  Comedy
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Funny is defined by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary as
1 a: affording light mirth and laughter : amusing b: seeking or intended to amuse : facetious
2: differing from the ordinary in a suspicious, perplexing, quaint, or eccentric way : peculiar — often used as a sentence modifier <funny, things didn't turn out the way we planned>
3: involving trickery or deception <told his prisoner not to try anything funny>
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Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
We had the joy of celebrating April Fools' Day this past weekend. It got me to wondering. Why does April Fools' Day exist? What is the original tradition behind it?
We all know that the 1st of April, though not an official holiday, is celebrated as a universal day of hoaxes and practical jokes in many countries and widely celebrated across the Internet. How many of us signed on to Writing.Com on Sunday morning and were met by oddly spelled handles, upside down banners, and blog entries that reminded us exactly what day it was? Even though I've been a member of Writing.Com for about 4 years now, it still confused me for a moment to look at my handle and see something like, Molassi weats fer Eogast 8th.
The origin of April Fools' Day is widely disputed. It is believed that it was once part off the festivities that celebrated the vernal equinox, which began on the old New Year's Day (March 25) and ended on April 2.
The 1st of April appears to have been celebrated in Britian as a general festival, though there are no facts that support that it became a universal hoax day until the 18th century. In Scotland, the custom of April Fools became known as "hunting the gowk." Basically, the April-gowks were April-fools.
It is also said that Europe derived its April fooling from the French, where both Dutch and French references from the 1500's describe April Fools' Day jokes and the custom of them being made on April 1st. After Charles IX changed New Years' Day from April 1 to January 1, many of the traditions were moved to January 1, although many people still sent mock presents and pretended ceremony on April 1. In France, the person being fooled is known as the poisson d'avril, or Fish of April, since tradition called to place a dead fish on backs of friends. This tradition later changed to paper fish.
The Dutch celebrate April 1 because of other reasons. The Netherlands used to be ruled by Spain's King Phillip II. Guezen, a band of Dutch rebels, roamed the land, and on April 1, 1572, the Guezen seized the coastal town of Den Briel. This started a general civil uprising that the Duke of Alba could not prevent. April 1, 1572 is known as the day "Alba lost his glasses." Many Dutch people find this joke hilarious, so they still celebrate the 1st of April for this reason.
There have been many famous media celebrations of April 1st throughout history:
 The BBC television programme Panorama ran a famous hoax in 1957, showing the Swiss harvesting spaghetti from trees. They had claimed that the despised pest the spaghetti weevil had been eradicated. A large number of people contacted the BBC wanting to know how to cultivate their own spaghetti trees.
In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side.
In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." When asked about the sale, White House press secretary Mike McCurry replied tongue-in-cheek that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.
Radio station KFOG in San Francisco, claiming new corporate ownership, switched to a new format - the best 15 seconds of every song. All morning they mixed in false calls from perky listeners calling with compliments. This hoax can also be considered a parody of late 1990s media consolidations.
In 1998, radio station KITS in San Francisco played gay-themed songs and changed its call letters to "KGAY" for an hour.
On the Gold Coast, Australia's biggest tourist destination (particularly amongst schoolies), radio station Sea FM announced the drinking age would be changed from 18 to 21. This left a huge number of under-21s angry and frustrated, and incited protests. It was later announced at the Sea FM dance party that it was a hoax.
In 2005, TV 3 Estonia broadcasted a news story, where station claimed that thanks to a new technology, they know exactly how much are they being viewed at the moment. They also asked viewers to put a coin against TV screen if they liked the running broadcast.
The 1977 British documentary Alternative 3 was originally intended as an April Fools' Day hoax and the date of April 1, 1977 is specifically given in the programme's credits. This documentary detailed the discovery of a major cover-up involving the American and Soviet Space Agencies, who had been collaborating on plans to make the moon and Mars habitable in the event of a terminal environmental catastrophe on Earth. The programme led to a large number of conspiracy theories.
In 2005, the Maryville Daily Forum newspaper in Maryville, Mo., published an entirely fake front page on April 1. Stories detailed a plan to drain a local lake to find the city manager's lucky golf ball; the city's efforts to annex the entire town from Missouri into Iowa; and the arrest of the newspaper's publisher for smoking a cigar in a restaurant (only a few months after a city-wide no-smoking ban was put into effect). Page 2 of that day's newspaper proclaimed "APRIL FOOLS!" across the top of the page, followed by that day's real news stories. The newspaper received hundreds of phone calls that day from readers who thought the stories were real, and Maryville City Hall also received dozens of phone calls from citizens outraged that the city would drain a lake or annex into Iowa.
As part of an April Fools' joke on April 1, 1997, Alex Trebek and Pat Sajak switched hosting duties. Pat hosted Jeopardy! that day and Alex hosted Wheel of Fortune where Sajak and Vanna White played as contestants. Jeopardy! announcer Johnny Gilbert did double duties that day.
In 2003, Hollywood Squares producers played an April Fools joke on host Tom Bergeron and the stars by booking two of the most difficult contestants ever. The contestants were in fact actors.
Rock band Tool publishes an April Fools' joke every year on their website. For example, in 2005 Tool announced that their singer Maynard James Keenan had found religion and quit the music business.
What April Fools' jokes did you bare witness to this last April 1st? I'd love to hear and share your stories with others! |
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Re: humor preferences, I like everything except puns, because I don't get them. I also like politically incorrect humor where the butt of the joke could be [insert any old group here]. All groups have laughable characteristics, because people are people the world over.
Human laughter may be the only universally understood sound; it transcends ALL differentiating traits. Even infants and the mentally handicapped recognize laughter as a good sound (as opposed to, say, a T-Rex roaring, which would be a bad sound).
I also think the "fart scene" around the campfire in Blazing Saddles will make me laugh forever. Finally, tell your husband your second-born can be called "D.D." so no one will know what it stands for, anyway.
I always look forward to this newsletter, even when I don't get all the humor.
- Chriswriter
Thanks so much for your insight on my last newsletter topic! D.D. is a great way to hide the fact that he'll be named after a squirrel! 
Comedy is serious business. You wouldn't want to just write or say anything that strikes you funny all willy-nilly now. It might seem too querky or stupid to someone, and then where would you be? HMMM?
- Big Mike 2humble2bragbut...
Hmmmm... where I usually am, with my foot in my mouth and all red in the face. But then, I don't mind making a fool of myself for the benefit of others.
Thank you for your feedback and for reading my newsletter this month! I hope you enjoyed!
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Comedy: April 04, 2007 Issue [#1636]
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