Military Laughing - "[It's] just to show a side of us that isn't necessarily a uniform," Lombardi said. "We have a personality. You see a Marine go up there and just floor you with jokes, your impression changes a little bit."
98. "These fallen heroes represent the character of a nation that has a long history of patriotism and honor - and a nation that has fought many battles to keep our country free from threats of terror."
Military Laughing
– Michael N. Castle 82. “I can imagine no more rewarding career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.'
Inspirational Humor
– John F. Kennedy Both founders, and many of the veterans in the lineup, were acolytes of the Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP), a nonprofit organization that offers veterans classes in the arts -- acting, storytelling, writing, improv and, of course, stand-
up comedy. He uses humor to address his physical appearance — there are jokes about going to firework stands, being asked by motel workers if he's in the area for wounded veteran events, or asking for a cremation discount.
If there's one thing that ruins anything targeted towards the military, it's messing up the uniform. It may seem like a small detail to people who were never in the military, but that's kinda the whole f*cking point – details.
Everything starts with paying attention to details. This is how veterans know who served and who's out there just getting a half-price dinner at Chili's. But often, and sometimes in the same breath, those stereotypes were torn down or given a new perspective.
And at the very least, perception of those topics -- from branch quirks to serious topics about suicide or post-traumatic stress -- were given the kind of knowing and raw treatment that reflected the life experience of the comics on stage.
Wicked Comedy, a stand-up group founded and run by two Massachusetts-based veterans, arranged an all-veteran lineup for the evening. No topic was off limits. In fact, the somber date seemed to fuel the comedy; #neverforgettolaugh, some of the group's promotions read.
No crowd member was safe from the frontal assault of the dialed-in routines that not only touched on military and veteran topics, but really anything. 12. "We must never forget why we have, and why we need our military.
Our armed forces exist solely to ensure our nation is safe so that each and every one of us can sleep soundly at night, knowing we have 'guardians at the gate.' – Allen West "We always say in ASAP, 'it's not therapy, but it's therapeutic,'" White told Military.com after the show.
"Therapy is a real, necessary thing that most of us, if not all of us, need, and this is not a substitute for it." Ryan served in a Seabee Battalion in the Navy in the early 1990s, deploying to the Caribbean and Okinawa and joining the Army as a combat medic after 9/11, serving in the Ranger community and as a flight medic with the 1st Infantry Division.
3. "Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back."
– Heraclitus Burton, an Army veteran, was one of seven comics that night who had the background to take aim at some of those topics with authenticity and earnest candor. It was the anniversary of 9/11, the Global War on Terror was fading, and everyone in the little bar in Virginia, veteran or not, was there to laugh.
And they laughed. 21. "What is at a peak is certain to decline. He who shows his hand will certainly be defeated. He who can prevail in battle by taking advantage of his enemy's doubts is invincible."
- Cao Cao While some jokes received gasps and groans, no joke bombed outright. There was always a laugh, whether it was the whole room or just some veterans who were in on the joke. And it worked, because beneath the darkness and the ribbing, the jokes were made in good faith and good humor.
They were genuine. Henline, who's known as "the well-done comedian" by audiences and "burnt Pa" by his grandkids, said he wants to open the dialogue between himself and other burn survivors with strangers, instead of being met with stares of fear.
For a moment, just a fraction of a second, the crowd took a collective inhale, unsure whether to laugh, groan or storm down the stairs and out of the German restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia, when John Burton told a whopper of a 9/
11 jokes Sunday night to kick off his set. 41. "It is a proud privilege to be a soldier - a good soldier ... [with] discipline, self-respect, pride in his unit and his country, a high sense of duty and obligation to comrades and to his superiors, and a
self-confidence born of demonstrated ability.” – George S. Patton Jr. "Nothing's off limits, as long as it's funny," said Mike Connell, a Marine veteran who told Military.com that he joined stand-up because it's cheaper than drugs and the VA doesn't answer phones as quickly as you can go to
the open mic. "I'm sure you heard a couple of veterans suicide jokes, but that's the way I honor my buddies who committed suicide." The military exists to deter war and also to protect the security of a country, protecting us while we're sleeping at home in our beds and also defending our freedoms.
We've put together this collection of the best military quotes to honor and appreciate our brave soldiers. Physically, Lombardi and Warner couldn't be more different: Lombardi is roughly two heads taller than Warner, who playfully joked on set about her experience as a gay Marine.
And while Lombardi had two decades of service on Warner, both left the service relatively recently, both are from Massachusetts (hence the reference to the word Wicked), and both were looking for ways to pad their transition out of the military and into civilian life
. Comics who hailed from almost every branch of service flicked, squeezed and outright ruptured every raw nerve the country had exposed over the last two decades. The crowd -- a mix of veterans in on some of the more service-specific jokes and civilians who may not be -- laughed and laughed hard.
So look, if you're targeting the military-veteran community for anything, be it a new TV show or movie, a 3M lawsuit, or a reverse mortgage or whatever, we know immediately how much effort you're putting into caring about actual
veterans. Some of these are so bad, they popped my collar. 14. ”This country has not seen and probably will never know the true level of sacrifice of our veterans”. As a civilian, I owe an unpayable debt to all our military.
Going forward let's not send our servicemen and women off to war or conflict zones unless it is overwhelmingly justifiable and on moral high ground." – Thomas M. Smith "I think the reason is -- and not to sound at all cocky or overconfident -- but we've kind of earned the right to express ourselves about the things that have happened," said Vinny Lombardi, a 26-year Air Force veteran.
and co-founder of Wicked Comedy. "Why? Because we're the ones that went." 34. "If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman;
if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name." – Theodore Roosevelt And their data also indicates that veteran art performances give insight into the military and veteran population, with over half of surveyed civilians reporting a changed perception of the demographic as a result of attending a performance.
"It's a community that I didn't know existed," said Demi Chang, a comic and Marine veteran. "They'll have like an all-Asian show and an all-female show … and I feel like, even though I've struggled with my identity, whenever you meet other veterans, it doesn't matter what branch you're from
, or what rank you are -- officer or enlisted -- you have a common thread." 62. “The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one's country" - George S. Patton Jr.
93. "The veterans of our military services have put their lives on the line to protect the freedoms that we enjoy. They have dedicated their lives to their country and deserve to be recognized for their commitment.”
– Judd Gregg 55. "Any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy."
– John F. Kennedy "It brought us together as a country," he said, "but also as service members ... so I think people will receive it better from us versus a civilian up there," adding that law enforcement and first responders might have a similar effect.
That moment hung -- an unpracticed comic's worst nightmare. But Burton, seemingly expecting the reaction, gave a 'Come on, really?' smirk and flipped the joke into a double entendre about the end of the Afghan war, landing a one-two punch straight to the audience's gut and forcing them to exhale into a burst of laughter with some shocked "oohhs" thrown in.
Had anyone else told it, it might have flopped. And yes, the veteran and war jokes flowed abundantly. The exit from Kabul was brought up along with dark references to 9/11, veteran suicide, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Department of Veterans Affairs wait times and improvised explosive devices.
None of the comics were Navy veterans, which was good -- they might have cried at the number of cracks about sailors. "So comedy is a weird thing; in fact, it's very cliquish and it's sometimes really hard to break into," said Dewayne White, the headliner, a 23-year Army veteran and instructor for ASAP's comedy courses.
"An open mic can crush your soul. … But the one thing that I love about ASAP and the whole veteran comedy community in general is when you go and you first start out -- you're nervous, you don't know anybody -
- but when you walk in, you have a friendly face."