In the Good Old Days you could go into any American bar and you’d find That Guy. He was as much a fixture of the gin mill as the revolving Schlitz sign, the smoke-choked air, and the jaded bartender who’d heard it all, seen it all, and was fed up with it all. So who was That Guy? ...

In last week’s column I wrote about the pedestrian safety situation in town. Or more specifically, about the lack of it. To illustrate, I said things are so bad that the only way to cross our streets safely was in a helicopter, which isn’t really true, since you could cross just as safely ...

Without doubt, the scariest and most bad-rapped netherworld figure is The Grim Reaper. But unjustly so, sez I. To most people — Death Metal and Dungeon Synth fans to the contrary — he’s an object of fear...shivering, bone-chilling, knee-shaking fear. But he shouldn’t be. After ...

Though there’s no way to prove it without a time machine, I think I started telling jokes in first grade. I was driven to it, since there was nothing else funny to be had within the Petrova school’s hallowed halls. By second grade I knew enough jokes, puns, riddles and word play to keep ...

Dybbuks, according to Eastern European Jewish folklore, are the malicious spirits of dead people. And because they’re malicious, they raise holy hell with those of us still shlepping on this mortal coil. While I don’t believe in dybbuks, ghosts, haints or other such characters from The ...

I believe there are two kinds of funny. The first is “Funny Ha Ha Ha!” This is the stuff that, in a flash, reduces you to hilarity. A perfect example for me is Mel Brooks’ movies. They’re anything for a laugh — puns, sight gags, slapstick goofs, weird anachronisms and ...