August 22nd, 2013

Past Performance

by Wayno & Piraro

Bizarro is brought to you today by Delicious Death.

“Death of a Salesman” is a pretty darned good play by a guy named Arthur Miller, who married Marylin Monroe in spite of being a goofy-looking nerd. (Miller, not Monroe.) I like this kind of story because I am a goofy-looking nerd and I like beautiful women. By many reports, however, he was pretty mean to Marylin and drove her a good deal deeper into depression, a problem she already had when she came to the relationship. If that is true, that wasn’t nice. I’ve been accused of doing this to a couple of women, too (though none of them committed suicide) but I hope it isn’t true. I’ve never intentionally been mean to anyone whom I didn’t think richly deserved it as a result of their own behavior toward me. Normally, I try to be a considerate, nice guy, but when I’m pushed past my limit, I admit that I can be an unmitigated asshat and a formidable foe. Sort of a primordial defense mechanism that kicks in.

VINTAGE JAZZ: And here’s another funeral gag from 2006. I have occasionally been criticized for doing funeral gags (always by people in grief, so I can’t really blame them) but I believe that our ability to laugh about death and tragedy is a uniquely human trait that balances our unique ability to imagine the future and the pain that most surely awaits us. So I persist, as much for my own peace of mind as any readers who may benefit from it as well. Sorry if you’ve lost someone recently. We all have and it always sucks––but a smile, even a brief one, helps.