Bert And Ernie: The Prenup

Bert-and-Ernie

Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman has just confirmed what America has long suspected – that Bert and Ernie are a gay couple. Sources tell us that they’ve, in fact, been happily married for years! Their prenup has been leaked to us by a Muppet whose identify we’ve promised not to reveal, in return for a batch of warm chocolate chip cookies. We’ve learned that, should the couple break up:

Ernie will stay in the marital domicile on Sesame Street. Bert gets the condo on Avenue Q.

Bert gets the Madonna albums. The Scissors Sister CDS go to Ernie.

The parties will share join custody of the rubber ducky and the autographed John Barrowman photo collection.

Bert gets to keep the diamond-encrusted unibrow waxing kit given to him as an engagement gift.

All vertically striped shirts acquired during the course of the marriage go to Bert. All horizontally striped shirts go to Ernie.

Bert promises not to mention Ernie’s illegitimate child Elmo during interviews on “The View.”  Ernie will not interfere should Bert desire to join the cast of “The Real Househusbands of Sesame Street.”

Custody of the letters A, Q, H, and W go to Bert. Custody of the numbers 2, 3, 7 and 9 go to Ernie.

Ernie will refrain from mentioning Bert’s therapy for OCD in connection with his out-of-control paperclip and bottle cap collecting, as well as his obsession with the letter W.

Song royalties, as well as the extensive collection of Muppet Porn, will be divided equally. (Except for “Fifty Shades of Felt,” which goes to Ernie’s mom.)

Sales of Muppet sex tapes to tabloids are strictly forbidden.

The parties will attend Kermit and Miss Piggy’s Fourth of July Barbecue on alternate years.

Both parties promise to treat each other with courtesy and respect, and, despite any relationship troubles they may have experienced there, to continue to tell others how to get to Sesame Street.

 

(Roz Warren www.rosalindwarren.com writes for everyone from the New York Times to the Funny Times. Janet Golden writes humor when she isn’t writing history.)

Roz Warren & Janet Golden – 9.20.2018

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Welcome To Bedpan Alley! (Honest Names For Nursing Homes)

Applewood Retirement Community Garden Room

A senior living facility called Symphony Square recently opened up in my neighborhood.  It doesn’t have a symphony, and it’s not particularly square.  So what’s with the name? I’m guessing that a consultant was paid big bucks to come up with that enticing moniker. Perhaps the same outfit that named similar local facilities The Quadrangle and Sunrise at Haverford.

Appealing, sure, but truthful? Not particularly.  So, as a public service, I’ve brainstormed some nursing home names that are more to the point. If you‘re thinking of opening an assisted living facility, feel free to call it:

Geezer Glen

Altacocker Acres

Polyp Place

Ferklempt Estates

Coronary Chateau

 

Memory Loss Manor

Vertigo Village

Disorientation Terrace

Get Me Outta Here Gardens

Altzheimers Acres

 

End O’ Life Residence

Almost Heaven Homes

Deathview Villas

Reaching The End Estates

Abandoned Here Manor

 

Demented Gardens

Sunset, A Pricey Home for Codger Care

Olde People Warehouse

Over the Hill Terrace

What Have You Done With My Apartment Senior Care

 

Bedpan Alley

Catheter Flats

Please Cut My Toenails Place

Severely Diminished Quality of Life Estates

Thanks A Lot, Kids! Villas

 

Would I rather spend my final days wandering around Symphony Square in search of that elusive, nonexistent orchestra? Or settle in at The Happy Ending Center for Fully Insured Seniors?

Actually, neither. My plan is to age in place till I’m 100, then get hit by a bus. Wish Me Luck!

 

Roz Warren – 9.14.2018

(Roz Warren www.rosalindwarren.com writes for everyone from the Funny Times to the New York Times, and is  the author of OUR BODIES, OUR SHELVES: LIBRARY HUMOR. http://ow.ly/LpFgE.)

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Night Night Checklist – For Those Who Live Alone

Bedtime

Whether you’re a millennial who just moved out of your childhood bedroom, finally an adult and ditching the roommates, recently single and living alone again, or a widow/widower mourning the death of a longtime soulmate, living alone can be hard. So here’s a quick guide to make sure you go to bed the *right* way.

  1. Lock the door to your apartment – there are creepers everywhere folks!
  2. Turn off the lights in your house/apartment – unless you need a night light (I won’t tell, wink)
  3. Make sure there are sheets on the bed! This might seem like a no brainer, but if someone else (mom, girl/boyfriend, recently deceased spouse) has been making the bed for the past 10-60 years, its an important step…SHEETS!
  4. Take off your daytime clothes and put on sleepy time clothes (or stay nakey if ya want) – remember, there’s no one in your life to judge what you sleep in! So go nuts (out)!
  5. Lie down under the covers, but on top of the fitted sheet (the one with the elastic corners) with your head on the pillow – generally, unless you’re Manut Bol, you should fit on the bed! You can lie in the middle or on either side, cuz remember, there’s no one sleeping in the same bed as you anymore (cuz they’re dead or sleeping with your best friend or your mom).
  6. CRY – cry your eyes out until there’s no tears left, then cry some more, after all, you’re alone!!
  7. Stay there until the sun comes up, hopefully you’ll have slept at least 30 minutes
  8. Go live your day and pretend everything is ok! Smile and nod!
  9. Wait until it’s dark again, then go back to STEP 1

It’s a pretty simple routine, but it might take some practice to get it just right. So don’t worry, you’ll have all the time in the world since you’ll be alone forever most likely.

As above, so below.

Scotty Tremblay – 9.14.2018

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The Last Arcade Repairman

arcade

Well, actually, that is a bit of a misnomer. Arcades are on the comeback. It ain’t what it were back in the ’80s but it’s better than it’s been since the boom-bust of nineteen hundred and ninety-four. Still folk with that there arcade yearnin’. Some old timers call ’em hipsters but I call ’em good young’uns. Cuz they help pay the bills or pay on ’em, anyway. Keeps the porch light a-flickerin’.

Sure, I dabble on the family farm but I’d rather get paid to fix arcade machines than get paid to not grow tobaccy. I do a little farmer’s market on the side, but my heart ain’t it no more. I’m just there cuz it’s the best spot to hear firsthand news about arcades about to open up. Overlapping clientele and all.

It ain’t so bleak these days. For years all that kept me afloat was Mr. Gatti’s. Got to where I can’t stand the smell of their cheese sticks. Haven’t touched one this century. Never could get none of that Chuck E. Cheese business. They got a special outfit fixes theirs. Hard out here for a freelance arcade repairman not part of any kind of outfit. Got nothing against unions though. My daddy was a union man. My momma was a union lady’s auxiliary treasurer. She ran the bake sale. Kept that picket line on a sugar high. Til the diabetes kicked in.

I been pondering over taking on an apprentice for some time. Getting weary in these old joystick twiddlers. Hip ain’t been the same since that skeeball accident. But truth told there still ain’t near enough arcades to go around and I can’t help thinking I’d just be training the man or woman to replace me.

Course I said woman. Ain’t no rule a woman can’t fix an arcade machine. Hell, arcade repairing’s the most progressive repairing I know. Consider Bentley Bear in his Crystal Castles. Good gay fun.

But if you are indeed serious about this here line of work, and you say you is, then I might have a proposition for you. Say I take you on at four dollars an hour. I know that ain’t legal wage and the hours are mighty irregular but you’d get to keep the change you find in the slots. That ain’t quite on the up-and-up, neither, but repairmen know better than to ask permission and arcadesmiths know better than to question it. Quick way to find all your coin slots chocked full. Hell, why you think at least one controller in every four character fighting game is broken? That’s cause some fool behind the counter didn’t mind their own damn business.

I usually break Donatello. Won’t touch none of the more popular characters unless someone does me bad. I’m sorta generous I guess.

How that sound to you? Alright? That’s fine. Yeah, you can keep on drawing that unemployment check. This is all under the table, pardner. I ain’t even got myself a business card. Just one more thing to go over before we spit in our palms and shake on it. (Don’t worry, I got some hand sany right here.)

That there’s a quarter. That there’s a Asteroids. Show me what you got. I need to see you shoot straight.

pew pew pew pew pew KA-BOOM

Just might do.

Lee Blevins – 9.5.2018

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How To Avoid Being Recruited By The School P.T.A. Board

PTA-Meeting-2
With the dawn of a new school year comes the inevitable request to donate every minute of your time (and possibly a kidney or two) to the P.T.A. If you want to avoid selling raffle tickets, baked goods, or accompanying thirty kindergarteners to a llama farm, I recommend you employ these nine, sure-fire ways to keep your name off the eternal P.T.A. volunteer list:
1. Suggest an open bar for all P.T.A. meetings held in the school library.
2. Tell them that you’ll be happy to volunteer for most field trips but your ankle bracelet only has a five mile perimeter.
3. Share your parental philosophies, which includes free-range/permissive parenting of kindergarteners.
4. Tell them your hours are no longer flexible now that you’ve taken on a second job at the Gentleman’s Cheetah Lounge.
5. When asked if you’d be available to spearhead the holiday gift wrap fundraiser, remind them that your embezzlement charges are still pending.
6. Volunteer to organize the next P.T.A. bake sale since your “edible” brownies sold so well last year at the Baptist church fundraiser.
7. Set your cell phone ringtone to Ludacris’ Sex Room.
8. Let them know that your volunteer time will depend on your child’s chronic head lice infestation.
9. Offer a $100 donation for them to lose your name.
—–
Marcia Doyle – 9.6.2018

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No Particular Reason – Episode 4

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In this episode we discuss protesting in America and we get a sneak peak of a new blockbuster movie franchise of biblical proportions.

(Not affiliated with National Public Radio in any way. Expect, ya know, to make fun of it.)

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Serving Up The National Prayer Breakfast With Russian Flair

trump breakfast

This just in! Among the more obscure items found in the affidavit against Russian spy Maria Butina include the menu from the 2018 National Prayer Breakfast. Given the presence of 60 Russian guests, organizers planned a breakfast that highlighted the growing US-Russian relations while also appealing to Trump’s unsophisticated palate. Get a taste of this!


Menu for the 2018 National Prayer Breakfast

February 8, 2018

 

Well done eggs

Burnt bacon

Kolbasa (sausage)

 

McDonald’s® Egg McMuffin

 

Ore Ida® hash browns smothered with Velveeta® cheese and Blue Bonnet® margarine   

 

Syrniki (cheese fritters)

Tvorog (quark cheese) with honey

 

Putin Pancakes (blinis topped with smoked salmon, sour cream and chopped onions)

 

Bisquick® pancakes served with Smuckers® strawberry jam, Aunt Jemima® Butter Rich syrup and one scoop of Walmart’s® Great Value Homestyle Vanilla ice cream. (There is a note appended to be sure to deliver two scoops on the Presidential plate.)

 

Kellogg’s® Corn Flakes

 

McDonald’s® fried apple pie

 

Jeff Sessions’ Elfin Delight (candy, candy corn, candy canes, and syrup)

 

Instant Russian Tea with Tang®

McDonald’s® coffee served with Mike Pence’s “mother’s” milk

 

SWAG BAG

Bottle of Trump Vodka (out of circulation since 2011)

$6.66 gift certificate for use at www.ivankatrump.com (All Sales Final)

Matryoshka (Russian nesting dolls) featuring from smallest to largest dolls: Jeff Sessions, Betsy DeVos, Ben Carson, Mike Pence, Donald Trump/Vladimir Putin


 

Now that’s an awful lot of flavor to Put-in your mouth! So say ‘dasvidaniya’ to those early morning hungry bugs, and ‘zdravstvuj’ to somebody going to jail for collusion (please?)

Becky Garrison – 8.28.2018

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The Worst Story in the World

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I’m going to be honest: this is the worst story in the world. This is not an overly dramatic statement for effect to get you to keep reading. This is just a statement of fact. After you finish reading this, you will agree, this is the worst story in the world. “Worst” is a term that’s used all too much these days, but I promise you, this really is the worst story in the world. Actually, it’s barely a story. It’s not a story in the sense that it has all the classical elements of a story, like a beginning, middle, end, characters, plot, etc. But it is a story.

I only tell you it’s the worst story in the world because I don’t want you getting your expectations up and thinking this is going to be a good story. Because I promise you again, it is not. It’s “the worst” as my ex girlfriend (and countless other ex girlfriends) would say. If I had a girlfriend currently, I’m certain she would describe this as the worst story in the world as well. I told this story at a party recently (I was a few drinks deep) ((ok, more than a few)) already knowing it was a bad story. But the reaction of everyone listening, particularly the cute brunette lady I was trying to impress, was utter boredom. Two of the people that heard this story at said party haven’t talked to me since. Yes they are dating, so I’m pretty sure its a couple thing that both of them have cut me off socially, but that’s still two people who used to talk to me that no longer talk to me. Not because they were offended or anything, just because the story was so bad. It was the worst.

I’m sure some of the folks reading this will feel the same, but that’s why I’m being up front from the beginning about how bad this story is. I don’t want to lose any more friends (or acquaintances even) because of this story. This story has already done its fair share of damage. And I’m not even the subject of the story. It’s a story I heard. Yeah when I first heard it, I thought it was a bad story. I thought I could punch it up and add some artistry to it that would make it somewhat entertaining and listenable (is that even a word?). But in the four times I’ve told this story, it hasn’t gotten any better. It’s probably gotten worse. I’m just making things up at this point to try and get people to think its a tellable story.

It’s now so far removed from the original story like a bad game of telephone that I don’t even remember the original story in its entirety. I’m not sure what’s real and what I made up to try and fluff it up. In fact, I can’t even remember what story I’m talking about now. I don’t even think I have a story.

Wow, that really was the worst story. So bad it wasn’t even a story. It was a story about a bad story that wasn’t even a story. Sorry if you got this far expecting a bad story, I don’t even have that. Hope you have a nice day.

Scotty Tremblay – 8.8.2018

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Seven Kettlebell Exercises That Will Make You Look Like A Fucking Jackass

best-kettlebell-exercises

Hey, look at you! You bought a kettlebell! You must really be ready to do some exercises and be a professional olympian! Well, ok then, asshat. Since you are suddenly so god damn interested in some “dynamic” garbage workouts that challenge your coordination while annoying everyone else at the gym, let’s get you started with these seven kettlebell exercises that are sure to make you look like the fucking jackass you are!

  1. Punch Through – Feet shoulder-width apart. Hold the bell in your right hand and punch forward in a straight line. This symbolizes the punches to your dumb face you deserve for thinking you need a kettlebell to work out.
  2. Jumpies – Feet feet-width apart. Use a resistance band to tie the bell firmly around your ankles, then jump off the nearest bridge into a lake or river, and consider how you wasted your fucking life as you struggle stay afloat. (Just like Aladdin!) 
  3. Face – Shoulders feet-width apart. With your face, be an annoying twerp. Repeat.
  4. Bounce Dance – Have feet. Hold the bell up over your stupid brains. Once you inevitably realize your own horrible decisions, drop it on the ground, leave it there, walk away, and go running on a treadmill or something you idiot. 
  5. Homeland Security – Tape some loose string to the side of a kettlebell, then pack it into your luggage and attempt to fly from Chicago Midway to Asheville, North Carolina. Once the TSA sees the cartoon bomb in your carry-on, not only will they know what a fucking brainless child you are, you’ll burn extra calories as you sweat with embarrassment for holding up the security line. (You’re the asshole!)
  6. Nobody Likes You – Using your hands, pick up a kettlebell. Now nobody likes you.
  7. Pack It In – Feet inside your mouth. Paint a smiley face onto a kettlebell. Then, using both hands, remove your own unused head from your neck and replace it with the kettlebell-face you’ve created. Not only will everyone like you more (because it has a better personality than you), but also you’ll be dead, so fuck you.

There we go, you jerk! Seven kettlebell exercises that are guaranteed to make you look like a stupid dumb jackass. Did your goon-dick idea of a workout make it on our list? No? Who fucking cares! Now get out there, and change who you are, dingus.

Jack Ritchey – 6.18.2018

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No Particular Reason – Episode 3

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In this episode we investigate the use of smart tech in classrooms and the science behind the infamous “Yanni or Laurel” internet debate.

(Not affiliated with National Public Radio in any way. Expect, ya know, to make fun of it.)

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