Comedy

Southern and Otherwise.

I don’t know if you can really call Jeanne Robertson’s style something suitable for Saturday Silliness, being as it’s not really that silly. Hilarious, but not silly. However, there’s a lot of fun to be had, so we’re going to go ahead with it for today’s post.

Just a little background: Ms. Robertson is a former Miss North Carolina. And she’s 6′ 2″.

It’s not entirely clear whether it’s her height or her obvious intelligence that shatters all my stereotypical notions about beauty queens, but she is not what I expect when I think of pageant participants.

She’s made a living for quite some time as an event speaker. Meetings, conventions, clubs, I guess. I suspect she made quite a decent living because she is very good at what she does. In recent years, however, I think she has found herself more in demand than ever, thanks to YouTube.

Since I am always thrilled to see smart women succeeding beyond their ingenue years, I totally love Jeanne Robertson’s story.

And since I can relate to many of the incidents she relates in her appearances, I totally love Jeanne Robertson’s stories.

All of them.

If I absolutely had to pick a favorite, I couldn’t do it. I’d be torn between “Never send a man to the grocery store” and “Men don’t know the style in New York City.” So, I’ve linked to both of them here. You can see for yourself.

And then you can go on over to YouTube and listen to whatever else you can find because she has no bad material. It’s all good!

Sometimes I like what I don’t like.

So, I was in an antique store yesterday.

In addition to antiques, there were a variety of art works on display and for sale. My eye was caught by a colorful square painting of two sunglassed, bikini-clad women sitting in beach chairs under a bright tropical sky.

I’m not much of a art connoisseur. In fact, I’m one of those terrible people artists hate because I could say—although I don’t, because I know they hate it—that I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like.

This painting was not something I particularly liked. The draftsmanship seemed clumsy, the colors too garish, there were almost no shadows, no perspective. To be honest, I’m only certain the figures were women because of the title and because the work was so unsubtle as to make me feel that the depiction of long hair could safely be assumed to be an indication of femaleness.

So…in my admittedly uneducated and probably philistine opinion, and only my opinion, I’d have to say it was not a good picture. I won’t say it was the worst picture I have ever seen. . .but. . .it wasn’t the best.

It did, however, make me laugh out loud and consider, for about half a second, purchasing it.

Because in addition to the beach babes and the bright blue sky, there was something else painted into the picture. Its title. In a sort of orangey-red.

Fern and Dina

You probably don’t know why that appealed to me so much. That’s because you’re missing one critical piece of information. When I told you I was in an antique store yesterday, I neglected to tell you where.

A little Saturday suggestion here. Always get the full story.

The reason Fern and Dina, in all their acrylic glory—. I think they were painted in acrylics. In fact, I’m almost certain. The reason Fern and Dina appealed to me so much is I was standing in an antique store.

In Fernandina.

The essence of comedy is the unexpected.

I think I’m going to write “Fern and Dina” up in big letters and post it over my desk to remind me to turn things upside down and inside out and try to look at them through other eyes.

Elaine Smith Writes

Anything She Wants

Tag Archives: Comedy

The style

Fern and Dina