26.10.05

I HAD ANOTHER GOOD IDEA…OR DID I?


Just like my horse in the basement story idea, which I discussed down yonder, I’ve been bouncing around another idea inside my noggin, which I think is pretty good, but that I can’t say for sure if it’s original or not.

Last year for Christmas I did a parody of one of those ‘family updates’ that some families send out every year, detailing what the Smith or the Jablonsky family has been up to during the past year. “Timmy hit a homerun during the big t-ball tournament, Earl finally got around to painting the garage, Marge won first prize for best pumpkin loaf at the church raffle”Stuff like that. I got lots of good feedback from my parody piece, but I also know that a few people didn’t get the gag. (At times my humor can be as dry as Joan Rivers’ hootchie)

I decided to do something different this year. I was thinking about doing a riff on everyone’s favorite holiday classic, The Little Drummer Boy. The story is preposterous, of course. Anyone who’s ever been anywhere near a newborn baby will tell you that the last thing a baby wants to hear is a snare drum solo.

I thought it would be funny to have the Drummer Boy panic, once he sees the Little Trumpet Boy, who is ahead of him in line, get smitten by a lightning bolt after his trumpet solo makes the baby Jesus cry.

So maybe Drummer Boy has to go through extreme (and comedic) measures to coerce one of the Three Wise Men to let him put his name on one of their gifts.
“Congratulations on being born, and being the son of God and all that. Enjoy the frankincense.”
Wise Man #3 …and Little Drummer Boy

I think I could make it funny. Maybe even do it as a mini comic book, but I’ll be darned if it seems like a really familiar idea.

Is it familiar because it’s been bouncing around in the back of my head for a while, or because it’s not my idea?

I drink a lot of diet soda (pop) and I think years of guzzling phenylalanine has addled my brain. I’ve also been having reoccurring flashes of déjà vu. But maybe I’ve already mentioned that.

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