On Being Funny
T 7.25 on Sunday nights from 1ZB there is a modest five minutes allotted to one, Professor Hornblow, whose act. is programmed as a topical talk. Professor Hornblow’s task is to interpret the lighter side of life. In short, he was to be funny. Now, being funny is both dangerous and difficult at any time; but on the air the would-be humorist has to have a very stout heart indeed. Left alone with the. microphone, he cannot
tell how his jokes are going over. Our friend Hornblow’s basic idea has many possibilities but, whether from inexperience in developing them, or just plain lack of imagination, he just misses fire. Attempting very laudably to make humorous comment on current affairs he has to fall back for the most part on wise-cracks faintly reminiscent of the music-hall comedian’s stock-in-trade. Of course he has only five minutes, and one chuckle in that time might be considered a fair return. When he can make that chuckle last till Morning morning he -will be getting somewhere. Five minutes, sometimes, can seem a very long time.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19460927.2.20.10
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 379, 27 September 1946, Page 11
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183On Being Funny New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 379, 27 September 1946, Page 11
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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