A few words about Jonathan Winters
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Hi, Folks - We heard on Friday that Jonathan Winters had passed: Jonathan Winters Comedy VIDEO - Comedian Jonathan Winters Passes at 87 - Gave Us Many Laughs Infoeditor -- Friday, 12-Apr-2013 17:03:50 I'm amazed at the degree to which this news has affected me. :) I'm not greatly saddened, exactly; but it's hard for me to imagine a world without Jonathan in it. I've spent a fair amount of time today, looking for a YouTube clip of him that might explain to someone not acquainted with Jonathan just exactly who he was and why we found him so profoundly funny, even to the point of his being something of an idol or hero for such folks as Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. I couldn't find one. :) While I came across many clips that made _me_ smile and even laugh out loud, some of them remembered, some of them new to me, I realized they didn't explain the phenomenon that was Jonathan Winters. So, I'm not offering a YouTube clip. :) Just these two remembrances: I don't know how old I was at the time, but there was at least one Jonathan Winters record in my house, and one of them contained a bit about a used pet shop - "It was a shop for used pets," he said. :) Something about that concept, and how Jonathan elaborated on it, struck me very, very funny indeed - so much so, that for one of my merit badges, I presented a puppet show to my Cub Scout den, based on that routine. To this day I don't know whether the silence in the room when I did that puppet show meant I'd done a poor job of presenting it or meant the whole thing was just "too hip for the room". :) Many years later I got to see Jonathan, somewhat up close. Jonathan's home was in Montecito, a bedroom community for some of the Hollywood elite, right alongside Santa Barbara. Somehow it worked out that I was present for a Writers' Conference in Santa Barbara, on a day when Jonathan was being given an award or perhaps was giving a presentation about writing. I watched, delighted, as he proceeded to "be" Jonathan Winters, and very soon had the whole room in stitches. :) And this thought occurred to me - I don't know whether this will make sense to you, but it's as close as I've come to understanding and appreciating why Jonathan was so very funny: Jonathan somehow could reach into the subconscious mind(s) of the people in front of him, grasp something that was there, rotate it about 90 degrees, and verbally give it back. :) As a result, no matter what peculiar thing he might be saying, even if it seemed to make no sense at all, it was felt as being immediately relevant to the members of the audience. They could, and did, relate to what he was saying and/or to the character he might be portraying. :) At YouTube there are several comments like this: "When I was eleven I'd secretly stay up later than I was supposed to, any time Jonathan Winters was gonna be on the Johnny Carson show. More often than not, I got busted - I couldn't stop myself from laughing out loud!" :) I get it. I really do. :) Farewell, Jonathan - God bless you, man. I really do appreciate all you provided while here. Blessings, all. --hobie |
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