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Humor

Send in the Clowns

by Andy Wood on November 7, 2009

rodeo clown 3“It seems plausible that folly and fools, like religion and magic, meet some deeply rooted needs in human society.”  -Peter Berger, Redeeming Laughter

At a convention, filled with pastors and other very religious people, I was sitting on a shuttle bus going from the parking lot to the convention center.  The bus made a stop, and on hopped Dennis Swanberg – comedian, and then-pastor.  I recognized him, because we’d recently had him as a guest in our church.  Somebody else recognized him too.  A good ol’ boy hollered from the back of the bus, “Hey!  Aren’t you Dennis Swanberg?  Say sumpthin’ funny!”

Dennis smiled good-naturedly, but the look in his eye said it all:  Seriously?

I joked with him about the cluelessness of the request.  “Yeah,” he said.  “It’s sorta like saying to a doctor in public, ‘Cure something,’”

One Planet, Two Kingdoms

Isn’t it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground,
You in mid-air.
Where are the clowns? [click to continue…]

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Braves lose! Braves lose! Braves lose!

by Andy Wood on August 8, 2008

Skip CarayI was going to write a piece about words today; guess I’ll have to do that next week.  Today it’s more about a wordsmith, and a great sense of loss.

It’s hard to put into words the significance of losing a public figure whose work or life has touched yours – an individual who became something of a fixture in your life.

That’s who Skip Caray was to me.  He was a legend and an institution, and legetutions aren’t supposed to die.  But people do.

I never met the legendary broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves.  But he met me – again and again, first through radio, then through a cable channel humbly self-named The Superstation.  Skip became a companion who, like so many other broadcasters in the 20th century, made the national pastime interesting, fun, and so incredibly human.

[click to continue…]

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