The Contrary Bass

Do you know what's funny?

Big and awkward is funny.

Making strange buzzy noises
or a sudden unexpected sour note
is always good for a laugh.

Or watching someone
get so frantic in frustration
with a musical instrument
that it makes them pull their hair out.
That's funny!

That was the humorous setup of

Karl Willing
humoristischer Streichbassist
~
humorous string bassist

This crazy German comedian's postcard
was sent from Hannover
on the 21st of February 1918
to Frieda Hümpe of Varrel,
a town in Lower Saxony, Germany
just south of Bremen.

Karl Willig's three pictures
wrestling with his double bass
gives a preview of the jokes
in his music hall act
that needs no translation.

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Sometimes the humor of the string bass,
a.k.a. the contrabass, the double bass
or the bass fiddle
was associated with less sophisticated culture
like folk and country music.

In this case the instrument itself
can become a joke.
A crude homemade box
with three strings
would be all that was needed
for the bass accompaniment
of a Tyrolean folk ensemble.

This Bavarian folk comic and musician
was known as:

Schnacklfranz
Der g'schert Girgl mit der Bassgeig'n
~
The sheared Girgl(?) with the bass violin

This postcard of Schnacklfranz
was never posted but it has note in French on the back
Munich la 14 V 09
Souvenir à
notre voyage de noce
~
Souvenir to our honeymoon
Charles & E...(?)

Certain musical instruments are inherently funny.
The shape, the sound, or the size
all contribute to punchlines that never get old.
These two entertainers knew
that a well-played joke on the double bass
was better that any concerto
because it could make an audience laugh.

We can appreciate the classic humor of the string bass
by watching these two clips of the brilliantly funny
British comedian and actor, Jim Tavaré
from two sets performed many years ago.

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This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where there's always something funny going on.