Specificity
I was onstage with The Coexist Comedy Tour complaining that I didn’t know enough about Hinduism to properly make fun of my fellow Coexister, comedian and Hindu, Tapan Trivedi. I described trying to get information out of him so I could roast him.
“I asked Tapan, ‘How many gods do you folks have anyway?’ and he answered, ‘It’s infinite; anything can be a god. This car could be a god.’ which I found surprising as we were in my 2004 Toyota, Corolla.” This wasn’t the punch line, just an aside, but it surprised me by getting a huge laugh. I asked Tapan, who was a bit of a comedy mentor to me at the time, if he knew why.
He said that he thought it was because a Toyota, Corolla is such a generic, practical car, not godlike at all. Since were on tour we decided to experiment and every night I changed the make of the car. A BMW as god did not get much of a laugh. BMWs are pretty godlike, I guess. A VW Bus, my favorite vehicle, got even less of a laugh. Lot of spiritual associations with the official car of roadtripping hippies. In the end, it turned out I’d accidentally struck gold, and Toyota, Corolla was the funniest car, especially, for some reason, model year 2004.
It’s not a white lady, it’s Karen. This has made a million memes hit much harder than they otherwise would have. We all feel like we know a Karen. You can see her hairdo, and sense her entitlement the minute you hear the name. Sure its’ approaching to the end of its life now, (my friend Karen hopes) but this was a dominant cultural meme and it all started because someone realized when they referred to someone as “Karen” it automatically painted a picture of a certain kind of person. Chad or Brad have a similar effect. Names are a very efficient way to make someone real, and to paint a picture of them.
I have a joke about working at KFC. My coworker was Tony. I am amazed at how attached my audiences have become to Tony. I frequently get people asking about Tony after the shows, wanting to know if we kept in touch. I ended up writing an additional story detailing the last time I saw him. This didn’t happen until I gave him a name rather than calling him “My coworker”. I don’t know if his name was actually Tony. It might have been, but to be honest I don’t remember. It’s Tony now.
It’s not a car, it’s a Toyota, Corolla. It’s not some guy, it’s Tony. It’s not a town, it’s Roseville, California.
One more story about names. I worked at an aquarium supply store and one of my jobs was going to the tropical fish wholesaler and buying fish for our tanks. I picked out a beautiful grouper, an aggressive saltwater fish who would need to be in a tank of his own. It wasn’t until I got him back to the shop and in a tank that I realized he had a damaged fin. There were no refunds, no returns. He was taking up a whole tank, and I knew my boss would be unhappy about this. I wrote on the tank with a paint pen, “Healthy, but slightly damaged fine. Half Price!” He didn’t sell. I marked him down still further. The next morning my boss said he needed to go down the garbage disposal. (Its a brutal industry folks.) I asked for one more day to try and sell him. I drew a word bubble on the tank and in the word bubble I wrote, “Hi! My name is Sammy and I’m a special fish needing a special home. My fin is damaged, but I’m healthy and I get around well.” and I put the price back up to almost full price. Sammy sold within an hour. And before the buyer had a chance to take him home, someone else offered to buy him as well. Names have power.
