Laugh Lines

“Brevity is the soul of wit,” said Polonius, a windy old bastard who became much less annoying after Hamlet stabbed him to death. But he hit the bodkin on the head. Some of the funniest, most memorable humor to run in FIELD & STREAM has been in the form of a single line or a few sentences.

Brevity is a powerful tool. The longest laugh in the history of live television is credited to Jack Benny. One of his shticks was his cheapness. In a skit, a second banana stuck a gun in his ribs and said, “Your money or your life.”