Our historian/archivist/documentarian/kwartermaster/everyman Gabe Gabriel recently returned from an estate auction in upstate New York, carrying in tow the personal papers of the late Budd Bellows. Prior to overdosing on speed balls in a hotel bathtub last month, Mr. Bellows was a relatively well-known comic on the college circuit. By all accounts, his material was little more than ham-handed low-hanging fruit. But if the sheaf of documents Gabe acquired for a small fortune is any indication, Budd was on track to broach a major kreative breakthrough, peripheral as his efforts were to our franchise. It's a tragedy that such a nascent master was cut down so suddenly. Imagine the heights to which he could have soared. Anyhow, we found the following witticism scrawled on the back of an envelope among Bellow's vestiges. It may very well be the prototype of a form of humor the world will never be fully privy to. Scoff:
Set-up: I live my life in two worlds: the world I experience when I'm awake and the world of my dreams. One of these worlds is characterized by unending toil. It is an odyssey without end. The destination is in sight yet remains eternally elusive. A path unfolds before me, but it is circuitous and full of diversion. I get side-tracked and drawn into outlandish subplots. I observe people I haven't seen or thought about for years engaging in strange acts in strange places. Places I've never been. Places nobody's ever been and likely do not exist. In this world, geography lacks a discernible logic. Disparate locales are contiguous. Day transitions into night in an instant. Years fly by in what seems like minutes. In this world I become mired in such mystifying flights of fancy that I lose sight of the destination all together and never quite arrive no matter how close I unwittingly get.
Punchline: You think that's crazy? Wait until I tell you about the world of my dreams!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
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