Why the laugh at "Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility"
Kevin Wright
I've been a listener for 10-15 years. Every time G.K. says "Our Lady
of Perpetual Responsibility" the first time in a monologue, there is a
slight laugh from the audience members. Why is this? What am I missing?
Thanks, Kevin Wright.
--
Kevin Wright
kwr...@iastate.edu
EttaPlace
On 27 May 1998 16:22:40 GMT, kwr...@iastate.edu (Kevin Wright) wrote:
>I've been a listener for 10-15 years. Every time G.K. says "Our Lady
>of Perpetual Responsibility" the first time in a monologue, there is a
>slight laugh from the audience members. Why is this? What am I missing?
>
Why have you been listening to him that long?
LylaWallis
>
Kevin Wright wants to know:
>I've been a listener for 10-15 years. Every time G.K. says "Our Lady
>of Perpetual Responsibility" the first time in a monologue, there is a
>slight laugh from the audience members. Why is this? What am I missing?
This is an easy one. There apparently are members of the audience who never
have heard a monologue before, having been dragged to a performance by their
spouse, mother, or batty aunt, or by a woman who on the first two dates seemed
to have good taste. Not having heard GK's same old shtick Saturday after
Saturday , they find "Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility" fresh and funny.
Any other questions?
WB or CM Hilbrich
Kevin Wright (kwr...@iastate.edu) wrote:
: I've been a listener for 10-15 years. Every time G.K. says "Our Lady
: of Perpetual Responsibility" the first time in a monologue, there is a
: slight laugh from the audience members. Why is this? What am I missing?
: Thanks, Kevin Wright.
*** Don't know about the audience, but I laugh because the major Catholic
Church in my home town of Glenview, Ill was "Our Lady of Perpetual Help "
So maybe the shift in direction and scope humors us non-Catholics.
--
=============================================================================
Bill Hilbrich St. Cloud, Minnesota hilb...@cloudnet.com
" It's A Magical World, Hobbes, Ol' Buddy... ...Let's Go Exploring ! "
Calvin's Last Words 12/31/95
=============================================================================
EttaPlace
On Wed, 27 May 1998 16:58:14 GMT, Miss....@scvnet.com (Sharon D.)
wrote:
>On Wed, 27 May 1998 16:44:19 GMT, et...@swbell.net (EttaPlace) wrote:
>
>|>On 27 May 1998 16:22:40 GMT, kwr...@iastate.edu (Kevin Wright) wrote:
>|>
>|>>I've been a listener for 10-15 years. Every time G.K. says "Our Lady
>|>>of Perpetual Responsibility" the first time in a monologue, there is a
>|>>slight laugh from the audience members. Why is this? What am I missing?
>|>>
>|>Why have you been listening to him that long?
>
>Why not? I've been listening to PHC for at least 15 years and
>probably longer.
>
>Instead of beriding Kevin, why not just answer his question, eh?
Dear Miss Music,
I was sincerely interested in why he had been listening
that long. I felt I had the right to ask that.
No derision was intended.
NANCY E WALKER
> >
> I was sincerely interested in why he had been listening
> that long. I felt I had the right to ask that.
>
> No derision was intended.
>>It's an odd question...other than because he likes the show, why would
he? Or would that be like why does one hit one's head with a hammer...'cuz
it feels so good when one stops? If you don't like GK's voice, why do you
listen? And if you don't listen to the show, why do you come here? N
EttaPlace
On 27 May 1998 23:32:23 GMT, "NANCY E WALKER" <nann...@prodigy.net>
wrote:
All I said was that it gave me the creeps. I like some people's
voices better than other people's voices. He's not one of my
absolute favorites but so what? I read his Book of Gays and
found it somewhat entertaining. I was basically just interested
in finding out what a group based on his thing thought about him
that's all.
I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone and I thought that you guys
would probably know that he had a new column and I was wondering
what you guys thought of his new column.
That's it. No big thing.
catherine yronwode
EttaPlace wrote:
>
> Miss....@scvnet.com (Sharon D.) wrote:
>
> >On Wed, 27 May 1998 16:44:19 GMT, et...@swbell.net (EttaPlace) wrote:
> >
> > kwr...@iastate.edu (Kevin Wright) wrote:
> >|>
> >|>>
> >|>Why have you been listening to him that long?
> >
> >Why not? I've been listening to PHC for at least 15 years and
> >probably longer.
> >
> >Instead of beriding Kevin, why not just answer his question, eh?
>
> that long.
Many of us have been listening to the show for 10-15 years because...we
are folks who like that kind of show and we are old enough to have owned
radios that long and because it's on every Saturday. In my own case, i
have been listening to APHC since it went national (it started as a
local Minnesota show), but that's nothing in my personal longevity of
fannish devotion department -- for instance, i have been listening to
the music of Robert Johnson since i was 15 years old and i am now
51...oh, heck, i have been listening to the music of Pete Seeger since i
was 5 years old and just the other week i stopped eveything when i heard
him being interviewed on Fresh Air. You know, when you like something,
you don't throw it away. You keep it.
catherine yronwode
Lucky Mojo Curio Co: http://www.luckymojo.com/luckymojocatalogue.html
The Lucky W Amulet Archive: http://www.luckymojo.com/luckyw.html
Sacred Sex: http://www.luckymojo.com/sacredsex.html
The Sacred Landscape: http://www.luckymojo.com/sacredland.html
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Comics Warehouse: http://www.luckymojo.com/comicswarehouse.html
check out news:alt.lucky.w for discussions on folk magic and luck
Doc Wright
Every time G.K. says "Our Lady
> of Perpetual Responsibility" the first time in a monologue, there is a
> slight laugh from the audience members. Why is this? What am I missing?
He himself (oh Lord, now I sound like Kurt Vonnegut) was brought up in the
little fundamentalist sect of Brotherhood, and they have some wild views
about
Catholics. It's also a play on the Minnesotan idea of responsiblility
that's drummed
into the young there, so have a look in one of GK's books at his parody of
Luthers
Theses that he claims to have written after a year at University, the
complaints
about Woebegonian attitudes that he sent to Harold Starr at the Herald Star.
Sue
Actually Etta, a friend of mine claims to knowing GK or an ex- or someone
personally. This was her comment. That when meeting him, he gives her the
creeps, and he is a very distant intimidating person.
Good for him. I'm not fond of psych profs myself, and she is mouthy and
overbearing, ok a little more than me. Her personality isn't so different
from mine, 'cept I'm more normal and she's degreed. <g>
Why laugh at name, Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility? It's SO typically
Wobegonian, even inferring a never-ending bane more than most
non-Wobegonian Catholic church names.
Sue
EttaPlace <et...@swbell.net> wrote in article
<356ca40...@news.swbell.net>...
> On 27 May 1998 23:32:23 GMT, "NANCY E WALKER" <nann...@prodigy.net>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >> >
> >> I was sincerely interested in why he had been listening
EttaPlace
On Thu, 28 May 1998 03:35:01 GMT, Miss....@scvnet.com (Sharon D.)
wrote:
>On Wed, 27 May 1998 23:41:12 GMT, in rec.arts.wobegon you wrote:
>
>
>|>All I said was that it gave me the creeps. I like some people's
>|>voices better than other people's voices. He's not one of my
>|>absolute favorites but so what? I read his Book of Gays and
>
>An unintential freudian gaff, or an intentional slip of the fingers?
>
I must apologize.
An unintentional slip.
>
Kevin Wright
OK, a serious question deserves a serious answer. I listen because (no
particular order):
(1) My dad also listens, and it gives us something to talk about from
time to time
(2) I like music. PHC has lots of good music of almost all styles (hey,
remember the "polar punk" epsiode?)
(3) I find some of the skits humorous
(4) Garrison is an excellent writer and storyteller. I admire the way he
weaves his stories, taking one topic and leading into another and another,
bringing them together towards the end. Listening is like reading a book
without the effort involved. I close my eyes and see the scenes of his
stories unfolding before me.
(5) GK is an optimist. I find it encouraging to listen to "Look for that
Silver Lining" and to hear "it could be worse" or "it's been a beautiful week"
(even when it's 20 below).
(6) It's a tradition. Traditions are comforting.
(7) I feel elitist. (Don't mean to sound snobby, but there's probably some
truth to that.) Everybody knows about Seinfeld, but fewer people know about
PHC.
Cheers, Kevin.
>Dear Miss Music,
>I was sincerely interested in why he had been listening
>that long. I felt I had the right to ask that.
>No derision was intended.
--
Kevin Wright
kwr...@iastate.edu
EttaPlace
On 28 May 1998 14:45:09 GMT, kwr...@iastate.edu (Kevin Wright) wrote:
>
>OK, a serious question deserves a serious answer. I listen because (no
>particular order):
>
>(1) My dad also listens, and it gives us something to talk about from
>time to time
>
I think that's wondeful Kevin.
If only my dad were still alive :(
Linda Litle
A few years ago Cokie Roberts was a guest on PHC. During an exchange
with GK she remarked that her parish church in New Orleans was "Our
Lady of Quick Succor" ... what you could't do with that!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
In <01bd89e0$f95c5760$438b82d1@default> "Sue"
<Dere...@frontiernet.net> writes:
>
>Actually Etta, a friend of mine claims to knowing GK or an ex- or
someone
>personally. This was her comment. That when meeting him, he gives
her the
>creeps, and he is a very distant intimidating person.
>
>Good for him. I'm not fond of psych profs myself, and she is mouthy
and
>overbearing, ok a little more than me. Her personality isn't so
different
>from mine, 'cept I'm more normal and she's degreed. <g>
>
>Why laugh at name, Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility? It's SO
typically
>Wobegonian, even inferring a never-ending bane more than most
>non-Wobegonian Catholic church names.
>
>Sue
>
>
>EttaPlace <et...@swbell.net> wrote in article
><356ca40...@news.swbell.net>...
>> On 27 May 1998 23:32:23 GMT, "NANCY E WALKER" <nann...@prodigy.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >
>> >> >
>> >> I was sincerely interested in why he had been listening
>> >> that long. I felt I had the right to ask that.
>> >>
>> >> No derision was intended.
>> >>>It's an odd question...other than because he likes the show, why
would
>> >he? Or would that be like why does one hit one's head with a
>hammer...'cuz
>> >it feels so good when one stops? If you don't like GK's voice, why
do
>you
>> >listen? And if you don't listen to the show, why do you come here?
N
>> >
>> All I said was that it gave me the creeps. I like some people's
>> voices better than other people's voices. He's not one of my
>> absolute favorites but so what? I read his Book of Gays and
Ted Samsel
catherine yronwode <c...@luckymojo.com> wrote:
: Many of us have been listening to the show for 10-15 years because...we
: are folks who like that kind of show and we are old enough to have owned
: radios that long and because it's on every Saturday. In my own case, i
: have been listening to APHC since it went national (it started as a
: local Minnesota show), but that's nothing in my personal longevity of
: fannish devotion department -- for instance, i have been listening to
: the music of Robert Johnson since i was 15 years old and i am now
: 51...oh, heck, i have been listening to the music of Pete Seeger since i
: was 5 years old and just the other week i stopped eveything when i heard
: him being interviewed on Fresh Air. You know, when you like something,
: you don't throw it away. You keep it.
I've been listening for 19 years. I first encountered GK when visiting
a friend enrolled at the UMinn vet school in '79. I was quite bewildered
when the clock radio came on with an ad for "Jack's Structural Paint"
and references to "Norwegian bachelor farmers" at 6AM. But it's still funny.
And Les Paul is still good as is Bob Wills, the Hoosier Hotshots, and
Dick Appolon and His Filipino Mandolin Orchestra.
To mention merely a few.
--
Ted Samsel....tejas@infi.net (or tbsa...@richmond.infi.net)
"do the boogie woogie in the South American way"
Rhumba Boogie- Hank Snow (1955)
Ted Samsel
Linda Litle <sd...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
: A few years ago Cokie Roberts was a guest on PHC. During an exchange
: with GK she remarked that her parish church in New Orleans was "Our
: Lady of Quick Succor" ... what you could't do with that!
: -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah, the difference between Minnesota & Louisiana...
catherine yronwode
Ted Samsel wrote:
>
> Dick Appolon and His Filipino Mandolin Orchestra.
Right on! Now there's a guy we don;t hear about often anymore, but what
an incredible musical virtuoso! Maybe if i can ever stop playing Frank
Stokes records, i will go dig out one of those Yazoo compilations with
Dick Apollon and enjoy some fancy picking of the type that they just
don't make anymore.
Old music. Played by people on acoustic instruments. Yep. That's wehat i
like.
catherine yronwode
Lucky Mojo Curio Co: http://www.luckymojo.com/luckymojocatalogue.html
The Lucky W Amulet Archive: http://www.luckymojo.com/luckyw.html
EttaPlace
On 29 May 1998 14:58:50 GMT, Ted Samsel <te...@sl001.infi.net> wrote:
>And Les Paul is still good as is Bob Wills, the Hoosier Hotshots, and
>Dick Appolon and His Filipino Mandolin Orchestra.
>To mention merely a few.
>
I guess it's easier to be a transvestite on the radio than it is on
tv.
Sharon McQueen
> catherine yronwode <c...@luckymojo.com> wrote:
> : ......................-- for instance, i have been listening to
> : the music of Robert Johnson since i was 15 years old and i am now
> : 51...
Hmph!! You are just a kid catherine.
Dave McQueen
Brandinius
>I've been a listener for 10-15 years. Every time G.K. says "Our Lady
>of Perpetual Responsibility" the first time in a monologue, there is a
>slight laugh from the audience members. Why is this? What am I missing?
>
To get back to Kevin's original question, my thinking is that there are always
some new audience members who have never heard the phrase before and they get a
kick out of it. Especially when the show is on the road.
First time I heard him mention "Our Lady..." I laughed out loud myself. But
that was a long time ago.
If you didn't find it funny the first time, then perhaps you were raised
Lutheran, so OF COURSE you did not see the humor in it...
Brandon
NANCY E WALKER
Maybe one just has to be old enough to remember when religion..and the
different denominations had real power over us and was a LARGE part of our
lives and communities...I was married and moved to another state and was
SHOCKED to see that you could buy a loaf of bread on SUNDAY!!!<VBG> Nancy
Brandinius <brand...@aol.com> wrote in article
<199805301629...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
Kathleen Shinners
In article <6kjt9l$bnb$1...@news.iastate.edu>, kwr...@iastate.edu (Kevin
Wright) wrote:
*(7) I feel elitist. (Don't mean to sound snobby, but there's probably some
*truth to that.) Everybody knows about Seinfeld, but fewer people know about
*PHC.
*
Hmm. You are certainly right. Everybody *does* know about Seinfeld. I only
glanced at it once, hated it, have never watched it again, but it does
seem to be constantly jammed down the public's throat. I never miss PHC,
but mention it to most people, and their reaction is "Huh? What's that?"
And then try to *explain* it! Well, whatever floats your boat I guess.
Kathy
--
Kathy Shinners
Honeysuckle Rose Flower Farm
Specialty Cut Flowers
Tewksbury MA
Al Karmen
People laugh at the name OLPR because it sounds like a joke and so much else in
the News from Lake Wobegon does not. Jokes have a rhythm to them ---- Seinfeld
is one joke after another, and you laugh even if they're not all that funny
---- and the News is anti-joke, in a way. It is dreamy and slow and, compared
to standup joke tempo, rather listless. This bugs a lot of people, who tune
out, and if PHC had such a thing as management, they would change this. But the
OLPR ---- and also certain references to Norwegian farmers and the Statue of
the Unknown Norwegian and Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery ---- has the sound of
comedy. People laugh out of gratitude.
Skip and Martha Anderson
On 10 Jun 1998 15:18:41 GMT, alka...@aol.com (Al Karmen) wrote:
>---- and the News is anti-joke, in a way. It is dreamy and slow and, compared
>to standup joke tempo, rather listless. This bugs a lot of people, who tune
>out, and if PHC had such a thing as management, they would change this.
I find this a rather surprising statement. I always look forward to
the News From Lake Wobegon. Even if I'm busy, I drop everything and
stop to listen. Something in it usually touches my heart.
Martha Anderson
Matthew Lybanon
The name "Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility" reminds me of when I
lived in Baltimore, years ago. When radio stations listed school
closings after a bad snowstorm, I always waited for one in particular:
"Our Lady of Perpetual Hope ... is closed."
LylaWallis
>On 10 Jun 1998 15:18:41 GMT, alka...@aol.com (Al Karmen) wrote:
>
>>---- and the News is anti-joke, in a way. It is dreamy and slow and,
>compared
>>to standup joke tempo, rather listless. This bugs a lot of people, who tune
>>out, and if PHC had such a thing as management, they would change this.
and Martha Anderson replied:
>
>I find this a rather surprising statement. I always look forward to
>the News From Lake Wobegon. Even if I'm busy, I drop everything and
>stop to listen. Something in it usually touches my heart.
>
>Martha Anderson
With love from Lyla:
Yup, you put your finger on it. Isn't everyone around here touched?
John Kane
GK writes with some affection about the religious folk, both Catholic and
Lutheran, of Lake Wobegon but he's a humorist and likes to send them up as
well. I was raised a Catholic and as kids in school we used to recite a
litany to the Virgin Mary. It was a call and response type thing and one of
these pairs was:
Our Lady of Perpetual Succour - Pray for us
Now as a lapsed Catholic, and probably, an atheist, I still retain the idea
of moral responsibility, and yes it is kind of funny that the image of this
long-dead peasant girl from Palestine, makes me feel guilty if I walk away
from suffering. Who'd be a liberal?
Also, re the idea of better management transforming GK into a stand-up
comedian - get real! His metier is crafting stories which make us smile or
even laugh by their detail, language, humanity and moral insights - not
reeling off wisecracks.
John
John Goerzen
Perhaps this is an example of what people keep talking about about
shorter attention spans these days. In any case, this is always my
favorite part of the show. I still remember "Homecoming" (featuring
the Chevy septic tank) as my all-time favorite story. I think it is
odd for you to imply that people laugh because they're starved for
humor -- one listen to that story will demonstrate such a statement
false.
John
alka...@aol.com (Al Karmen) writes:
> People laugh at the name OLPR because it sounds like a joke and so much else in
> the News from Lake Wobegon does not. Jokes have a rhythm to them ---- Seinfeld
> is one joke after another, and you laugh even if they're not all that funny
> ---- and the News is anti-joke, in a way. It is dreamy and slow and, compared
> to standup joke tempo, rather listless. This bugs a lot of people, who tune
> out, and if PHC had such a thing as management, they would change this. But the
> OLPR ---- and also certain references to Norwegian farmers and the Statue of
> the Unknown Norwegian and Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery ---- has the sound of
> comedy. People laugh out of gratitude.
--
John Goerzen Linux, Unix consulting & programming jgoe...@complete.org |
Developer, Debian GNU/Linux (Free powerful OS upgrade) www.debian.org |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Visit the Air Capitol Linux Users Group on the web at http://www.aclug.org
NANCY E WALKER
. People laugh out of gratitude.
>
Who says?...Speak for yourself, not for me....You don't know me or what
makes me laugh..or why! So no matter how superior to the rest of humanity
you think you are...generalizing what "people" think..I guess that means
all of them...sucks....nancy
LylaWallis
Al is truly a special guy, Nancy, and you can't take what he says too
seriously. Trust me on this. Met him in New York, at a PHC performance at
Town Hall a couple years ago. Quite by accident. I was with a friend and he
was with one of her friends who's in the publishing business. We sat fairly
close and since I had followed him in this newsgroup I was curious. I watched
him during the monologue. He was right there with GK all of the way. He seldom
laughed out loud when it was funny but you could tell from his face he was
amused. And at one point when GK was telling a sweet, sweet story, so
touching that the rest of us were close to weepy, you could see the tenderness
in Al's face. He likes GK, in fact he loves GK. But for some reason he
needs to act out in this newsgroup.
My two pretty pennies, all bright and shiny this morning, just for you ----
Lyla
Brian T Sheehan
Skip and Martha Anderson (gpsr...@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: On 10 Jun 1998 15:18:41 GMT, alka...@aol.com (Al Karmen) wrote:
: >---- and the News is anti-joke, in a way. It is dreamy and slow and, compared
: >to standup joke tempo, rather listless. This bugs a lot of people, who tune
: >out, and if PHC had such a thing as management, they would change this.
: I find this a rather surprising statement. I always look forward to
: the News From Lake Wobegon. Even if I'm busy, I drop everything and
: stop to listen. Something in it usually touches my heart.
: Martha Anderson
Me too. It probably does seem listless to folks who are conditioned to the
low IQ, short attention span style of television, but it sounds natural to
me.
Jerry Springer he's not. (And for the subtlety-impaired, that's a Good
Thing).
--
Brian Sheehan
Sue
I've been savoring this thread awhile. Listening presently I find it not
dissimilar to The Ketchup Advisary Board. I find these hysterical. Irony.
All irony. And subtle ironies at that, every phrase loaded with innuendo.
Sue
--
DereBare@frontiernet*DOT*net
or Sus...@geocities.com
[anti-Spam buster]
Patrick Harvey
Ask anyone who was raised Catholic (esp. before Vatican Council II)
NotMTwain
>Yup, you put your finger on it. Isn't everyone around here touched?
>
>
In what sense of the word?
"I would rather have my ignorance than another man's knowledge,
because I have got so much more of it."- Mark Twain
jsa...@aol.com
nelle...@gmail.com
> I've been a listener for 10-15 years. Every time G.K. says "Our Lady
> slight laugh from the audience members. Why is this? What am I missing?
>
>
> --
> Kevin Wright
> kwr...@iastate.edu
When you get roped into a position of responsibility (such as choir director) it becomes a position of perpetual responsibility - because you can never get out of it.
nelle...@gmail.com
> I've been a listener for 10-15 years. Every time G.K. says "Our Lady
> of Perpetual Responsibility" the first time in a monologue, there is a
> slight laugh from the audience members. Why is this? What am I missing?
>
> Thanks, Kevin Wright.
>
> --
> Kevin Wright
> kwr...@iastate.edu