MY HUMOR THANKS TO THE SUMMERS FAMILY

Greetings min-yo-nays:
It is I, your good friend Len, back with another Len Is Right post. Today, I'm going to give some props to some friends who had an influence on me as a kid.

HERE'S TO THE SUMMERS FAMILY
Hey, a couple of weeks ago, I was visiting my closest friend from high school, who was here visiting family. This guy's name is Tom Summers. He was also the Best Man at my wedding. We graduated Christian Bros. Academy (a local military high school run by the Christian Brothers) in 1981, and for the last 3 years of school, I used to hang at Tom's house after school, pretty much all the time.

This post is kind of a Thank You to the Summers family for helping me develop my sense of humor and to not take things too seriously in life. Tom, along with his brothers John, Dan, George, and Charlie always welcomed me into the fold and we always had a great time hanging out, shooting air-pistols, partying (WOW...guess what I did in HIGH school), and just doing alot of laughing.

I guess you could call our sense of humor "all-encompassing." It was made up from classic comedy movies, TV, and stand-up comedians of the day, with a heavy dose of Monty Python and the Firesign Theater thrown in. If you have found anything I write, or anything I say funny, you can kind-of thank the Summers brothers (and definitely NOT the
Christian Brothers, unless it was for mocking humor).

To this day, my family and I still sit around at the dinner table making stupid quotes from movies to make each other laugh. Impressions also play a part in my sense of humor. I have learned to do the voices and sounds of alot of movies and cartoons over the years, and the reason for this is because I had to do something to keep up with these guys. Believe me, with 5 of them, it was tough to find a spot to get in a word, but I managed.

These guys got their humor, I think, from their Dad, John Sr. I remember one of the first times I experienced humor from Mr. Summers. Everytime I had previously met the guy, he seemed very gruff and strict. He came home from work one autumn day while we were all laying about after a bit of a smoke (nudge-nudge). There was a bushel of apples in a basket on the floor, which no one seemed to be eating. Mr. Summers says to us, gruffly: "Hey!! You guys better start eating these damn apples.....what do you think, they grow on trees?" Now I'm sure that doesn't seem that funny reading it, but we all, at the time, thought it was hilarious. That was my first experience with John Summers humor. After that day, he always seemed alot nicer than I originally thought.

These days, with the Summers family scattered all over the Capital District, and my friend Tom living up in Maine, we don't see each other that much. When I do see them, it's always like going home, because we still laugh at the same shit, even quoting the same lines we used to. It just seems any conversation we have leads to the classic humor. So, here, publicly, I'd like to send my heartfelt thanks to Tom, John, Dan, George, Chuck, and Mr.& Mrs. Summers for being a positive influence on who I am today, as a person. Thanks guys. It's always meant alot to me and I've never said anything to you.

AND YOU, MY MINIONS?
Well, jeez, I only got one answer from you on my Thanksgiving poll. I know you guys are reading. How about a little participation, huh? Why so quiet out there? You afraid to bare your souls to the world at a website viewed by tens? Don't be weak. Stand up! Voice an opinion.

How about this? Send me, or post a response here telling us how someone (family, friend, whatever) influenced you to be who you are. Where does your sense of humor come from? Who did you get your drive from? Who taught you how to play cards, or golf, or an instrument? Anything. You're all starving me out there. Except for Uncle Bob, the Mixologist, I haven't heard from you people in a long time. Someone save my life tonight, sugar bear. Let me hear you.

Show me that LEN IS RIGHT!!
I am,
Len Tollerton