Transcript 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.

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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.
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First, there are lots of confusions
about these initials.
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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.
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“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.”
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Maybe because we remembered it, we noticed a
cartoon in the BYU newspaper that showed a campus
policeman helping a bloody and battered student.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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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
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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.
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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.
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Many religious oriented jokes can be
appreciated across denominations as
with “The First Senior Moment”
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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.”
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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Alleen’s biggest success in teaching the teenagers in
our ward is to have them not only explain, but
illustrate, their assigned scriptures.
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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.”
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We would be less-than-honest if we didn’t
acknowledge that sometimes there are
potholes related to humor that we need to
avoid.
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Here is a photo from the New York Times magazine (526-2013) for an article on BYU’s computer animation
program, entitled “When Hollywood Wants Good,
Clean Fun, It Goes to Mormon Country.”
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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.
1. Choose jokes that target people’s
strengths, not their weaknesses.
2. Avoid laughing at things people
cannot change.
3. Use humor to empower people, not to
put them down.
4. Use humor for bonding, rather than for
competition.
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In humor as in other
realms, the most
important question to
ask is…
What would Jesus
do?
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Janiel Miller’s New Book:
Mormons Say (and Do!) the Darndest Things
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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
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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
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