“Funny” Funerals
Am I the only one who thought most of these stories were pretty boring? From stories about the Erie Canal to the story about Ira losing his suit on a train, I began to lose hope for these radio stories until I heard Lisa’s story about her search for “funny funerals”. The idea had everything that would interest me; it was unique, funny, and heartfelt. Although it wasn’t a single and unified story (instead being a compilation of stories) and wasn’t altogether too funny, this story stuck out the most to me.
One of the most sentimental moments for me when listening to this radio story was the story of the father who wanted to have “Silent Night” played at his funeral because it was the song played when he was a soldier in the war and it was declared to be over. As the story is told of the funeral, the background music of “Silent Night” swelled and I completely forgot that this radio broadcast was meant to look for “the funny side of death” and got lost in the moment. The story caught me so off guard because I was waiting for the punch line of the story that never came, but I did not care. The story expressed a deeply sentimental moment in someone’s life that I felt involved in, which, after all, is the point of a funeral.The other memorable moment for me was the story at the end of Lisa’s broadcast with the funeral at the Ukrainian church. The reenactment of the Ukrainian priests voice and actions really made me feel as if I was there, with perfect descriptions of his facial expressions, actions, and accent. Lost in the humor of the moment, I forgot that this was a story of a funeral, which was probably Lisa’s point. At the end of the broadcast, she finally shows an example of a funny side to death.
At its core, this broadcast had everything I would want in a broadcast. Lisa hooks her listeners with an interesting idea of a “funny side to death”. As I heard that I thought “Is that possible? How could death be funny?” and eagerly waited for some humor after suffering through Ira’s story about a suit. But as she started talking, the humor did not seem to flow which was fine with me. Drawn into these stories of intense emotion (and funny accents) I remembered the broadcast was about funerals and a time for remembering. Then out of nowhere, Lisa pulls up the story of the Ukrainian priest, which acts almost like the punch line of her whole segment. So overall, a good broadcast has to have an interesting idea, development, and then a twist or greater message to think about at the end.
2 responses so far
So what drew you into Lisa’s mom’s story was the sentiments of funerals rather than the attempt to find “funny” funeral stories. It’s interesting how much of an impact the title has on a story. To me, I didn’t find anything in Lisa’s story about funerals and interviews funny. In fact, I was bored with it because what she was telling seemed very ponderous. It was not in concurrence with her title and didn’t feel entertaining – just informative, which to me felt dull. In the process, I lost track of any sentiments and interests from the funeral stories.
I also wondered about how Lisa would find humor in a funeral, as it sounded very difficult. The story about the Ukrainian priest was told well, and I, too, felt like I was with them. I didn’t find the initial stories humorous, but the attempts were nice to hear about and it wasn’t too much that I would become bored. Development is indeed important, and Ira’s didn’t have a lot while Lisa’s did. When a story develops, we become more engaged or anticipated, which makes it more interesting.