Not everyone is like this, but once something in a situation comedy makes me laugh, I don't mind seeing it another hundred times or so, like when the slop bucket intended to be dumped on Kelso winds up all over Red on "That 70s Show," or when Dietrich helps Barney solve the crossword puzzle clue "- - - - - - Google" on "Barney Miller," or when Deacon has to let Doug's tuxedo pants out a little on "King Of Queens." I can watch this stuff all day (and often do, to be honest.)The man who played Deacon is Victor Williams. He's on Instagram as bigvicwilliams, and for Father's Day he told a great story about his dad, who was a college professor. Young Victor sat in on one of his classes as a high-school kid and saw his Dad ask a college student to point out Massachusetts on a map of the colonies.
To the embarrassment of all in the room, she was unable to locate The Bay State on the map. Victor said he knew that his father would not have spoken to him for days had he been the student so ill-schooled in geography, but he said his dad calmly looked at the student and then the entire class, and said,
"It's alright if you don't know. It's not alright if you don't find out."
I think we've all stumbled over this...not knowing how to drive a manual transmission car, spell "Peloponnesian," cook a tasty chicken parmesan dinner, sharpen a knife, repair a light switch, renew a driver's license, program the DVR to record obscure old sitcoms...there are literally billions of things to learn. I think it's best to learn them when we're prompted by life. That was great advice from Professor Williams.
Life gives us hints sometimes, if we're paying attention. Being around someone who is giving a hotshot to a car with booster cables is a great time to say, "Show me how to do that, please..."
There's nothing more sure than saying that some day, you will need to know how to do a hotshot. You'll get a charge out of knowing how to.
And more important, so will your car.
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