The Ominous Comma
Blog: The Ominous Comma
Type: Humor
The funny thing about humor blogs is that they usually aren’t. Funny, that is. And I don’t blame the perpetrators; it is, after all, a rare talent to be amusing in print, most attempts ending in a strained and embarrassing jokiness that is painful to read. Of all those that I have begun reading (I rarely finish them), The Ominous Comma stands out as a valiant effort.
I would not say that the blog is hilarious but it has the power to grant an occasional wry smile; and that is success indeed in a genre that is characterized mostly by a painful grimace. The writer, Brent Diggs, has a rather more subtle style than the sledgehammers so common in this arena and his wit tends to the surrealist end of the spectrum. Indeed, it is appropriate that I found a reference to Monty Python buried within a post, a suitable homage to the standard bearer of such humor in the seventies. A paragraph may serve as an example of Brent’s style:
“Doctor Toboggans has been mercifully absent the last couple of weeks, having received a complementary trip to Australia from one of his clients in order to swim with the legendary great white sharks along the Barrier Reef. Unfortunately for us, it seems that the sharks were on a low arrogance diet and so our fine physician has returned to Comma headquarters in one piece, refreshed and ready to inflict more insight upon an unsuspecting world.”
This Doctor Toboggans seems to surface from time to time as one reads and leads me to suspect that the blog is also character-driven, an added benefit to the general surrealism, if true (I have not read extensively enough as yet to decide on this one but the signs are good). All in all, the result is a blog I can recommend.
The design is excellent, surprisingly tasteful for a humor blog. Muted colors, tans and browns, and a simple but clear layout is the basis of a very good-looking blog. It all seems too good to be true – let me see if I can think of a constructive criticism.
Ah, yes, the home page. It is a portal more than anything else, offering a choice of routes into the various categories. And I don’t like this, preferring to know whether what I am reading is recent or an early entry. It’s a personal thing, I know, but I really can’t think of anything else to moan about.
Now that has to be good, doesn’t it?
Blog reader,
Thanks for your review. I will certainly make a point of visiting the web site above. It sounds interesting.
You pick up on an interesting point in relation to blog layout. In any blog, humor or otherwise, it is important that the blog layout is simple, clear and easy to read.
This is easy to forget in humor blogs, but personally, I rarely bother to read the blog if the layout is cluttered, disorganized or otherwise unattractive – no matter how funny the jokes are.
Regarding your other comments, I too like dry humor and effective character development helps to keep readers interested in the material.
I appreciate what you say about some humor blogs. I have just started a humor blog myself. I am finding that writing good humor is a much more difficult challenge than I thought it would be.
Cheers
Andrew
And thank you for your comment, Andrew. I think that writing humorously is the most difficult thing on the planet. Try to name those books that have genuinely made you laugh out loud and they are few and far between. The same is true of blogs – if you want an easy life, don’t try for a humorous blog.
Very occasionally, someone succeeds, however, and then the blog can be an oasis in the desert of hyperbole and textspeak. I think the Comma is very close to that accolade and now I’m pondering yours…
Thank you for your review. Your honesty and candor have inspired me to redouble my efforts. I will not rest until you have you spewing milk from your nostrils.
Unless of course you are lactose intolerant, in that case we would have to resort to lemon juice.
Thanks again.
You’re entirely welcome, Brent. And I can feel the milk building up in my sinuses as I write…