HUMOR

Laughter is its own kind of Heaven. Sometimes...tickled enough to have released a torrent of guffaws into the universe...ah reach fer mah pen!
*****

 

"Definition of a Shark" (from THE SEATTLE STAR)

One of the most hilarious of the "tales of preschool" that I've witnessed and recorded, as twins at the Art Table just won't accept my drawing! Not just a funny story, though. Read to the end, for a turn and some real inspiration!

Read "Definition of a Shark"


Battle for the Nap Room: a Journal from the Front Lines (from THE MINDFUL WORD)

A moment-by-moment account of the daily battle of preschool teachers to get small children to sleep at Nap Time! Think of your own kids...then multiply by 20 or more! 

 

read "Battle for the Nap Room"

 

"Another Ordinary Day" (short story from THE MINDFUL WORD)

The absurdity of growing up in the US in the '50S! This is the story that had me driving down the New Jersey Turnpike some years back, writing furiously to get the jokes down while they were still fresh, and laughing out loud the whole way!  ..about 1/2 this stuff actually happened.
This story was originally part of the audiocassete of stories I made in the '90s: INSIDE JOBS: Stories for Adults and Other Kids 

 

read "Another Ordinary Day"

 

 

 

"My Dennys American Trilogy": three bizarre, hilarious incidents at “America’s diner” (part of this appeared in THE MINDFUL WORD)

For awhile, I would take myself out to an early morning, like 4 or 5 AM, breakfast. Dennys was pretty much the only place open. The food was fine. I don't know WHY these bizarre incidents all took place in the course of a few months, at different Dennys...

 

read "My Dennys American Trilogy"

 

 

 

"My Costco Sunday Morning Touchdown!"

Some of these ideas for a "tall tale" to describe a romp through the Sunday mob at Costco had been bubbling up in my head for years. I finally was jolted enough by a particularly intense time there, to write it all down.

read "My Costco Sunday Morning Touchdown!"

 

 

"Too Old For Facebook": My Comical Adventure with Youth (from THE MINDFUL WORD)

Maybe ya had to be there at Starbucks that day, to believe this conversation really happened! Or take my word for it, scout's honor! (and I WAS a scout, for a whole month!)

read "Too Old for Facebook: Max Reif's Comical Adventure with Youth"

 

 

"Mayavic Pilgrimage: a Visit to Krispy Kreme"

this is an old piece I think I wrote to a list-serv, now on my website, but I still remember the visit and the writing as, well, remarkable for their "surreal come real" qualities. The article ends with a note that soon after, Krispy Kreme stock plunged 45%. The actual establishment we visited went out of business, and the building lay vacant for years, as America fell under the pervasive spell of low-fat, low-carb diets.

 

But it's BACK now, and though we haven't visited again, busy, I would imagine.

read "Mayavic Pilgrimage"

 

 

Misc. Humor from my "Real Nothings" website

The criterions for "already published" used by THE MINDFUL WORD in determining what new material they will accept, is whether a piece comes up in a Google search. Here are some pieces, mostly written for the "Baba-Talk list-serv" back around the turn of the millenium, that are technically "published" but still may have some laughs for you. (I found a couple of them funny and substantial enough that they have their own slots here on this page.)

If my stuff really makes you laugh, here they are:
read the REAL Nothings Humor Pages

 

 

"The Hall of Famous Jokes" (dedicated to my dad, Irwin J. Reif)

Dad told the greatest jokes! Works of art, actually! Most of them, I see now, are funny precisely because they make a point so well! Arthur Koestler bases his entire analysis of creativity in this thick (good!) tome, THE ACT OF CREATION, on the way humor "bisociates" a topic by setting up a punch line that juxtaposes two contexts in a way that creates hilarity! Here are Dad's jokes, and a few I've found that got in only because they're just as funny!

Enter The Hall of Famous Jokes

 

 

MORE HUMOR TO COME!!