To Stuart Mclean humor is kind of like Justice Potter Stewart’s description of obscenity — he knows it when he sees it. Or rather, he knows it when you hear it; when you laugh or snort or smile — or don’t.
McLean is one of Canada’s leading radio personalities — an even further northern version of Garrison Keillor. For years, he has been writing and performing stories about the characters whose lives revolve around the Vinyl Cafe — a small record store in a town somewhere in Canada with a sign on the wall that says, “We’re not big, but we’re small.”
McLean has twice been awarded Canada’s top prize for humor, but still he will admit he doesn’t know what makes something funny. McLean quotes, EB White who said that dissecting a joke is like dissecting a frog, the thing always dies in the end.
Guests:
Stuart McLean, humorist and author of “Home from The Vinyl Cafe: A Year of Stories.”