"Laugh it up, Fuzzball"

We have come to the end of '31 Days of Oscar' on TCM.  Tonight they will be awarding the Oscars for 2009.  I've enjoyed watching past winners and nominees during this month, but the highlight was watching 'Tootsie', not once, but twice.

I sat down to eat my dinner tonight and checked to see what was available 'on demand'.  When 'Tootsie' was on before, I was busy and missed several scenes.  Mind you, I have probably seen this a dozen times, so I really didn't 'miss' anything.  So, I plopped into my favorite chair and sat.  I yukked it up for two hours.  This movie is so funny. Sydney Pollack, as 'Tootsie's' agent, has some of the funniest lines.

The movie got me thinking about others that I have seen over and over again and that I still laugh at all the same jokes.  My all time favorite is 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'.  The best scene is when Ethel Merman falls head first into the garbage can.  What a riot! 

Then there is 'The Pink Panther'.  I have the original soundtrack recording and I laugh just reading the album notes by Peter Sellers.  The next year they came out with 'Cat Ballou' and Lee Marvin won the Oscar for Best Actor.   I crack up every time he walks in the room, sees the candles next to the coffin, and starts singing 'Happy Birthday'.  Sick, I know.  I remember sitting in the theatre watching it and I wasn't the only one laughing.

I saw "The Odd Couple" at the Fisher Theatre.  I remember George Gobel playing the character Felix Unger.  He leaves a note for Oscar:  'We are out of corn flakes.  FU'  I thought I would fall out of my balcony seat.  And I laughed so hard when I saw 'The Producers' on Broadway that I think I missed half the lines.

We all have a different sense of what is funny.  My father used to watch 'The Three Stooges' and double over in laughter.  I'd be sitting in the same room and wonder what was so funny.  I feel the same way about the Marx Brothers.  I love Woody Allen movies, but know folks who fall asleep watching them.

So, first chance you get, think about what movie you think is the funniest you ever saw, rent it, make some popcorn, and yuck it up.  Laughter is healthy. 

As for the quote up top, it is from a decidedly 'not funny' movie, but one of the best science fiction films ever, 'The Empire Strikes Back'.