Bob Dylan Is the Funniest Person Alive

[@harryhew]

Also available as text: thedylanreview.org/2023/08/26/world-of-bob-dylan-how-long-can-we-falsify-and-deny-what-is-real-bob-dylan-is-the-funniest-person-alive-and-why-we-need-to-talk-about-it/

[@billaydam9618]

100% agree with this thesis. I have found myself chuckling at some of his shows. Humor, scathing critisism, irony, and pathos. Dylan covers it all. Here's one of my favs: "They say I shot a man named Gray And took his wife to Italy She inherited a million bucks And when she died it came to me I can't help it if I'm lucky"

[@pathenshaw9383]

The idiot wind has become a hurricane.

[@timjohnson5528]

My favorite line is when the shop owner tells him that it costs 3 dollars and Bob asks him if he'll take 4.

[@nickcallil6971]

Brilliant Harry, love it. I've always thought "Well, I've been in jail, where all the mail showed/That a man can't give his address out to bad company" is hilarious - is it just me?

[@Bastikovski99]

That one always made me go “ha” silently

[@ashraykotian1]

What does it exactly mean?

[@abirdthatflew]

The first time I laughed out loud at Dylan was in 1965 when I heard "Who is that man?" in the Ballad of a Thin Man song. Actually, it was before, "The man wants 11 dollar bills and you only got 10. The vandals took the handles." One of Dylan's hilarious masterpieces for me is "Everything is Broken." But there is so much more: "The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter is that his name wasn't Henry Porter." Like in Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and many other writers, in the depths of a drama there's suddenly an unexpected joke. A rare talent, indeed.

[@suzemargaret7778]

Great, thanks! made me laugh, just as funny guy Bob always does. Transcript much appreciated. (I also found adjusting settings of listening speed ensured I caught all the jokes) ❤

[@djbennett900]

Good stuff. In 2012 at the Hollywood Bowl, Bob Dylan sang Desolation Row. I was recordng using my cell phone so I hear myself crack up all through the song, hardly controlling my laughing -- hearing those words that night was just SO effing funny. Life long fan, pure stoned joy. I also have the infamous Forest Hills tape from 28 August 1965, the day or so before Highway 61 was officially released. The wonderful laughter on Desolation Row has always amazed me too.

[@MichaelSmith-sv4mn]

Harry killing the game as per usual. Great stuff.

[@robertalfonso850]

Great stuff! From the Budokan album: "This is an unrecorded song. See if you can guess which one it is." I laugh every time I think of that line. The song was "Is Your Love in Vain," which is also pretty funny in its way.

[@regmunday8354]

Please write a book about Dylan's humour.

[@buckbell7784]

Great presentation, man! Had to pause it a few minutes in because now I’m thinking of all the latter-day Dylan lines that make me smile and laugh. “Brains in the pot; they’re beginnin to boil… they’re dripping with garlic and olive oil…” “I’m stranded in the city that never sleeps. Some of these women, they just give me the creeps… I’m stark naked but I don’t care… I’m going off into the woods, I’m huntin’ bear…” Love and Theft is a riot. I also grin every time I hear Duquesne Whistle: “You rascal, I know exactly where you’re goin’…”

[@lauraeliot7199]

It absolutely worked! I enjoyed every minute of this brilliant presentation. Thank you❤❤❤

[@rrakove]

One of the top hits of the conference! This is so great. Now we have to set it to music.

[@Alien_Observer_]

“Never robbed any churches nor cut off any babies’ heads” I always understood the intended meaning to be that it was as if Lenny Bruce must have done something really extreme during his lifetime, as in those two examples, to have merited some of the harsh criticism and treatment he received for his material/observations. “I rode with him in a taxi once / Only for a mile and a half, seemed like it took a couple of months” I take this to mean that they covered so many topics during their short conversation. An enjoyable but very intense experience.

[@GD-rd6ig]

Yep.

[@johnargyropoulos8713]

Loved it, thank you Harry.

[@TurnipsOddAudio]

This is fantastic, Harry! Thanks for sharing

[@rupertbob1463]

Brilliant, funny presentation and very insightful 🙂

[@stephenlee1756]

"In my words you'll find no guile" So many levels of humour!

[@Billyontheroad]

This is unbelievable brilliant! Only two questions left: How do you manage to navigate through this odd world as a genious? And where can I order a Harry Hew t shirt in XL?

[@harryhew]

I navigate the world in a Harry Hew XL t-shirt.

[@Phil-r6k]

I’ve always thought that Dylan is hilarious! Pretty much every National Lampoon album from back in the day featured a spot-on parody/satire of him, so there must be something funny about him…

[@Joshuatribe]

so happy to have found this and you, Harry Hew, I could not agree more, funniest person alive, at least in English -- Desolation also (at least tied) my fave, much love

[@quarkyman1]

Me too tied with Visions of Johanna.

[@grunntalll]

Really nice little presentation/essay!

[@lesliescott2362]

I thought this presentation was right up there with Happy Traum and Cass Sunstein who were also great. Harry was incredible.

[@lesliescott2362]

And I should have added Greil Marcus who also thought u were pretty darned good!

[@chrisdonaghy2509]

Good man 👍🏻

[@sadeyedlady4U]

Great job!

[@ericgrosbein9459]

Thanks as always, Harry.

[@OrggsOrggs]

❤

[@markgodfrey2469]

The high-point of an amazing week! Nice work, Harry!!!

[@reedcoles1215]

What I do like about about bob dylan and phil ochs, which I like both of there music is how witty and, humors they were when it came down to themevles trolling each other or events going on. I think Phil said something like with every tragdey theres a sense of absuirtdy before he sang talk birmigham jam. Even then beatles had a funny sense of humor when people asked about there songs and events that happened during the time which is even more ironic where people accpet there humor more often than other bands I think.

[@Ontheroadagain15]

Awesome ❤

[@GD-rd6ig]

Thank you for this.

[@maggiebryan2355]

Nice listern

[@bryanelum5552]

I've gotten odd looks from 'serious' people when i laugh while reading Dostoyevsky. He's very funny too.

[@jeffclement2468]

🎵 "I've had enough. The box is clean. You know what I'm sayin' And you know what I mean..." 🎵 "Everybody from right here To over there and back The louder they come The bigger they crack."

[@Joshuatribe]

great GREAT Lenny Bruce analysis, yasss!!!

[@jillybe1873]

In an early interview Dylan told us he's sees himself as just a song and dance man. Seems that for once he wasn't joking.

[@jillethelturner]

And I sincerely believe that Bob’s favourite TV programs are Downton Abbey & Father Brown!!??

[@philipmay6003]

I love this.

[@garad123456]

"Well you bet on a horse and it ran the wrong way"

[@GD-rd6ig]

My never ending Dylan fandom began when I heard him singing about making love to Elizabeth Taylor and catching hell from Richard Burton. And now Key West being fine and fair/ if you’ve lost your mind, you can fin$ it there,”

[@UncleDansVintageVinyl]

"Needless to say he burned the house down." "No, that's how I got tuberculosis." Man, you are exactly right!

[@ulfbittner7063]

0bwohl ich weiß, dass es sinnlos ist, kann ich es nicht lassen, zu versuchen mein soziales Umfeld für Dylan zu begeistern. Ich meine man hört ihn 4 Takte singen & man weiß Bescheid oder nicht. Bei den Wenigen, die unentschlossen waren, aber interessiert, bin ich manchmal, sozusagen als. ,, Joker" dann soweit gegangen, ihnen zu versuchen zu erklären wie viel Humor in seinen Liedern steckt. Das hat dann Viele von den Wenigen doch überfordert und sie sind wieder ausgestiegen. 😏

[@ragqueen]

Jews are funny. it's in our genes. joke and story-tellers. i grew up in a Jewish family. Everyone was funny. Bob's got that in him.

[@harryhew]

I tried to give his parents the credit they deserve.

[@ragqueen]

@@harryhew ❤

[@ahyaok100]

Dylan just figured he would be even more absurd to the media than they were towards him. I have to agree he is hilarious and has a hell of an imagination.

[@johnpaulgillespie9103]

Dylan Disney dance But he can sing sing

[@JessePesto]

those are two powerful words! ahaha !!!

[@JackFate76]

You sound a bit like Norm Macdonald, the funniest petson no longer alive.

[@grunntalll]

10:58 haha youre a norm fan arent ya?

[@harryhew]

Norm was my hero. I met him in 2009, and it remains the greatest thrill of my life. He liked a thing I wrote and for a few years he allowed me to annoy him on Twitter. He was so much kinder to me than he needed to be. Meant the world.

[@grunntalll]

Thats awesome to hear! He's my hero too.... Ive heard some similar stories of his kindness, what a treat. I live too far away from the states to ever have caught him (a)live unfortunately.. i keep listening to the bootlegs of his shows and its just the best stand up ever imo. By the way, did you ever ask him more in-depth about him spending time with dylan at his house?@@harryhew

[@harryhew]

@@grunntalll Funny story on that. So Norm was doing a show at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto. I went with my parents, and we got there early. Norm was just standing around. I was too nervous to approach him. Instead I fled upstairs to pee, and while I was peeing my mother went up to Norm and said my son loves you, you're his hero, he's your biggest fan-but he's too much of a chicken to tell you. As I come walking down the stairs, there's Norm waiting for me with a big smile on his face. He says my name, over and over, like he's my best friend. We spoke for about five minutes and I was so jittery that afterwards my mind completely wiped the conversation to save me from the embarrassment of having to relive all the stupid, awkward things I said. Flash forward a dozen years, and I told that story on Twitter after Norm died. I swear, a guy messages me to say he met Norm at the same show and he distinctly remembered hearing somebody talking to Norm about Bob Dylan. I have to believe that somebody was me, but I have no memory of what I said. As for the stories Norm tweeted about Dylan... I saved all that stuff, but I didn't ask him any questions about it because I didn't think he'd give me any answers, and I didn't really want answers anyway. Better to preserve the mystery. I did talk to Norm about another artist I love, Leonard Cohen. Norm said he wasn't a fan of Cohen's work but then he met Cohen and Cohen was a fan of his work and said all these nice things to him, and that naturally made Norm like him.

[@grunntalll]

hahaha, awesome man! thanks for sharing :) @@harryhew

[@fffoolishnomore3834]

He had a team of writers propagandising a generation, the times are changing but not in a good way.