A Joke Is Two Unrelated Things Clicking Together
Comedian Gary Gulman pairs a microwave that cannot toast with aliens who need a ramp to make a joke.
Freakonomics Radio Network · Gary Gulman Turned His Notebook Into a Roadmap for Recovery | Better in PersonGary Gulman, the stand-up comedian known for his HBO special about depression, was flipping through his latest notebook. The cover is a collage of stickers and photographs, and the back pages are filled with set lists written out by hand. He stopped on a list from August 27th and started reading the shorthand for jokes he was still testing.
One line said the popcorn preset was a distraction to hide the fact that the machine cannot make toast. Another concerned aliens. Then he explained what tied them together.
"A lot of it is just trying to make connections between things that aren't connected," Gulman said.
He meant it literally. A microwave can cook a turkey in 11 minutes, he noted, and still cannot make toast. Rather than admit the failure, he argues, the makers added a popcorn button that distracts from the shortfall. It is a technology story, not a joke, until he pairs it with something distant.
That something is a flying saucer. In Gulman's telling, aliens figured out how to cross space in a UFO but could not solve the last 10 feet between the craft and the ground. So they put out a ramp.
A kitchen appliance company and interstellar travelers have nothing to do with each other, except that both pulled off something hard and then stumbled on something simple.
That is why he keeps the notebook so close. He collects failures and digressions, from the last generation to wave when you let them into traffic to toasters that will not toast, and waits to find what unlikely twin they match.
Questions people ask
Why can't a microwave make toast?
A microwave heats food with radio waves that excite water molecules, which is good for steaming and reheating but bad for crisping. Toast needs dry, radiant heat to brown the outside of bread, which is why toasters use hot coils and toaster ovens use heating elements. Some combination microwave ovens now add those elements so they can brown.
How does Gulman use his notebook?
He keeps a handwritten book with a decorated cover and uses the back for set lists and transcriptions of bits in progress. He writes down premises, tags, and digressions, then reads the lists onstage to test which connections get laughs. The notebook is both an archive and a workshop.
Who is Chris Elliott?
Chris Elliott is an American actor and comedian known for odd, deadpan characters on Late Night with David Letterman and for the sitcom Get a Life. Gulman has called him his favorite actor and comedian and keeps his photo in his notebook collage. Elliott later starred in Schitt's Creek as Roland Schitt.