MIRTH'S WORTH UP : COMEDY BAROMETER REPORTS EXPENSE OF HUMOR'S NO JOKE.Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer Talk may be cheap, but laughter apparently isn't. The 1997 Cost of Laughing Index rose 3 percent due to a $336.50 increase in the minimum fee for sitcom writing. Not to fret, however: The price of a dozen rubber chickens remained at $66, an attorney-turned-humor-consultant reported Wednesday in his annual survey. ``A 3 percent increase is no laughing matter No Laughing Matter is an episode of U.S. Acres from the series Garfield and Friends. It was the 74th episode produced for the series, although it is listed as the 71st episode on the Garfield and Friends DVD. It originally aired on October 21, 1989. ,'' said Malcolm Kushner, who developed the whimsical index 11 years ago for release near April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day First day of April, named for the custom of playing practical jokes on that date. Though it has been observed for centuries in several countries, including France and Britain, its origin is unknown. . ``It means we're paying more net worth for less net mirth.'' The index consists of 17 ``humor indicators,'' including admission prices to 10 comedy clubs across the country, Mad magazine's newsstand price and the wholesale cost of arrows-through-the-head, among other things. The only indicators to rise were the cover charge at Second City in Chicago, which increased 50 cents to $16; and the fee for writing a sitcom, which went from $11,209 to $11,545 under the Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is a term often referring to the joint efforts of the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, west. Jointly, the two guilds act as the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and basic agreement. ``The Hollywood executives laugh all the way to the banks while TV viewers wait for a few chuckles,'' he said. ``It's the tickle-down theory of economics.'' Kushner's index, used to draw attention to his consulting business in Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, city, United States Santa Cruz (săn`tə kr  z), city (1990 pop. 49,040), seat of Santa Cruz co., W Calif., on the north shore of Monterey Bay; inc. 1866. , had recorded gains of 4.4 percent in each of the last two years. His basic business is giving speeches to corporations and associations on how to use humor as a management tool. He is also the author of ``Successful Presentations for Dummies.'' Kushner's clients have included IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Chevron, Aetna, Sony, AT&T, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard and, recently, Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co., a Burbank-based firm specializing in malpractice insurance Noun 1. malpractice insurance - insurance purchased by physicians and hospitals to cover the cost of being sued for malpractice; "obstetricians have to pay high rates for malpractice insurance" . ``In a nutshell, what I tell business people is that it's good for them to communicate that they have a sense of humor Noun 1. sense of humor - the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor" sense of humour, humor, humour ,'' he said. ``It's a competitive edge that makes people more willing to listen to you.'' Kushner recommends to business people not to focus on telling jokes but simply using humor to make a point. His favorite is a quote from Bishop Fulton Sheen: ``The big print giveth and the fine print taketh away.'' |
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