Ask the Writers - Jest

This month we asked our writers, "What's never not funny?"

Lauren Cheal

I have a favourite B-character from Arrested Development, and his name is Uncle Jack. He is paralyzed from the waist down and, because of his refusal to "go wheelchair," he is carried around by a burly man. The first time I saw Uncle Jack and this scene, I completely lost my shit laughing at the part where Uncle Jack gets shaken by Dragon (his carrier) and then spits up down his front. He then yells out "just ignore it, it is something that happens to the body when it is shaken." I didn't hear this line on my first viewing because I was scream laughing at the spitting up.

Another never not funny of mine is when Danny Devito does physical comedy. I don't know what it is about that tiny man, but he kills me. In The Rainmaker, there is a brief moment when he busts through a stuck door and topples over. It kills me. In Romancing the Stone, there is a scene where he falls off a desk trying to read something. Likewise, this moment is never not funny.

My last never not funny is this picture of my nutty cat, Lyle. Again, I can't explain why the reaction is so strong, but he is just being as quintessentially goofy as he is, and I have never laughed so hard as when I saw it.

Taryn Cheal

Arrested Development in general could probably qualify as never not funny but one moment in particular continuously gets me. A bird has flown into Lucille's apartment, and she is on the phone while Buster madly and clumsily tries to get it out with a broom. A small argument ensues, and Buster's final justification for his behaviour is that "it walked on my pillow!" I have a special love for Buster and his simple yet poignant way of seeing things and the examples are really endless, but something about how the fact that a bird walked on his pillow disturbs Buster most about having a bird in the house just kills me every time.

Anyone who knows me knows that my sister Lauren makes me laugh more than anyone. She can make me laugh no matter the situation even if I was just crying. Sometimes she does abuse the power such as playing a game of crack the whip with me as a young child and face planting me in the sand and then she makes me laugh so I stop crying and our parents won't be mad at her. But one of the funniest things is one particular picture of her in a bonnet during a New Year's party (that was funny hat themed) holding a glass of champagne and acting as though the pioneers just found booze. Her face is priceless on top of the fact she looks like a fool. She will send the picture to me when I least suspect it, and I can't handle it, it's just never not funny.

Emily Goodacre

Oh my, so many things to choose from! I've already expounded on my love of Gavin and Stacey as well as The IT Crowd in this magazine, but I think for this particular question I'll have to go with that old gem: Arrested Development. This show, too, has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to moments of hilarity, but I'll have to go with GOB's response to Michael's comment about his magic tricks: "Illusions, Michael! Tricks are something a whore does for money." Why is this quote at the top of my list? So many reasons. There's the way he eye-rollingly enunciates the word "ill-LU-sions!" for maximum pretention and pride (in being a failing magician) and the utter impropriety of his saying this in earshot of small children (which, um, I have also done). But I think it's the sheer infectiousness of it. I literally cannot hear someone say the word "tricks" to me now without quoting this back to them, leading to many a strange look and dropped jaw. Damn you, Arrested Development! Your hilariousness has made me (even more) socially inappropriate!

Kelsa Staffa

For me, the movie Bring It On is two glorious hours of cheerleaders using words such as, "Cheertator" and "Cheerocracy." At one point, however, the cheerleading squad hires a dance choreographer named Sparky, who is a total nutter. His antics culminate in a full-on meltdown where he throws a chair and stops the music to yell, "THESE [demonstrates] are not Spirit Fingers. THESE [demonstrates the same thing] are Spirit Fingers." It gets me every. single. time. Laugh out loud funny.

April Yorke

Wow, it looks like if (Cult)ure had an official favourite sitcom, it would be Arrested Development. Truth be told, you could probably put on any old episode of AD, Clone High, Pushing Daisies, or Undeclared and get a laugh out of me. There are things from each of those shows that I still quote, and Jason Bateman's delivery of "Her?" is indescribable in its perfection. Still, the things that really get me, the true never-not-funnies, are instances that either a) were meant to induce a mild chuckle at best and b) were mostly likely never meant to be funny in the first place. In the former category are the Bob Loblaws joke (wouldn't it be funny if the guy who owned Loblaws' first name was Bob?) and "New Hampshire: It's What New" (a ridiculous tourism campaign we saw pitched to President Bartlett back when he was governor of New Hampshire in flashback on The West Wing). Straddling the line (I think) is, "Sookie, I once read a book." Thanks for the origin story of this idea, Bill! Could we please move on to destroying the thing that's eviscerated our town? Actually, Bill Compton on the whole might just be never not funny to me. On the not funny in the first place side, let's put, "I'll have a Vitamin Water, please!", "I know 8 is better than 6, but what's IE?", and "Please write back ASAP; I haven't had breakfast yet." But since none of those are going to make sense to you, I'll give you this:

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