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WARNING ABOUT MORMON HUMOR, TABOOS, AND CENSORSHIP In selecting examples of Mormon (LDS) humor we have tried to be edgy, but not offensive, but consider the following:
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WARNING ABOUT MORMON HUMOR, TABOOS, AND CENSORSHIP In selecting examples of Mormon (LDS) humor we have tried to be edgy, but not offensive, but consider the following: CENSORSHIP FROM THE RIGHT: Blasphemy, Obscenity, Profanity, Swear Words, Vulgarity, Mention of Body Parts, and Body Functions CENSORSHIP FROM THE LEFT (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS): Age, Disabilities, Gender, Ethnicity, Belief System, and all other marginalizations. Mormon humor tends to be in the vernacular. It is colloquial, and ungrammatical and unpretentious, but it is also often “vulgar” because it is in the language of the common people (compare “Vulgar Latin”). We’ve tried not to use offensive examples, and we hope we have succeeded, but remember that what is not offensive to one person might be very offensive to another person. We apologize in advance if any of our examples are offensive.
BYU Computer Animation Team BYU Computer Animation Team: http://nyti.ms/ZfAFon
Erin Chambers and Rachel Emmers:Errand of Angels, The Movie Errand of Angels, the Movie: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=errand+of+angels+trailer+video&view=detail&mid=CED895A23660EA77CB55CED895A23660EA77CB55&FORM=VIRE
Janiel Miller’s New Book:Mormons Say (and Do!) the Darndest Things
Patty Perfect and Peter Priesthood Patty Perfect lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she is married and has ten children. She’s a stay-at-home mom who gets up every morning around 5:30 AM, and reads nine chapters of the scriptures. She then jogs twelve miles, but makes it back home in time to make a hearty, healthy breakfast and oversea the practicing of musical instruments by her children. Peter Priesthood is from Provo, Utah and is married to his high-school sweetheart. They have eight children and his wife is pregnant. He is the 1st counselor in the Bishopric and a seminary teacher. During his lunch hour, and after work each day, Peter makes a number of welfare visits.
Eric Snider Eric Snider at the Piano: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+eric+snider&&view=detail&mid=66327CF00CD9059180A066327CF00CD9059180A0&rvsmid=66327CF00CD9059180A066327CF00CD9059180A0&fsscr=0&FORM=VDFSRV
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
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?
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 boundaries, because an outsider doesn’t have the kind of power that insiders have to influence a group’s attitudes.
Another difference is that insiders prefer jokes that put their group in a good light. • 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.
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.
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.
Maybe because we remembered it, we noticed a cartoon in the BYU newspaper that showed a campus policeman helping a bloody and battered student.
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.
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.”
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.
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.”
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
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.
