will wipe it off on my sleeve."
Mandojulie
Oct-16-2007, 5:50pm
The problem with humor here is there are people here, as in any group, who:
1. Are too darn sensitive.
2. Are not as funny as they think they are.
3. Use humor as a means of trolling.
Okay, I get the first two, but what is trolling? #I doubt it has to do with bass fishing....?
MikeEdgerton
Oct-16-2007, 5:57pm
From Wikipedia:
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who intentionally posts controversial or contrary messages in an on-line community such as an on-line discussion forum with the intention of baiting users into an argumentative response.
mandopete
Oct-16-2007, 6:20pm
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who intentionally posts controversial or contrary messages in an on-line community such as an on-line discussion forum with the intention of baiting users into an argumentative response.
Ya know, like "Two Gibson F-5's walk into a bar..."
JEStanek
Oct-16-2007, 7:19pm
I once heard about a jilted lover taking a bar into two Gibson F5s.... Not too funny.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
Jamie
B. T. Walker
Oct-16-2007, 8:29pm
I cannot believe it's page two of this thread and no one has mentioned Jethro Burns. And Frank Wakefield, he's not funny at all.
With performers, there is the problem of people not knowing what they are going to get. #If you know much about Dry Branch and still go to a show, you should not be surprised or upset by the nine minute story. #The person who is just hearing them as the next group in the festival line-up is another issue. #I like Dry Branch because of the stories.
On the other hand, IIIrd Tyme Out (at least a few years ago) had fallen into the habit of making inside jokes with the band and/or with a friend in the audience. #Since they didn't have the reputation of being a comedy act, it detracted, especially since it excluded large portions of the audience.
Whether it is serious commentary or jokes, a performer who can appear to be having fun versus working will connect better with the audience.
John Flynn
Oct-17-2007, 7:30am
My mando-mentor, Curtis Buckhannon, and his brother Dennis tell clean, corny, but funny jokes all thoughout thier set. It works because the audience gets that they are what they seem: Two of the happiest, most good natured people you could find. A few of my favorites of thiers:
(Introducing a waltz) "We used to be addicted to playing waltzes. It was so bad, we had to go into a three-step program."
"We're having trouble hearing ourselves, so I'm going to set up the monitor." (Then Dennis produces a big picture of the Civil War ironclad "Monitor" and leans it against the mike stand so everyone can see it.)
"Did you guys hear that the Invisible Man and his wife just had a baby? The kid's not much to look at, though."
"We used to be addicted to playing waltzes. It was so bad, we had to go into a three-step program."
That's funny.
MandoPirate
Oct-17-2007, 7:55am
I have to be funny to make up for my playing! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
jmcgann
Oct-17-2007, 7:57am
Putting a group that is technically brilliant on a stage that doesn't connect with the audience will make a few folks happy and generally get the act a walking ovation. I offer any Richard Greene set at any festival as an example. Great fiddler, not real entertaining beyond that. Then put someone that actually connects with the crowd like Nothin' Fancy on stage and you'll see that humor is alive and well in the bluegrass world.
Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers was asked about whether a bunch of haggard looking old dudes wearing flannel "looked good" on stage. I love his reply:
I think the sight of a guy playing his ### off looks pretty damn good to me!
jbrwky
Oct-17-2007, 8:13am
John Duffy: "We didn't get much sleep last night. Women were pounding on the door all night long. We finally had to get up and let 'em out."
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
mandopoet
Oct-17-2007, 8:15am
Watching him is like watching Abe Lincoln come back. I imagine that Lincoln was much like him in delivery.
If Abe did come back, I think he would need some reconstruction.
jmcgann
Oct-17-2007, 2:02pm
It has been decreed by the Bureau Of Political Correctness that the word "hillbilly" shall be replaced by "Appalachian American".
Jonathan Peck
Oct-17-2007, 2:05pm
It has also been decreed that the word 'toothless' be replaced by 'orthodontically challenged'.
Isn't it possible that some people have fogotten the roots of the music many of us listen to-THE EARLY GUYS WERE FUNNY AND NOT ASHAMED.
I am not sure where the shame part comes in.