The Clown Prince of Denmark

Remember this from a week or so ago? (I know. That was before Christmas. Like a century ago. Bestir yourselves. For I have faith that you can remember. Even if you didn’t actually see it on my blog):

“Laughter is the closest distance between two people.”–Victor Borge

First of all let me just ask if you’ve ever seen Victor Borge perform. Have you? He’s hilarious. He was a Danish comedian, musician, and conductor, and was affectionately known as “The Clown Prince of Denmark.” Aww. Now doesn’t that just stir up visions of a darling mustachioed grandpa-man whom everybody loved? It does. You should go look up his Phonetic Punctuation routine. Quite brilliant, really.

The great thing about Borge was that he came to this country not knowing a word of English. Learned it by watching movies (that should scare people). He was from a completely different culture too. And yet the man was able to adapt his jokes to suit American tastes. He did it so well that when he died in 2000 he was living in Connecticut.

If you’ve been to Europe you know that our cultures are very different and what we find funny also very different. So how was Mr. Borge able to be a success here? Why did people love him so much?

I think it is because of what he understood; that Laughter is, indeed, the closest distance between two people.  People, regardless of cultural, racial, religious, or personality differences, are still universally people. With some universal wants. We all want to be loved, understood, recognized, and free. And we want to laugh. You go watch one of Mr. Borge’s shows and see if he hasn’t found a way to tap into the universally delightful things that everyone enjoys. And then go see what happens the next time you are in a tense situation and say something that makes everyone laugh. Voilá! Tension broken.

If you are in need of something funny, click here. Or you can think about my 8 year-old, who the morning of December 24th woke up and said, “Mom, remember that tradition we started last year (?) where we don’t have to do any work on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? It’s still a tradition. And it will be a tradition next year too. Just so you know.”

Yeahhh. Victor would’ve been proud.  🙂