We are stones, piled together in a medley of life, one on top of the other. Alone, we are simply stones...rock...but united, we are structures, buildings, societies!
This is a very profound duality. Which means there's no possible way you came up with it.
Right you are. Today's Sametime Status is from an Animaniacs cartoon called "Ten Short Films About Wakko Warner. In Film #5, "My Dinner With Wakko," the great folks at Warner Brothers once again give us a culture shock of epic proportions. The scene is set with soft string music in a large up-scale restaurant. Wakko is seen enjoying a family-style dinner with Dr. Scratchansniff, who is discussing a tour of ancient Aztec ruins ruins.
Mayan Ruins.
Right...Mayan ruins. The true genius of this cartoon is not only in the punchline itself, but in the calamitous crash of high culture and low-brow humor contained within the joke. Scratchy is sitting there, discussing a truly life-changing philosophical, almost religious, awakening, and the punchline is completely vulgar childish humor.
Combine that with the fact that if you're at all familiar with Wakko Warner, you know precisely what the joke is going to be the instant the waiter comes over and says, "and another soda for the puppy." The whole cartoon builds up to the climactic moment, and there is never any surprise what the payoff is going to be, but when it finally does happen you're completely and totally unprepared for what you get.
That, in a nutshell, is comedy.
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