I have not forgotten
I will write my Kdrama in Birmingham story
I got side tracked
Watched The Italian Job, Benny Hill is it in with Michael Caine
Noel Coward was in it too, Sheridan Morley's bio of Coward
A Talent to Amuse is a great read I read it 30 years ago maybe?
I had breakfast at 7am then went back to bed
Tinnitus had kept me awake all night
Pain can come and go unexpectedly too
You wouldn't want my life
In the middle of the night I sent an email to the White House
Well if Trump is not on Twitter he can always read my rubbish
All of you can email the White House
So if Jon Sopal gets an exclusive, don't forget to thank me
The Final Cut of The 19th Hole was my 19th book after all
hello to Jim Mathis too, he gets mention in the 1st story
Horse's Head on my bed etc
I got a new follower over on Wordpress I always say
Follow your Nose, don't bother following me
My English student, Uddam I think his name was
said he'd always remember me, I told him remember the English
and forget me. Xmas 2011 that'd be
If he sees this good luck to him and family
He has a sister in Smethwick I believe
Anyway you are all, all over the place
But don't send junk emails you are just wasting your time
Re. reply me I have something to say
YES YOU ARE A FRAUD, YOU AND YOUR $14,000,000
please grow up
Talking of growing up
The Fascists in USA appear to being routed
But Eternal Vigilance is needed
Only now big business is doing something
Because they love Democracy, or is the bottom line being squeezed?
or am I just cynical?
I hope to get back to my Comedy Comedy writing, or is it Humour
more "intelligent" but less laughs, discuss.
It's hard to be funny when the world is so mad
I did watch another Kdrama too, Uncanny Counters
Then they cleared out our Christmas tree so it's in the front garden
The local squirrels will nest in it until the refuse people take it
The Christmas lights are being xfered to my daughter's dolls house
So that's been my day, not forgetting 2/3 pain attacks
So I smell of Movelat, I cannot take any other stuff because of kidneys
Apart from that I'm ever so dashing, to the toilet, obvious joke
And a great catch for any Korean girl who, wants a fat silver haired writer
in shades, there's no money to be had, but lots of laughs
Makes me sound just like a Kdrama, and so I am
So here's an old piece to look at, and not a metaphor, not a picture of me
Michael Casey Bed©
By Michael Casey
I was just reading in
the DT that a Uni is going to start a comedy course, a degree in being funny.
Today’s title refers to a teaching degree but I’ve typed it in wrong to make a point, would you
take the teacher seriously if Bed was after their name instead of Bed?
Yes you can teach the business
side of comedy, comedians are the new millionaires after all, and some new
comedians are just not funny, but they still make loads of money to steal one
comedian’s catchphrase. Eric Morcambe used to say if it was funny then it was
funny, don’t analyse it. There are some genuine funny people who’ll crack
everybody else up with a look, a phrase, a voice, just about anything. If
anybody else did the same it just would not work. Frank Carson used to say
“It’s the way I tell them” and he was right, Roger Burton our old driver nearly
crashed the van as he took Frank to the airport, because Frank was so funny and
Roger was crying with laughter. Jim the other driver could say something and he
would get away with it, and evoke gales of laughter because he was funny. I was part of that playground too at CPNEC,
it was such a fun play the three of us together, not forgetting Phil, my phone
a friend Phil.
If you try and catch up
with a laugh it’s too late, timing really is everything, and you either have it
or you don’t. I went on a Presenting
Course in 1998 because I hoped it’d help with my comic writing, it did help me
learn to present and ultimately to teach. I try and practice my comic timing
while I’m in the queue in Iceland or Aldi, I listen to what’s happening at the
front of the queue and then see if I can make the checkout girl laugh, most
days I can. Three years of banter with the lads at CPNEC does help you a lot.
Now writing comedy is
another thing entirely, you may be able to write but performing is another
kettle of fish, and if you get it wrong it really does stink as much as a
kettle of fish. I mentioned teaching, I have used my writing skills to make
students laugh and to teach at the same
time. I prefer the writing side but I have performed as well, some say I was
good, but I laugh too much instead of being the straight actor. You have to
have discipline while you act, you know the funny line is coming you must not
kill it, it has to come out and be enjoyed.
Some people kill the punch line by interrupting the story, that’s always
a bad thing, let the storyteller tell the story.
My friend Andrew was a
brave man, he had severe problems with his legs and used crutches, he worked
our switchboard, now he knew how to deliver a line. If we had a quiet period in
the mid afternoon and I wasn’t sent elsewhere to help out at the hotel then
we’d share a joke or two. I’d feed him a line and wait, he’d pause and look
back at me from his position at the
switchboard then deliver a perfect put down, his lips pursed and his glasses
perched on his nose. I was the ball machine and he was the ace returning grand
slam player. It was fun, I’d be the straight man and he’d be the slammer.
Working the Concierge desk in the evening I had a chance to practice my lines
with every new guest that appeared. Perfect place to practice. I also spent 3 years at a law firm, I
practiced words of a different kind there.
But what of words? Words
are like sweets, like drops of rain, a kiss and much much more. Comedy is
strange, what makes me laugh may not make you laugh. An In joke, Inns of Court
jokes jokes appeal on different levels to different people. Every job, every
profession has its own jokes, the knack is to write so that you can touch base
with as many different people as possible, use special language and draw people
in to different strands of life, of laughter. In a way laughter is about pain
because we are laughing at others misfortune.
Every joke or story has
degrees of laughter and pain attached, it’s though laughter we can live through
pain. I wrote about my bad back maybe 3 years ago, Crawling Like a Worm in the
Dirt I called the piece, it’s funny because we can picture the scene. A good writer is drawing pictures in the
readers’ minds, creating cartoons. Now will a Degree be able to teach all of
what I’ve spoken of? I’ve spent 45 years to get where I am now, 20 years
listening to BBC Radio4 and 25 years holding a pen. Humour varies from area to
area and from country to country, from person to person, one man’s meat really
is another man’s poison. I think it’s time for Michael Casey to go to B E D.
