Oh, how I love the British comedy, “Keeping Up Appearances!” I love it so much, I’ve modeled my behavior after the protagonist, “Hyacinth,” who answers the phone with “Bouquet (Boo-kkkkkk) Residence, Lady of the House Speaking.”
When I engage in that kind of pre-conversation greeting, my friends laugh because they know me, my relatives are baffled (not that they call me that often), and other people don’t know what to make of it.
Now, with all of the political calls, I feel that one has to confuse the enemy … somehow. To that end, the other afternoon I answered the phone with “Buenas tardes,” delivered in such a convincing way, I imagine the person on the other end of the line (a political campaigner) may have wondered if he’d reached “an illegal,” working as a maid.
Life is about taking a few minutes to not take yourself or anything else too seriously. There are enough emergencies, devastations, and personal tragedies to last anyone a lifetime. That is why we need television shows such as the comedies that air on British TV and are piped across the pond to us.
“Hyacinth,” as a character, is a gross exaggeration of someone who would like to be viewed as a member of high society. She goes out of her way to be seen, to travel in the right social circles, and to hold teas using her Royal Daulton chinaware. With it, she can terrorize her poor sister with fear that she might break the china, as she is a known klutz who becomes even more clumsy because of Hyacinth’s fussing.
I love the counterfoil of “Hyancinth’s character,” the heavy set, unshaven, seemingly “low-brow” brother-in-law, Onslo. His wife has been praying for some marital “action” for years, but it never happens – it’s just her dream and fantasy. Onslo and his family always seem to show up in their broken down car whenever Hyacinth might be embarrassed by their presence, at which point they are directed to drive around the block until the coast is clear.
Good comedy portrays real life, exaggerated to some extent. So it was with the irreverent skits of Monty Python, resulting in classic studies in human behavior, I might add. I took a great liking to certain skits – like “I’m a Lumberjack and I’m ok,” and “The Church of the Divine Looney,” and “Trafalgar Square.”
I’m sorry, but I don’t understand people who are so straight-laced that they can’t find something to laugh at. Most of us can start by laughing at the absurdity of the things that happen to us.
My most memorable laugh-a-thon was when I was visiting San Diego in 1989 and my nieces took me to the Comedy Club. I was laughing so hard, I just about fell off the chair (and was not drinking, so don’t blame it on that). The show was hilarious! As much as I enjoy humor, I could never be that funny! However, it affords a little personal joy when I say, “Cummings residence, Lady of the House speaking,” and I hear a slow ripple of laughter coming from the party calling.
G’day to you.
Patricia Cummings
