Friend from abroad: "Time is money: that's America!"
Marash Girl: "You can always get more money, but you can never get more time . . . "
This interchange brought to mind Jack Benny's famous comic interlude broadcast March 28, 1948:
Mugger: Don't make a move, this is a stickup. Now, come on. Your money or your life.
Jack Benny: (silence)
Mugger: Look, bud -- I said your money or your life!
Jack Benny: (after a pause) I'm thinking it over!
(or as Peter, Marash Girl's father used to end the joke -- one of his favorite's, by the way -- "I'm thinking, I'm thinking!")
what is sobering about that story is that there is an element of truth in it, and more than just an element for many people. humor has its power in exposing the truth in egregious fashion, either through understatement or through hyperbole. the genius of jack benny was that he was able to employ both at the same time.
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