The phenomenal success of the ice bucket challenge has brought in a ton of money for ALS, as well as bringing much-needed awareness to this worthy cause. I’m going to borrow the idea to raise funds for another cause that is near and dear to my heart, the effort to stamp out LAFF.
Of course I’ve known about this horrible condition for a long time, but I never fully realized how many people are afflicted until last week…when I was Freshly Pressed.
My piece was a tongue-in-cheek announcement of my intention to sue Facebook for posting a picture of me as a dorky kid. WordPress FPd the post under the tag “Social Media,” and therein lies the trouble. Since it wasn’t specifically tagged as “Humor”, a significant number of new readers thought I was serious. They chided, they scolded, and some even cursed me out for my irresponsible suit.
I was puzzled. How could somebody NOT get that I was joking? Who wouldn’t recognize the funny unless they had a large, neon “Humor” sign pointing it out? That’s when it hit me. Those readers are obviously suffering from advanced cases of LAFF.
Lack of
Appreciation
For the
Funny
My heart bleeds for these poor sufferers, but pity is not enough. What is needed here is action. There is so much to be done. These are just a few of the projects the good folks at the Society to Eradicate LAFF are working on:
A dedicated volunteer
1) Remedial classes diagramming knock-knock jokes
2) Humor sensitivity training involving The Three Stooges, Monty Python, old Saturday Night Live sketches and other seminal works
3) Training volunteer Funny Buddies to sit with LAFF sufferers and guide them during key events, like when watching standup comedy, or reading this blog
4) Genetic research to identify and isolate the “funny gene” which LAFF sufferers are clearly lacking
The work is vital, but it is not cheap. That’s where you come in.
I’m asking you to take the LAFF Bucket Challenge. Donate $10 to the cause, and then film yourself being doused. With a bucket of chicken. Rubber chickens. Share your video on social media and let the cause go viral.
Elyse at the great blog FiftyFourandAHalf is already hard at work on a series of Public Service Ads featuring the LAFF spokeschicken, Foghorn Leghorn.
Remember, people with LAFF are just like you and me, except not funny. Take the challenge, give generously and with your help, we can cure LAFF during our lifetime. Hopefully before I publish my next post.
Peg-o-Leg's Ramblings 
Peg, I’m sure I will be speaking for all LAFF sufferers when I warn you of the potential dangers of contact with rubber chickens. I mean they are LAYTEX!!! Which means that you are demanding that folks put themselves into contact with a potentially hazardous substance.
I suggest real chickens. But only organic ones. We don’t want any of those extra anti-biotics I our hair.
(This post was even funnier than the original one that brought LAFF into the public eye!)
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Good point, Elyse. I can only hope when the latex-sufferers sue me, I can get Dewey, Cheetum and Howe to represent me.
How’s the ad campaign coming along?
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Actually, I suggest you use an actual lawyer friend of mine in your lawsuit. His name is Suescum.
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Nooooo….really??
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Yes, really. I love funny names!
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Is his daughter named Soap? (ba-dum, dum)
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Good comeback. No. But maybe I will suggest it.
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My mother suffers from LAFF. It is a very real and serious condiion. Won’t everyone please help this worthy cause so I can stop being asked repetitively to explain my jokes and sarcasm! Give generously and often. We must stop this horrible affliction!!.
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Nothing kills a joke deader than being asked to explain it. I feel your pain, Misty.
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I’m worried that sufferers of LAFF will not understand this post, and as a result, your comment box will be filled with more unexpected confusion. Therefore, it’s wonderful you’re tackling this important but rarely talked about condition. Your inclusion of a Funny Buddy as part of one’s treatment is critical. None of us can get better alone.
Hilarious post, Peg!
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That’s a very real possibility, Carrie. More than almost any other malady, LAFF sufferers are usually the last to know they are afflicted. It often takes family and good friends to stage an intervention.
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They’re just like you and me, except not funny, Priceless!
Sadly I know a few LAFF victims. Thanks for bringing awareness to this worthy, but under-appreciated cause. I’m off to the dollar store to buy a few rubber chickens.
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Bless you.
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People really do need to lighten up a bit, don’t they? I know a few LAFF victims, too – I can only hope this worthwhile cause will bring closure to this horrible affliction! Thanks for being so proactive. 😉
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I do my poor bit to help.
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I am a classic LAFF-afflicted one, Peg! Really got my feathers stroked by this post (and the clucking going, too!). It has transformed my image of the KFC bucket for good. Thank you!
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Thank you. If you do decide to use a bucket of KFC instead of rubber chickens for the challenge, may I suggest Extra Crispy? You won’t get quite as much grease in your hair.
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The world definitely kneads this challenge! The 5 comic re-education points must be fun-ed. All these pour people must get a laugh for their lives!
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Exactly!
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OK. The Buckets up. – Took the challenge and linked over here
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Haha! Are those chicken feathers I see in your hair? I want pictorial proof that you took the challenge.
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Doves are a reasonable facsimile? Molly assured me they were…but it seems maybe she only wanted the feathers
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Tricky!
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LAFF is serious shit! Not to be taken lightly so thank you for bringing up the importance of getting these people help, ASAP. Awareness is the first step. What better than rubber chickens to make LAFF sufferers realize that a joke is just a joke. I will take the challenge on your behalf to spread this most important message! I have to say, however, that I would much prefer to douse myself with some Kentucky Fried Chicken instead of rubber ones. This way I can eat it all without guilt and blame it on the cause.
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I doused myself with KFC last night – yummy, but talk about a grease-o-rama!
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Perfect, Peg. Love it!!!
We must help the laff-less learn when and what to laugh about. It’s very sad, actually, to not have a sense of humor. It was especially puzzling when your FPd post illicited brow-beating comments by some of these suffering LAFF-less souls. I felt your pain.
Sniff!
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It’s painful, but we need to move on, Tar. How’s your week going? Give me a call.
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Two LAFFs walk into a bar.
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Ba-dum,dum.
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Oh, come on!! I am picturing Dana Carvey’s church lady all outraged at you! Isn’t that special?
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Yeah, I got a couple of those, too.
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Maybe you just need to put a huge banner that says “THIS IS A HUMOR BLOG” in capital letters. Or some kind of disclaimer at the beginning of every post. But even then I’m sure there will still be LAFF sufferers amongst your readership. Or they could always go take a chill pill. I love that remedy. Why hasn’t someone patented that yet?
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They have, but you need a prescription for those.
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I have an actual Chill Pill! Rx #247365 by Dr. Easydoesit; Refills: Unlimited. Instructions: Squeeze as many times as needed or until you are sufficiently chilled out. Side Effects: Extreme relaxation and increased ability to not sweat the small stuff. I would show you a picture…alas, I am new here and have no clue how to upload pix yet.
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Sounds like just what the doctor ordered!
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Congrats, never noticed you were FP’d (again!) but then I never check FP much these days. Hilarious people took you seriously, I’ll have to go and have a read of the comments now for a chuckle at their expense.
I’ll take the challenge if it can be fried chicken
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For you, Joe, fried chicken it is.
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Yay!
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I used to be afflicted with LAFF. It’s no laughing matter.
I was thinking of real chickens instead of those skinny plastic ones, but then I remembered one of the classic lines from a ‘LAFF inflicted’ station manager at WKRP- Arthur Carlson, when he gave out live turkeys by dropping them out of a helicopter; ‘As God as my witness – I thought turkeys could fly!’….
Coincidentally, that line cured me of LAFF.
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I remember that episode – cracked me up! My husband used to call me Herb Tarlick just because I had a snappy, plaid jacket I used to wear.
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We could even start a telethon. Comedians can tell knock-knock jokes over and over until people with LAFF start, well, laughing.
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Great idea!
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A lot of your problem is that the original just wasn’t that funny. I guess if was gonna help you out on the why I’d quote the bard and say brevity is the soul of wit.
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Well…thanks.
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Peg, can we “unlike” Wilson? He’s obviously suffering from LAFF.
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I had to resist the urge to reply, “see what it says up there on the right side of this page, Bucko? “Recommended Humor Blog.” As in one of only 40 chosen by WordPress from their whole,friggin’ lineup and, to quote Wikipedia, “WordPress is the most popular blogging system in use on the Web at more than 60 million websites.” ”
But I didn’t say that because that would make me look too needy and insecure. So…yeah.
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I’m just trying to help, but if you waterheads think this is funny then by all means laugh on, just remember to put your helmet on before you go potty so you don’t hurt yourself when you crash into the toilet.
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Bottom line: Humor, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
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I am certain this post will bring out more ‘haters’. You know the ones who believe they are funny or have senses of humor but in fact are the wet blankets in the middle of the freshly dry and clean smelling laundry basket.
I worry for you and Elyse.
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I like that mental visual about the blankets, Val. Somebody already said people didn’t get it was supposed to be funny because it wasn’t. Ouch.
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Well, I for one am OUTRAGED! You have some nerve, lady! To actually suggest people dump rubber chickens on their heads?! And what of the impending nationwide rubber chicken shortage? what then? Hmm??
And then you have the audacity to drag Foghorn Leghorn into your rant? What did he ever do to you? GOD! I am just SO VERY UPSET NOW!!!! NOW I’M TYPING IN ALL CAPS! AND USING LOTS OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! GAAHHHHHH!!!!!
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Also? I love you, Peg. This post was perfect.
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Tee hee
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No rubber chickens were harmed during the making of this post. We used stunt chickens.
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Funny stuff. The chickens have me thinking of Svengoolie – always throwing rubber chickens. Of course, I am from Berwyn so there’s that (Svengoolie fans know what I’m talking about).
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I DO know what you mean. I remember Svengoolie. We had the same guy but different on Detroit cable late Saturday nights.
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It’s about time someone brought attention to LAFF sufferers. They are everywhere. We are surrounded by them daily. Friends, family, co-workers…they have pretty much infiltrated them all. It seems the spreading of this ailment knows no bounds and there is no end in sight. Rubber chickens is a great start but we should also include hand buzzers and whoopee cushions.
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All great suggestions. Once we raise a bunch of money we’ll be better able to acquire all those aids for the classroom.
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I am a wordpress blogger, and came here at their recommendation. Now I’m in love with you.
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Well thanks! I appreciate the sentiment, but maybe I should mention that I’m married. 😉
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Loved it-Peg. So clever.MKC
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Thanks, sweetie!
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Peg, unfortunately, due to my severe rubber chicken allergy, I will not be able to partake in this worthy challenge. However, I will be donating my $10. It will, of course, be funny money. I’ll route it to you through your noble attorneys, Dewey, Cheatum and Howe.
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Haha! I should have seen that coming.
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What’s even scarier is when I post under humor and get serious comments. I guess that’s and advanced case of LAFF?
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It is. There are definitely degrees of affliction.
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You poor thing–getting Freshly Pressed and then getting scolded for it. 😦 Those social media types takes things way too seriously. That’s another reason why I’m glad the only thing I do is blog!
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Me too, Lorna! When WordPress let me know about the FP they asked for my tweety address or something, so they could let everyone know the joyous news that way. I said, huh? I can’t keep up with all that other stuff.
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Me neither. I closed my Facebook account and only blog. The other stuff is too much. I don’t know how other people do it and get anything else done.
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For some reason, I thought I had already commented here! I certainly had already read it…days ago to be sure.
I am sooo glad that mine is not a humor blog. There are so many nuances to humor (sarcasm, digs, delays, etc.) that many people just don’t “get it.” LAFF is a very real disease! If I took your LAFF bucket challenge, however, it’d have to be rubber chickens. And not because I don’t have a sense of humor. (And if commenters had taken the time to read OTHERS’ comments, they would have known it was meant to be funny.)
I just posted my own IBC piece this AM, but because it won’t get Fresh Pressed or have scores of people scrutinizing word, I have nothing to worry about. You humor bloggers have it pretty tough; us environmental and garden types…notsomuch. Heck — we don’t even have our own WP category.
Congrats on your FP. For what it’s worth, I think all your posts are worthy of it. Cheers, Peg.
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Thanks, Shannon. There isn’t an environmental category? I’m surprised. If there were , you would be the queen!
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Funny stuff
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