Well now the world is dark and funny

One half-gallon of Trader Joe-Joe’s ice cream: $4.99
One month of DirecTV service: $65.00
Spending New Year’s eve introducing your kids to the Marx Brothers: priceless
My kids have given me many large gifts: increased patience, endless love and the obvious joy of watching them grow each day. And a reason to live.

But the smaller gifts sometimes feel almost as valuable.

Groucho has long been my favorite comedian; his wit, brilliant one-liners and calculated insanity stands head and shoulders above everyone that came before and set the bar for many who followed.
All of which is a great tonic for troubled times.

So, imagine my delight when I found the TMC Marx Brothers marathon on New Year’s eve. “Horsefeathers” was on, and both kids became transfixed, especially Jack. And while I often marveled at the brothers’ ensemble work, I still gravitated to Groucho. But Jack immediately took to Harpo, which makes sense, as he was the brother most adept at physical comedy and most child-like. But it caused me to look at their work through the eyes of a child, focusing more on sight gags than one liners and malaprops.

Paying more attention to Harpo, and Chico to a lesser extent, has given me a whole new appreciation of their work as a whole. What timing and controlled chaos. And I thought I couldn’t appreciate them as more than I already did.

I’ve never seen Jack laugh so hard, and I took turns laughing at the movie and smiling at Jack as he laughed. We recorded “A Day at the Races,” and watched it the next day.

OK, maybe comedy is subjective, and maybe a bit of the Marx Brothers act is a tad dated, but to me this stuff remains timeless and transcendent to this day. And, as a bonus, no over-the-top gross-out scenes, no swearing, no cheap sex jokes, no 20-somethings in heat.

Just some of the funniest movies and scenes ever made. Next stop for Ruby, Jack and me: THE single funniest movie ever made: “Duck Soup.”

Strictly 100: Number 15 – The Marx Brothers