Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Asparagus, A Funny Vegetable


There's just something funny about asparagus. It's one of our funnier vegetables, don't you agree? Go ahead, say, "Asparagus!" Say it at the top of your lungs. Don't pretend it's not funny. It just is. Asparagus has always been a source of hilarity in the SJG homestead. Why? I'll tell you why. My all-time favorite comic, may he rest in peace, was Steve Landesberg of "Barney Miller" fame and so much more. When the eldest was in preschool, Steve Landesberg was a parent there, as well.

"Honesty is the best policy, but 
insanity is a better defense."

During a carnival, I was working the soda booth and when he came up to get a drink, I gushed, "I love you. Can I do my favorite routine of yours?" He smiled and said, "Sure. Give it a try."  So I did. "You wanna know why the suicide rate is so high in Sweden?  The husband comes home from work and says, 'What's for dinner, snookums?  Asparagus? Again?' " Then I pointed my finger at my head and made the sound of a gun going off.  Ka-boom.  Steve Landesberg laughed at my feeble attempt to recreate his brilliance. "Not bad, but it's, 'Asparagus?  Not again.' " To this day, every time hubby and I eat asparagus, we do his routine. Seriously. Every time. So the other day, when the eldest requested some info, I texted back, "I'll get it to you ASPA." As opposed to ASAP. Well, the Gods of spellcheck didn't like my ASPA and changed it to, what else, asparagus. As in, "I'll get it to you, asparagus."

Silly, silly asparagus

"Hahahaha," the eldest said, followed by laughing emoji faces. Like I said, even in a text, and even as a typo, asparagus is still the funniest of vegetables.

4 comments:

  1. Love it! And love asparagus too...:) x

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    1. Thank you. Let's eat funny veggies together soon.

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  2. I can't believe I found this on your blog. For years my husband and I had our own private joke about this routine. We couldn't remember the comedian but we remembered seeing it on TV. It stuck with us both and schnookums (in a Swedish accent) became a funny pet name. The asparagus line was always repeated. We thought we were probably the only people that even knew what this little routine was. Thank you google for helping us find your blog! Thank you for posting it!

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  3. Pluto TV just ran (09/08/23) the S15 E2 of The Tonight Show on which Steve Landesberg did the classic "Snookums" bit. Bob Hope and Richard Harris preceded him, and Adrienne Barbeau followed.

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