Teens are funny . . . and some other things are too
Becca Wilhite taught a class at the Storymakers Conference about how to be funny. One of her little nuggets of advice was that you should take notes of funny things teenagers say while you're driving them around. (I'm pretty sure my teens would not approve of this practice, but they probably won't read this anyway.) I know not everyone is so lucky to spend hours in the car with teenage girls, so I'm going to share my notes from the past month with you. (I'll also share some of Becca's other suggestions.) So here goes--
Notes from Carpool
One girl observed that it's really awkward when couples stare into each others' eyes for longer than about three seconds. She thinks there should be some sort of rule about that.
Once a guy figures out you like him, he pretty much stops talking to you. If, on the other hand, he likes you back, you stop liking him. So the "I like you" confession dooms all relationships.
One of the girls took a ballroom dancing class this semester, thinking it'd be a great way to meet guys. Major backfire! She got paired with a boy who has B.O. issues. Although she talked to two teachers about it, the boy has shown no improvement. One teacher thinks it goes deeper than a deodorant problem because the stench is so strong. He thinks it must be a shower thing. So what's a girl to do? The only thing she can do--bring an extra shirt to change into after ballroom dancing class.
This same girl has a job cleaning bathrooms at the elementary school every afternoon. At the beginning of the year, her supervisor showed her how to sanitize the toilets with a special solution, which he said was so safe you could drink it. She never drank it, just squirted it into the toilets after she cleaned them. Lately, they've had trouble with ant colonies in the bathrooms. One drop of the solution that's safe enough to drink will kill all the ants around the toilet bowl, even if it doesn't actually touch the ants. Yep, it's that safe.
None of the girls ever want to date a guy who says anything cheesy, even if he made it up just for them. My poor son, the only boy in the carpool, feels a little clueless about this. "What exactly is cheesy?"
One of the substitutes told my daughter that he'd seen her with a boy in the hallway and that they made a cute couple. It would've been a nice compliment, except the boy was her brother.
Other Sources of Humor
Becca taught us that, in order to become funny, we need to watch and listen to comedy. Here's the list she gave us:
Notes from Carpool
One girl observed that it's really awkward when couples stare into each others' eyes for longer than about three seconds. She thinks there should be some sort of rule about that.
Once a guy figures out you like him, he pretty much stops talking to you. If, on the other hand, he likes you back, you stop liking him. So the "I like you" confession dooms all relationships.
One of the girls took a ballroom dancing class this semester, thinking it'd be a great way to meet guys. Major backfire! She got paired with a boy who has B.O. issues. Although she talked to two teachers about it, the boy has shown no improvement. One teacher thinks it goes deeper than a deodorant problem because the stench is so strong. He thinks it must be a shower thing. So what's a girl to do? The only thing she can do--bring an extra shirt to change into after ballroom dancing class.
This same girl has a job cleaning bathrooms at the elementary school every afternoon. At the beginning of the year, her supervisor showed her how to sanitize the toilets with a special solution, which he said was so safe you could drink it. She never drank it, just squirted it into the toilets after she cleaned them. Lately, they've had trouble with ant colonies in the bathrooms. One drop of the solution that's safe enough to drink will kill all the ants around the toilet bowl, even if it doesn't actually touch the ants. Yep, it's that safe.
None of the girls ever want to date a guy who says anything cheesy, even if he made it up just for them. My poor son, the only boy in the carpool, feels a little clueless about this. "What exactly is cheesy?"
One of the substitutes told my daughter that he'd seen her with a boy in the hallway and that they made a cute couple. It would've been a nice compliment, except the boy was her brother.
Other Sources of Humor
Becca taught us that, in order to become funny, we need to watch and listen to comedy. Here's the list she gave us:
- Brian Regan
- Jim Gaffigan
- Tim Hawkins
- Sarah Eden
- Studio C on BYU TV
- Pandora Radio: PG comedy
I find comedy in my life by watching my kids :) We now keep a journal of the funniest things they say because they are hilarious!
ReplyDeleteI have a journal for each kid, but that sounds fun to keep one just for funny stuff. One of my friends kept a journal of funny things that happened on her mission. I wish I'd done that. It would've made some of my hard days a little more fun.
DeleteI have a little journal I keep for funny things the grandkids say. Even if I don't use it in my writing, it can bring a smile to me on an otherwise dreary day.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I can start the journal with my kids and continue with grandkids.
DeleteThank you so much for posting this. I missed that class sadly! And oh my goodness those are hilarious!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I completely agree with watching Studio C! And now I can deem it research, yay!
Isn't it great how many things we can do for research! I'm going to skip the sky-diving lessons, though.
DeleteLOL too true. And yeah I am with you on that, no sky-diving lessons for me. *Shudders* The thought alone is scary! :D
DeleteI'd have to second the Studio C suggestion. Love that show. Our 7 year old daughter is a major ham, and when sometimes it's so hard to be mad at her, because she always is even funnier when she knows that she's done something she shouldn't have.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest is that way. I went to his preschool program a few weeks ago, and it's clear he's chosen the role of class clown. They were singing about the old lady who swallowed a spider. He didn't really sing at all. He spent his time acting out the old lady's death. Not sure how I feel about that.
DeleteThis is funny! The "I like you" one made me laugh. Here is a funny that was said at our house. I was talking to my teen about our up coming overnighter wherein the kids will be left home alone.
ReplyDeleteTeen girl:"We could have a party!"
Little brother: "Yeah, and we could eat chicken soup, even though it's spring and too hot outside!"
Teen girl: *eye rolling*
That's funny. Prom season was the best for eavesdropping. I wish I could post everything I heard, but I would be in serious trouble.
DeleteI love Studio C as well. A friend showed me some Julian Smith videos and I think you will appreciate this one, as you like books. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuRuwR2JSXI
ReplyDeleteMy boys love Julian Smith.
DeleteThe instructor went out of his way to make me feel comfortable, promptly responding to my queries and taking his time explaining things to me. I felt less nervous by the first lesson.
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