​​​​​​Because humor is funnier when you know it's true.

I need me a course in writing millennial

I may not be the greatest humor writer in the history of the world, but I’m not exactly the ABBA of humor writers either.

But today in 2018 I am facing an inconvenient truth. 

I am a Baby Boomer.

Please someone:  I need me a course in how to write millennial!

Just as styles do in clothing, automobiles, and music, styles of humor change and evolve over time  too.

I was born in the Milton Berle era of the 1950’s when Uncle Miltie got laughs just by putting on a dress. Then came the “Here’s Johnny” era, and I loved staying up late with Carnac the Great, the Tee Time Movie, and the slick show bizz banter grinning Johnny Carson purveyed along with folk like Sammy Davis, Steve & Eydie, and sometimes, yes, even the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra.

As I trotted off to college, humor morphed again with the emergence of cerebral social and political commentary from the likes of Robert Klein, David Steinberg, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and (like him or not) Woody Allen, all of whom were perfect to get stoned to and marvel at our very hipness with.

Seemed just an eye blink later and David Letterman - a guy considered so off beat at the time he was passed over for host of the all-American Tonight Show - ruled the CBS eye with his top ten lists, tossing bowling balls off the top of buildings, and his patented "it’s so stupid it’s funny brand of comedy."

And I was totally down with all of this.

Then the millennials cometh.

And now I've been down so long it looks like up - way up over my head! - to me.

What is millennial humor?  I think it's kind of absurdity married to hipness married to modern and obscure  cultural references expressed though memes.  Lots and lots of memes.

I have no idea what I just wrote.

No millennial is ever going to author posts like:

 "How I Beat Last Summer's Crab Grass," "Don't Leave the Toilet Seat Up! and Other Wacky Tales of Modern Marriage," or "Oh, that Trump!"

What they will author are:

15 UNIQUE THINGS YOU COULD SAY TO JAMES JOYCE IF YOU MET HIM ON BLOOMSDAY ON YOUR WAY HOME FROM A FESTIVAL OF DAVID LYNCH MOVIES ABOUT PASSOVER

IF JANE AUSTEN DIDN’T TAKE HER MEDICINE AND LEARNED TO FIREWALK BUT NOT PARTICULARLY WELL UNTIL SHE HAD A TORRID AFFAIR WITH ALAN CRANSTON, WHO TAUGHT HER HOW TO YODEL

RUNNING BACKWARDS DOG FIRST BITE HOLY MECHANIC FURBANK NORBERT KEEHUBY OHCOKC BYGOS

I have no idea what they just wrote.

Millennials have their own words and phrases as well, like:

It's lit - must refer to joints, I guess.

Throw Shade -  a beach umbrella?  Or to be politically incorrect, former NJ Governor Christie?

Woke - Nah, Boomers don't wanna be this until at least 11:00 A.M. each day.

bae - Somebody bet on the bay!

Kendrick Lamar - Is that firm as good as Progressive? I'm going to call them right away and get a quote on car insurance.

-Perry Block

Perry is a Baby Boomer who frequently tries to pass as a millennial, although his references to Kukla, Fran, & Ollie and circles under his eyes which extend onto the face of the next person sometimes tend to give him away. If this kind of duplicitousness appeals to you, you can follow Perry on his blog at perryblock.com.  He is also on Facebook at facebook.com/perry.block, and on Twitter at twitter.com/PerryBlock.

He would like to be on other sites like Snapchat and Instagram but he has not been able to find an Idiot’s Guide to either one of them. You can check out Perry's first book “Perry Block – Nouveau Old, Formerly Cute” at amazon.com.