Blog Challenge: Laugh

This week, write about the last time you had a really good laugh. A belly laugh. A laugh that took your breath away. A laugh that starved you of oxygen and gave you a headache. A laugh where you tossed your head back and really let 'er rip.

I laugh at something (usually the children) at least once a day. I can't remember the last deep belly laugh, but since laughter is a way of life around here, I'm not concerned that I can't remember. I can't go a day without laughing at something. It's like a drug.

Yesterday I laughed pretty hard at a stunt pulled by the morning DJs of our local Top 40 station, B 93.7. Hawk and Tom have something they call "Torture Tuesdays" where they dare one another to do stuff or take dares from listeners. Yesterday it was their cohort, Kato, that got tortured.

Here's Kato's dare: go to a local Waffle House restaurant, ask for a seat at the bar, order something messy (like grits) and proceed to eat with your hands behind your back (or, in other words, use your face).

Juvenile? YES.

Gut-bustingly funny? HECK YEAH.

Kato wore a mic so we could hear what was happening.

The reaction was not what was expected at the first Waffle House. Kato ate, asked someone to wipe his mouth (someone did), and nothing was said. He paid the check and left. As a listener pointed out, "The people that work at the Waffle House are probably used to seeing weirdos like that." Yet another listener suggested Kato go to a Waffle House in a better part of town. (I didn't know there was such a thing as a Waffle House in a "better part of town"!)

So Kato moved on to another Waffle House, and the location was revealed to the listeners. This is where things got really funny.

Kato went in, got a seat at the bar where everyone could see, and did his thing again.

Nobody would wipe his mouth.

In the background the staff could be heard urging Kato to sit still, because his "sister Katherine" was on her way. Kato had no clue who Katherine was, but he played along. He kept saying, "I don't want to go with her, man. She can't make me go back there."

Then the staff kinda' ganged up on Kato and tried to keep him from leaving. He freaked out a little and finally got out of there.

Who was Katherine? A listener. She called the Waffle House pretending to be Kato's sister. She explained that her "brother" Kato had escaped from Marshall Pickens (a local mental hospital) and she suspected that he was eating in their restaurant. She encouraged the staff to keep him in the restaurant until she could come pick him up.

Reading back over all of that, it's hard to see just exactly was SO funny, but I sure was laughing so hard I was crying.

I guess you have to hear it; the simple retelling of the story isn't all that funny in print.

Maybe they'll post the audio on the website soon and you'll understand why it's blog-worthy.