Humor across the Disciplines: Insights and Anecdotes from a Teaching Fellowship

2. An Allusion to Star Wars

3. Last fall, we had a teaching and research fellowship from ASU’s Honors College and ASU’s Emeritus College. • As part of the fellowship, we taught a class called “Humor across the Disciplines” to students in the Honors College. • Here are some of the things we learned.

4. First, there are lots of confusions about these initials.

5. Second, our students from the East Valley have lots of LDS friends. • Several asked us about the new Temple in Gilbert. • They told us that at one high school the LDS kids wore a T-shirt like the one pictured here. • It facilitated informal and humorous conversations.

6. “The Funniest Play on Broadway” • The students were especially impressed when they told us about reading the official LDS Church response to the hit Broadway show, BOOK OF MORMON. It went something like this, “Enjoy yourself for an evening and then come and get acquainted with the real Book of Mormon and enjoy yourselves for the rest of your life.”

7. “The Book of Mormon”The Musical on Broadway

8. The students made us feel so comfortable that we found ourselves confessing that how we remember our license plate number is by thinking of Brigham Young and his 45 wives.

9. One of the main things our students were interested in was why a joke is different when told from the inside vs. from the outside?

10. Some scholars say that humor is “the great social corrective,” which means… • If someone from the inside is telling a mildly critical joke about themselves or their group, their goal may be to push the boundaries outward, i.e. to change group attitudes. • But if someone from the outside is telling the same joke about your group, the effect may be to strengthen the stereotypes, i.e. to tighten the noose, because an outsider doesn’t have the kind of power that insiders have to influence a group’s attitudes.

11. Another difference is that insiders prefer jokes that put their group in a good light. • For example, Mormons—especially in our generation—were justifiably proud of our agricultural skills. • For example, in the 1970s, ASU’s Department of Agriculture was known as “The Mormons.” • Before Ezra Taft Benson served as our Church President, he had been the United States Secretary of Agriculture under President Eisenhower. • When we went to Afghanistan to teach English between 1967 and 1969, we were amazed to find an LDS branch organized by a University of Wyoming Agricultural team. They were there to teach Afghan farmers how to irrigate.

12. That’s why we know the joke about Satan leading newcomers on a tour of Hell and swearing when he comes upon a lush, green area is a “Mormon joke.” We tell it to compliment ourselves.

13. Have you heard the story about St. Peter taking newcomers on a tour of Heaven? • Both of us heard it from our Sunday School teachers when we were kids. • “Shhh….,” says St. Peter when they come to a certain section of Heaven. • “Tiptoe past this section. It’s the Mormons and they think they are the only ones here.” • Since our Sunday School teachers told us this joke, we assume the goal was to teach us about not being self-righteous.

14. Maybe because we remembered it, we noticed a cartoon in the BYU newspaper that showed a campus policeman helping a bloody and battered student.

15. The poor student was explaining that all he had said, was “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” • Because it was published in the BYU newspaper, we judged it to be a continuation of our old lesson against Mormon self-righteousness. • But if it had been published in the University of Utah newspaper, with all the participants still dressed in their “Y” clothing, it would have been an accusation—rather than an encouragement to change.

16. One of the best examples of recent Mormon humor came from a Deseret News story about General David Petraeus’s speech at BYU (3-26-2010) Here are some of the most succinct—and therefore the funniest—of his “Top Ten Reasons that BYU grads make good soldiers. • They have already been on many a mission. • Army chow is no problem for folks accustomed to eating green Jell-o and shredded carrots. • It’s no problem if they don’t know someone’s rank because they can always just say “Brother or Sister so-and-so.”

17. More Reasons • They never go AWOL—They just call it being “less active.” • They will seize any objective swiftly if you tell them refreshments will be served. • They always have a year’s supply of provisions on hand. • They are the world’s most reliable designated drivers.

18. Everyone recognized these as “Insider” Jokes, and since General Petraeus is not LDS, they conjectured: • He must have had a Mormon speech writer. • Or, maybe he had really experienced these things with LDS soldiers. • Or, as one jokester wrote in “He’s actually (secretly) LDS like Steve Martin and Elvis Presley too.”

19. Of course there were lots of comments, but the funniest was this parody—a hoax—which went unrecognized as a joke for three days. • This clown is supposed to be in charge of our milatery? What a bufoon. I hope he relizes the offence this kind of humor inflix upon the saints. This is the most inapprate invited guest to byu since billy jole played the marriottcenter in the 90’s and made fun of the holyer-than-thou atmosphere of provo. • From Heber K. Romney

20. The next big joke that friends alerted us to was “How Mormon is Mitt Romney” posted in September of 2011 • In answer to a political accusation that Mitt Romney was “not Mormon enough,” Joanna Brooks posted an on-line question on what she called the TWITTERNACLE “So, How Mormon is Mitt Romney?” Hundreds of people sent in witty replies. People from most community-based churches could probably relate to such comments as “Mitt Romney is so Mormon that… • …He asks donors to stack chairs after fundraising dinners. • …He will put strips of masking tape on all the Pyrex 9x13 pans at the White House with his name written in Sharpie. • …He will require every state to have an official casserole.

21. But most comments were understandable only to Mormons. Our favorites included: MITT ROMNEY IS SO MORMON THAT… • …he is going to rename the 101st airborne “The Stripling Warriors.” • …he will ask the Elders’ Quorum to move him into the White House. • …he will ask the Senate to “sustain” his appointees by manifesting with an upraised hand. • …he will commission a presidential motorcade made entirely of 10-passenger family vans. • …he is installing two basketball hoops at the inaugural ball so there’ll be a place to hang the decorations.

22. Many religious oriented jokes can be appreciated across denominations as with “The First Senior Moment”

23. At our Humor Conferences Biblical scholars talk about such humor as… • The story of Jonah being a satire on a reluctant prophet. • The elderly Sarah and Abraham laughing in surprise and joy when God tells them they will have a son. • And in Psalm 126-2 “When the lord restored the fortunes of Zion…Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongues with shouts of joy.”

24. Professor John Morreall, Chair of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary, will be on campus in September, to talk about religion and humor. We have heard him tell this story about John the Evangelist and the importance of play. • The people were scandalized at finding John at play with his disciples. He asked one of the questioners, who carried a bow, to shoot an arrow. When this had been done several times, he asked the man whether he could keep on doing so continuously. The man replied that the bow would break. Whereupon the blessed John pointed out the moral that “So, too, would the human spirit snap were it never unbent.”

25. Here is a precocious missionary who taught his cat to pray. His mother was so charmed she took a photo. But later it wasn’t so charming when the boy decided it was time to baptize the cat.

26. One of our students told us that Buddhists are among the few religions that actively encourage smiling and laughing. We had heard that when John Cleese asked the Dalai Lama why in Tibetan Buddhism people laugh so much, he responded that laughter is very helpful to him in teaching and in political negotiations, because when people laugh, it is easier for them to admit new ideas to their minds.

27. A Happy Surprise! • Once when Don forwarded a really funny letter to our relatives and to people in our ward about “wicked things” and “wicked punishments” as outlined in various Old Testament scriptures, especially Leviticus and Exodus, Alleen made him send out an apology for his irreverence. • We had a good laugh when the choir director in our ward telephoned to say that her brother was the author and “It sounds just like something James would write.” We’ve been good friends ever since.

28. Alleen teaches the 16-18 year-olds in our ward and she thinks her classes go better when she starts with some kind of humor.

29. But the kids need to “do something” with such jokes. Sometimes, she gives them out to small groups so they can choose their favorite to share with the class

30. Alleen’s biggest success in teaching the teenagers in our ward is to have them not only explain, but illustrate, their assigned scriptures.

31. When it comes to funerals, we have a theory that humorous people get longer obituaries, plus bigger funerals. • Yogi Berra’s advice might have something to do with this: “Always go to other people’s funerals, or they won’t come to yours.” • Morris Udall, grew up in St. Johns, Arizona with a strong Mormon heritage. He was a successful Congressman and a not-so-successful candidate for President. When he came in second in seven state primary elections, a political writer wrote that he was “Too funny to be President,” a phrase Udall later used as the title for his autobiography. • When he first entered politics, he inherited his father’s notebook of humorous stories he had collected to tell “for every occasion.” One section was entitled “Funerals.” Another was entitled “Funerals, Special.”

32. We would be less-than-honest if we didn’t acknowledge that sometimes there are potholes related to humor that we need to avoid.

33. Here is a photo from the New York Times magazine (5-26-2013) for an article on BYU’s computer animation program, entitled “When Hollywood Wants Good, Clean Fun, It Goes to Mormon Country.”

34. Edginess is an aspect of humor, which is why it is often considered “dangerous.” But even edginess is okay if we follow these Humane Humor Rules. • Choose jokes that target people’s strengths, not their weaknesses. • Avoid laughing at things people cannot change. • Use humor to empower people, not to put them down. • Use humor for bonding, rather than for competition.

35. In humor as in other realms, the most important question to ask is… What would Jesus do?

36. Janiel Miller’s New Book:Mormons Say (and Do!) the Darndest Things

37. Here are some websites of moving examples of Humor related to religion. BYU Computer Animation Team: http://nyti.ms/ZfAFon Christmas II--Digital Story of Nativity & Christmas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZrf0PbAGSk Father Guido Sarducci’s Five Minute University: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO8x8eoU3L4 Hallelujah Chorus: Food Court Flash Mob http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE

38. History of Five Religions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-sIF78QYCI Mr. Diety: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzf8q9QHfhI Silent Monks Singing Hallelujah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFCeJTEzNU&feature=related