I've Always Found Carbon Dioxide To Be A Real Gas

Somehow, Tommy and I have different ideas on what makes something funny. While he finds the abusive slapstick of the Three Stooges hysterical, I go for the physical comedy of Jerry Lewis. Today was a lovely day off. I lounged, I food shopped, I returned library books (before their due date even) and came home to make homemade chicken and dumplings. But right now, while things simmer and cook, I've got The Nutty Professor running for background noise.

No. Not the cheesy, rip-off re-make Eddie Murphy used to manufacture his comeback. The 1963 original with Stella Stevens and Jerry Lewis. Why? Why do I love it so? Probably mostly because my dad shared it with me when I was about 8 or 10 and found it to be HYSTERICAL. You show a 10-year old Jerry Lewis stretching his arms from the dumbbell and blowing up his classroom and using his pocket watch that plays "While The Caissons Keep Rolling Along" and see how much they laugh.

I love the up-to-the-moment-hip fashions that the alter ego Buddy Love wears. I love that the score of the entire movie is jazzy and neat. I love the final scene where Buddy Love transforms back to Professor Kelp before our eyes while making a heartfelt and suprisingly un-corny speech.

To get away from the nasty, mean, crude stuff that passes for humor and comedy today, go rent a Jerry Lewis movie or two.