Taylor - Me funny: a far-reaching exploration of the humour, wittiness and repartee dominant among the First Nations people of North America, as witnessed, experienced and created directly by themselves, and

ME FUNNY

COMPILED
and EDITED
by

Drew

HAYDEN TAYLOR

ME FUNNY

A far-reaching exploration of the HUMOUR, wittiness and repartee
DOMINANT among the First Nations people of North America,
as witnessed, experienced and CREATED DIRECTLY by themselves,
and with the INCLUSION of outside but reputable sources
necessarily familiar with the INDIGENOUS sense of humour as
SEEN from an objective perspective

DOUGLAS & McINTYRE
Vancouver/Toronto/Berkeley

Introduction and this collection 2005 by Otter Communications Inc.
Individual essays 2005 by Allan J. Ryan, Kristina Fagan, Don Kelly,
Drew Hayden Taylor, Janice Acoose, Mirjam Hirch, Ian Ferguson,
Karen Froman, Louise Profeit-LeBlanc, Tomson Highway, Thomas King

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without
the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian
Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For a copyright licence,
visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.

Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.
2323 Quebec Street, Suite 201
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V5T 4S7
www.douglas-mcintyre.com

Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada
Me funny / edited by Drew Hayden Taylor.

ISBN: 978-1-55365-137-6 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978-1-92668-572-4 (ebook)

Editing by Barbara Pulling and Pam Robertson
Cover design by Peter Cocking
Cover image Swim Ink/CORBIS

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Canada
Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council,
and the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry
Development Program (BPDIP) for our publishing activities.

CONTENTS

ALLAN J. RYAN

Teasing, Tolerating, Teaching:
Laughter and Community in Native Literature

KRISTINA FAGAN

And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Get Ready for Some (Ab)Original Stand-up Comedy

DON KELLY

Whacking the Indigenous Funny Bone:
Political Correctness vs. Native Humour, Round One

DREW HAYDEN TAYLOR

JANICE ACOOSE AND NATASHA BEEDS

Subversive Humour:
Canadian Native Playwrights
Winning Weapon of Resistance

MIRJAM HIRCH

IAN FERGUSON

KAREN FROMAN

LOUISE PROFEIT-LEBLANC

TOMSON HIGHWAY

Performing Native Humour:
The Dead Dog Caf Comedy Hour

THOMAS KING

N OT LONG ago a good friend of mine made a comment about a project I was working on. I was attempting to interest the National Film Board of Canada in a documentary I wanted to do on Native erotica, to which my white friend replied, somewhat disdainfully, Why? You guys do it just the same way we do.

Except our tan lines are a little less obvious, I responded.

Some people have wondered the same thing about Native humour. Is it fundamentally that different from Jewish humour, African-Canadian humour, Lithuanian humour, Icelandic humour and so on? As somebody on the inside looking out, I can safely say yes. But not exceedingly. Were talking nuances, subtleties. Its as if chicken is the joke, but the sauce or the unique flavours of the jokes humour come from various cultures. Youve got tandoori chicken vs. chicken cacciatore vs. a McChicken, if you get my meaning. Generally, what makes you laugh will make us laugh. Were not exactly from another planet, though I cant vouch for all Aboriginal people. I base this observation on twenty years as a professional writer and forty-two years as an Ojibwayor, since Im a half breed, technically maybe that should be twenty-one years as an Ojibway and twenty-one years as a white person.

In putting this book together, I approached noted Anishinabe storyteller and author Basil Johnston with an invitation to participate. He declined, stating, I dont know what useful purpose an analysis of Indian humour would serve. Im afraid that any analysis would just leave mistaken impressions in the academic world; too much of Indian humour rests in the language. Basil has always advocated the importance of indigenous languages, so his comment comes as no surprise. As for his hypothesis: maybe, maybe not. I do acknowledge that a different level of humour can be appreciated in the applicable indigenous tongue. Tomson Highway deals with that topic admirably well in his essay in this book. But like the air in a worn out tire, the humour can and does leak out in many different places.

If you want to complicate the issue further, try looking at Native humour from a nuclear subatomic perspective (yes, there is a correlation). In one of our discussions on the subject, Thomas King and I considered the possibility that Heisenbergs uncertainty principle might apply here. It was Heisenbergs belief that the art of observing alters the reality being observed. Maybe putting Native humour under the microscope changes its effects or its impact. I dont know. I was always weak in physics.

Several years back, I wrote and directed a documentary for the National Film Board on Native humour. The film is called Redskins, Tricksters and Puppy Stew. It was great fun to do, and it provided me with the unique opportunity of being paid to hang out with all my friends and talk funny. And talk about being funny. And talk about what is funnyfrom an Aboriginal perspective, of course. Thats where I got the inspiration for this collection.

Humour requires intelligence. It calls for the ability to take in information, deconstruct it and reconstruct it in a new, improved, refined format. The humorist then reintroduces that information to the world to achieve a completely different reaction. Humour also requires surprise. Generally speaking, if the punchline is something youre expecting, then it wont be funny. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. In comedy, repeating something three times (but not successively) is a time-honoured way to structure a joke, with each successive repetition getting a bigger laugh. And there is seldom anything new or surprising in sitcoms. In fact, its their familiarity that audiences often find comfortable and amusing. Comedy, like many other things in life, can be contradictory. It seems the Creator has seen fit to place us in an unpredictable world. But here I go again, pretending I know what Im talking about.

In Me Funny you will find many different ideas about the nature of Native humour. You may agree with some of them. You may disagree instead. I dont careyouve already bought the book. Lets just say I hope that when you have finished reading it you will be scratching your head from thinking a lot and holding your belly from laughing a lot. Thats a good mixture where I come from.

Oh, by the way, what did the Indian say when he walked into a bar?

Ouch!

DREW HAYDEN TAYLOR

{ ALLAN J. RYAN }

T HIS IS a story of one big Indian. More specifically, it is the story of an