When Groucho says the word "elevator," the crowd laughs quite heartily, as if there's some sort of hilarity inherent in the idea of a Montreal elevator.
You can hear it just after the 1:00 mark here.
Can anybody think of any particular reason that was seen as funny in and of itself?
Here's the joke:
"Then I was in Montreal. I made a quick exit out of the elevator. I was in Montreal and a priest came up to me, puts out his hand and says "I wanna thank you for all the joy you've put into this world." And I shook his hand, and I said "And I wanna thank you, for all the joy you've taken out of this world." He said "Could I use that next Sunday in my sermon?" And I said "Yes you can, but you'll have to pay the William Morris office ten percent."
3 comments:
Izza good one, dat.
As just about anything will, it reminds this ol' geezer (And isn't "old geezer a redundancy?) of something that happened 30-odd years ago:
I was in the CIBC building on Dorch and Peel, stepped into the elevator.
Sign in the elevator says: "Select desired floor. Press button corresponding to floor number."
Jeez, I would think anyone who doesn't know how to operate a self-service elevator probably also doesn't know how to read, especially complicated words like "select" and "corresponding"...
Say, anyone know whatever happened to that ugly Henry Moore sculpture that used to sit outside that building?
Does not necessarily imply there is something funny about Montreal elevators. Maybe Groucho just made some sort of comic gesture or facial expression at that time for an unrelated reason?
- LJ
Groucho told the story at his Carnegie Hall concert. It was preceded by another story which ended with him making a typically inappropriate remark. The transition "Then I was in Montreal" implied he beat a hasty retreat from the previous encounter, hence the laugh. The moment can be heard at about the 1:10 mark here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNzekkwhHTE
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