Complacent Comedy

Articles from Boomer Magazine in Richmond, VA

Complacent Comedy

Thursday, 15 July 2010 09:53

We settled into a lovely lunch with friends at Heiligenkreuz Abby, just outside Vienna. We lounged al freco while we waited for our stuffed schnitzel to arrive. Conversation meandered as we sipped and debated our radler style beer. I suddenly remembered something I just saw on the news before we left the states. It was on the tip of my tounge, which I bit before I blurted it out. The Soup Nazi had just reopened his shop in Manhattan. Our friends would have been interested to hear about the famous soup vendor that had been featured in Seinfeld. His tiny shop had been a destination in some of our earlier travels. But my inside voice yelled, “Don’t say Nazi.”

This same inner dialog happened again the next day. We encountered a humorless ticket taker on the train. I almost complained to someone that the man was being a…

”DON’T.” My inside voice stopped me. “Don’t joke about it. JUST DON’T.”

I wondered if I was being overly sensitive. I came to the conclusion that I was not. It turns out that I had just grown complacent in my humor. Popular culture and media led me down the wrong path, beginning with Hogan’s Heroes reruns. Comedians and my friends both use the term Nazi to describe a humorless and strict person or situation. An unhelpful nurse in the emergency room, for example, might earn the Nazi slur.

But I was wrong in joining the crowd and assuming that Nazis could be a punch line. By making flippant comments about things being Nazi-like, I diluted the sacrifices our allies made in WWII. I belittled the memory of the six million people who died in concentration camps at the hand of the Nazi party.

I vow to stop using the word Nazi as a synonym for uptight, brutally regimented things. Instead, when I need to make light of an uptight situation, I’ll revive a reference that has become mostly forgotten. I will mention Nurse Ratched. I think the time is right to reintroduce One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest back into popular culture. I will leave the Nazis where they belong — in the history books.

Becky Reil is a lover of art, architecture and good food. Traveling with her husband and friends is her favorite way to enjoy all of her interests. She ate her way through thirteen countries and has several trips planned for the near future. Local food is her passion, and she will reluctantly share her "secret" sources for sausage, beef, grits and produce. Becky is constantly working to enlarge her fabric stash and enjoys quilting and collecting textiles. A graduate of Radford University, she has worked as an Art Teacher and as a Job Coach for disabled persons.