Joy of Puns

Puns have been described as the lowest form of humor, but it's a description I have a hard time accepting.

While it's true that we often rhyme off puns without a lot of forethought, and they elicit more groans than guffaws, a really clever pun is truly a thing of beauty.

What makes a great pun great is how it brings forth other people's creative juices, leading to a whole string of hilarious puns and a laughfest, however brief, that will brighten the day of just about everyone within earshot. On the other hand, not everyone has a talent for creating them, and people without this talent don't often find them all that funny.

The other drawback is that they never seem nearly so funny in the retelling. For instance, one of my all-time favorite puns was made more than 20 years ago, by a member of an improv troupe doing a round of art puns. I still grin when I think of it, but have never dared to repeat it; the magical moment in which it was conceived disappeared just as quickly as it arrived.

One that I will repeat came to me in my early 20's when I was working on a radio comedy show with a good friend and fellow writer. I wish I knew what he's doing now, because he was really, really funny and he had a way of inspiring others to new comedic heights. Anyway, we were developing a skit centered on geology puns at the time.

Like the art puns, I don't remember every geology pun we came up with, or even who came up with what. What I do remember is that he blurted out, "You're full of schist!" I replied, "Uranium my parade."

Doesn't seem so funny now, does it? It wasn't that funny when we recorded it either. In fact, it was never as funny as the time I first blurted it out during our writing session. Maybe that's why puns don't really get the respect they deserve. Except in the hands of a professional actor or comedian, they're never as funny the second time around.