[A guest blog spot by ISS Managing Editor Elaine Foxwell.]
Example of dry British humor: Two men are leaning against the bar having a drink. The first says, I buried my wife yesterday. The second says, Oh, thats too bad. The first replies laconically, Had to. Dead, you know.
OK, so not many folks on this side of the pond may find that hilarious, but I do.
Recently, I read about a new six-part sit-com on BBC Radio 4 that exemplifies the British sense of humor called (appropriately enough) Self Storage. The show is about a young fellow, Dave, played by Reece Shearsmith, who finds himself homeless after being kicked out of his house by his wife. He also loses his job and is in dire straits. Dave has to find cheap digs but discovers housing is outrageously overpriced. Desperate for a place to live, he decides he can stick himself in storage like surplus furniture. He moves into a pod at The Storage Garden.
The situation, while seeming grim at first, turns out not too bad for Dave. He has a strange a neighbor, fellow tenant Geoff. Geoff however, is more of a scary example of the slide into indigence and what could happen if Dave doesn't get his act together. And there is the security guard, Ron, who is actually a fairly cultured bloke and not bad company.
The idea for the series is based on an experience by co-writer Tom Collinson. At one point in his life, he had to move his belongings into a storage unit in East London. He wasnt too excited by the prospect and described the experience as horrible. He said the facility was a faceless, modern nightmare with rows of pods full of peoples lives. That grim assessment led to the thought maybe he could live in a podand gave birth to wacky humor in a radio show.
The shows run is over for this season, and I doubt if it will come over the pond to this country. But it is a mark of how far into mainstream the self-storage industry has come when it is featured in a radio comedy in a country where the concept is fairly new. There is even a link on the online U.K. TV Guide to self-storage information and newsand Inside-Self Storage. Yay for us!
Anyway, if any of you have any jokes to share, dry or otherwise, send em to me at [email protected]. Ill pass them on. After all, we all need a daily laugh.