Can you imagine the violence that would ensue if truth serum was somehow introduced into the water supply over a holiday weekend?
So what did we learn from the latest David Blaine special? That the easiest way to make celebrities look like dolts is to film them watching magic.
I remember when LEGO was just a bucket with a bunch of little building blocks in it. Now kids are given detailed instructions on exactly what to build with no pieces left over. What a great metaphor for childhood these days.
People ask me “Lance, do you ever run out of ideas for stories?” and I answer “Nope, just good ones.”
As my dog lay sleeping with her head in my lap she slowly transformed from a trusted and loyal friend to a dumb, oblivious animal as I gave myself permission to fart.
Ever have those turds that are too big? You sit there sweating and pushing like you're giving birth. I call them “prison turds” because they remind me how THANKFUL I am I'm not in prison.
I always meant to ask my last girlfriend what it was she thought about during sex that stopped her from coming too quickly. Whatever it was, it worked great.
There are people who are born to leave you. There are people wired to stay. To blame either for being how they are is to be mad at the sky for being blue. (Feel free to explore this observation further by noting that what we call the sky is just a vague region of the atmosphere and the color is only because air molecules scatter blue light from the sun more than they do red. You could easily replace sky with space and black for blue. Would that change how you feel about the first two lines?)
You know what would make a great holiday special? Having little people dressed as elves drag everyone involved in the decision to make a sequel to “A Christmas Story” in front of a Santa who will then chainsaw their heads off.
Hope springs eternal. It's annoying like that. Cynicism, on the other hand, just sits there.
When you understand just how many things go on in order to pee it makes you want to at least say “Release the urine!” every time you're standing in front of the toilet.
While on hold yesterday the message I was hearing made two things clear: 1. I may be being recorded. 2. I was free to press 0 at any time. Speaking in a strong firm voice I let the message know that I was free to press ANY number at any time. I wanted to let it know exactly who it was dealing with. I hope that it was recorded.
If you talk to any old person, all of their conversations can be distilled down to one simple thought: getting older blows.
If a woman didn't have nipples I bet we'd be ok with them walking around topless.
“Cough... cough,” he coughed.
Sometimes I think that I'm nothing more than a machine to turn onion rings into odd-smelling farts.
Listening to a Barry White tune today I was able to improvise an entire song's worth of lyrics. Granted at least 50% of the time I was singing “Put your hands on my penis.” (Note: This is not as funny if one is not listening to a Barry White song)
Listening to the stranger next to me. Her breathing is a lullaby. A lullaby that doesn't rhyme and causes me to lose my boner.
Had to delete a story today. Entitled “Hope is a Cruel Mistress,” it was tale of a married man who was dating a girl on the side named Hope who was cruel. It was so choked with metaphors that the Word program kept freezing.
It appears impossible to leave Jiffy Lube without spending over $100 on a $40 oil change. I had no idea my car had so many fluids and belts that needed replacing. Finally I was forced to pull the greasy man over the counter and explain that I didn't care if they found human remains in my air filter I wasn't interested in replacing it.
Justt wantedd too seee howw cooll myy writingg wouldd bee withh aa littlee reverbb.
While I appreciate the fact that the folks at Hallmark Cards went to the trouble of exhuming the two ladies working at the checkout, and will no doubt return them to their graves after the holiday rush is over, there to wait until next season's shopping frenzy again summons them from the cold confines of their caskets, I do wish they could move the storeroom, where they apparently keep the boxes in which every little ceramic figurine comes in, a little closer to the front counter. And by closer, I mean not at the other end of the store. And while they're at it perhaps even shrink the size of the storage area down from the four football fields it appears to occupy so when the old corpses drag themselves back there for each and every customer that has had the misfortune of walking through the Hallmark doors and decided to purchase something they could be gone for less than an hour.
Last night, looking out my window and seeing a neighbor’s light on through a small wooded area in the development next to mine, and then looking up and seeing the light from a star hundreds of billions of miles away, and noticing that they look almost identical, I could not help but feel that my neighbor's light just wasn't trying. There was also a metaphor about celebrity in our culture in there somewhere but I just couldn't be bothered to sort it out. That's how disappointed I was in my neighbor's light.
I don't enjoy watching people dance well. I don't dislike people who dance well; I just find their dancing tedious to watch. I like to watch bad dancers. I could watch a bad dancer all night.
A mayfly lives for only one day. When it rains that entire day you know that they must look skyward and think to themselves “Well that sucks.” When one of them gets eaten after only a few hours the rest must be thinking to themselves “What a shame. He was so young.” They don't have mouths, so that why they have to think everything to themselves.
The news never reports the things I want to know, i.e. was the jumper wearing Life Is Good apparel?
I always give mock advice as a way to make fun of people who feel so self-important that they give advice but today I'd like to give some actual advice: give mock advice as a way to make fun of people who feel so self-important that they give advice.
Living without regret is a ridiculous expectation. If you come to the end of your life with no regrets all that shows is an astounding lack of imagination.
I read that only 30% of woman can achieve an orgasm through intercourse. Here's hoping that the other 70% will make it their New Year's resolution to get their vaginas fixed.
“Caveat Emptor” - Let the buyer beware. “Just Pay Separate Process And Handling” - The buyer is an idiot who is about to get screwed.
Always remember... a hot knife through butter is fast, but a knife through hot butter is faster.
It seems that the word sweater has a negative connotation built into it. Instead of a cozy item to wear on a cold day it seems to indicate it somehow creates sweat. “He won't talk eh? Put on the sweater.”
I love pulling a grey hair. It's like fighting against the ravages of time without actually having to do any exercise. An epic tug.
Typically a fart comes out front to back. This one was more left to right. I was farting and then one-tenth of a second later I was done. Felt great.
Yesterday I got my daily e-mail from a service that sends out requests for guests for various entertainment outlets and among these pleas was “Looking for couples who got engaged in a Costco.”
Ironically, I too am looking for these same couples ... so I can talk to them about sterilization.
I have a pet rash. I keep him on my arm.
Last night at the mall I saw an awkward teenager who reminded me of myself at that age. Nerdy, unfashionably dressed, bad haircut. The whole package. I wanted to go up to him and throw my arm around him and say “I know right now life seems tough and unfair and everything seems an uphill battle but believe me... it gets much worse.”
I'm realizing that a lot of celebrities don't have the complexion for 60” HD televisions. Hunks of make-up clinging to nooks and crannies as if it had been applied to an English muffin. A bit distracting.
I had a dream last night about camping. When I woke there was a faint smoky smell in the room and crumbs in my bed from the s'mores I had eaten. When I went downstairs I found the kitchen had been ransacked by raccoons. You could argue the sound of this ruckus was the reason I chose to dream about camping or you could believe, as I do, that I dreamt raccoons into existence. And they had antennae and human smiles.
Stalkers, a word of advice: make sure not to lose sight of what put you in that shrub by the window in the first place. Enjoy yourself or march right out and find something else to do with your life.
I can trace some of my problems back to my childhood and the toilet-flushing policy in my house: If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown also let it mellow. Our house smelled bad.
Read the word revolver. You picture a gun. I did anyway. Now remember that it is named so because it has a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers and a barrel for firing. The cylinder revolves. This allows the user to fire multiple rounds without reloading and was a giant leap forward over the single barrel weapons that preceded it. Now read the word again. Revolver. Doesn't it seem different? With the emphasis on “revolve” I get a weird tingle in my brain now. Probably just me.
Replaced all the wooden doors in the house with three inch thick granite ones. I prefer a more dramatic sound when they close behind me. It's working.
I saw a car stuck in the snow so I quickly pulled in front of it and secured a rope to the front bumper. With one quick push on my accelerator the bumper gave way and I drove off dragging it behind me. I thought to myself “That makes six.”
Traumatic experience #37: When I was a kid I showered at a relative's house and they handed me a towel and said it was “thick and thirsty.” Ever since I've been terrified by the idea of a thirsty towel. Why couldn't they have just said plush?
The difference between being embarrassed and being ashamed of your behavior is a thin line usually directly connected to alcohol intake. Following that train of thought I have a feeling when I remember last night's events, or have them recounted for me, I will be revolted.
I don't mean to brag but I'll bet that when you hear that someone evacuated their bowels, I imagine it a lot more orderly than you do.
Women seem to violate the laws of gravity, i.e. they are easier to pick up than drop.
Love has gone when you stop kissing, not when you stop fucking.
Spent the night drinking and unsuccessfully trying to come up with a difference between my previous books and the journals kept by Kevin Spacey's character in “Seven.”
When I'm watching porn there is nothing I hate more than when they show the man and woman initially talking and then cut to them banging away. It's like when I buy a new car. If I'm in the showroom and I find one I like I don't want to blink and find myself driving off the lot.
Watching UFC makes me wish cloning technology was much further along. While Barao vs. Faber is an ok fight, Faber vs. Faber would be awesome.
I can never quite relate to people that don't pick their nose when nobody is looking.
Some days time passes leisurely and others it seems to be marching relentlessly forward, determined to return us to a state of unconscious elements. Don't let circumstances fool you, it's always the latter.
The only female super hero I thought was ever named appropriately is Wonder Woman. The word “Wonder” can be used as a noun (miraculous deed or event; remarkable phenomenon; something strange and surprising; a cause of astonishment or admiration) or a verb (to speculate curiously or be curious about; to doubt) ... much like every woman I've ever known. Her weapon? A lasso that compels all beings who come into contact with it to tell the absolute truth. Thank goodness she's the only gal with one of those.
Whenever you buy anything you are deciding amongst different options provided by different competitors. You are creating a single winner and multiple losers. Given that, I only have one question: “How could you?”
I laid there pretending I was asleep. She laid there pretending to sleep. Introductions can be so awkward.
The professor handed each student a mirror and said “Today we're going to be studying entropy.”
I've never written to be popular or been popular.
Whenever I'm having a conversation with someone and they blink I immediately think to myself “They just spread a mixture of oils and mucous secretions across the surface of their eyes to keep them from drying out.” Makes it hard to follow what they're saying but it's their fault if they're going to be standing there blinking the whole time.
Tom Hanks was ok as Captain Phillips but I'd rather have seen Emo Philips play the part. Or have Tom Hanks play Captain Emo Philips.
I'd like to open a restaurant in Hollywood called Gruel. All the hipsters would assume the name is ironic but I would serve nothing but cornmeal boiled in water. It would no doubt be a wild success. “Would you like that runny or extra runny Mr. De Niro?”
The problem some kids have with standing up to a bully is the part where they pin them to ground and repeatedly punch them in the face in front of all their friends.
While taking candy from a baby might appear easy, there are emotional tolls to consider.
I refuse to feel bad that my frozen dinner had chocolate pudding. If everyone was so damn worried about getting chicken fingers, leaving me with fish sticks, they sure as hell can choke down their corn without complaint.
I just had the feeling that it was going to be one of those moments where somebody would snarl at me “You're better than that” and I would whimper “No. I'm really not” before slinking out.
I don't completely trust any language where the word “manhandle” doesn't have something to do with masturbation.
St. Patty's Day research completed: How many green beers does it take to begin hearing voices in the bagpipes? Nine.
I refuse to stay at a La Quinta until they change their name to The Fifth. This is 'Merica, damn it.
Perhaps what nobody likes to admit to themselves is that they can leave any time they want. If they're here, wherever here might be, they are here because they choose to be.
It's gotten to the point where we can only hear truth from comedians. Politicians and businessmen are incapable of it. Comedians don't even have to be funny anymore, we'll pay them to stand on a stage and yell common sense at us. How fucked are we?
When someone asks you to pick a number between 1 and 10, don't pick 1. Or 10. Do I even have to explain it? Nobody wants you picking 1 or 10. You're going to end up making people ask you to pick a number between 2 and 9. Is that what you want?
The thing about polarizing writers is that we're always looking to increase the size of our pole.
I think the plan to just ignore the rampant violence and crime in the inner cities in the hopes that it will somehow just go away is going to work out splendidly for everybody.
Whenever someone says “I like to consider myself an intelligent person,” what they really mean is that they like to consider themselves a more intelligent person than they are. Having said that, I just watched the India vs. Sri Lanka cricket match for two HOURS and, while I like to consider myself an intelligent person, I could not figure out how the game of cricket is played.
Every time I watch Alien I spend the whole movie marveling at how small Sigourney Weaver's mouth is. Not that she would necessarily be willing but I don't think I could get it all in.
Mark my words, one day that Cocoa Puffs bird is going to kill somebody.
I remember this girl. I thought she was the one... until the fateful day I snooped in her medicine cabinet and found a packet of Preparation H Medicated Wipes. When I think how close I came to asking her to be Mrs. Manion... really dodged a bullet there.
How can you trust a language where the word “umlaut” doesn't have an umlaut?
You know the music that plays in the background of movies that tells you if things are great or if they are about to get scary? It's there in real life too. You just have to really listen.
In the interest of full disclosure, the ruler I have tattooed on my inner thigh is not entirely accurate ... but it helps sell the product.
Tiny farts can be more socially crippling than large ones. I'd rather have somebody think I farted than think that's how I smell.
Fact: I am two pounds heavier when I have an erection.
Sitting at the park last night, I was watching an overweight guy jogging when he suddenly let loose with the loudest and most glorious fart I'd ever heard. Then, to my left, I saw a man dragging his golf clubs across a patch of pavement and realized that was where the sound came from. I was so disappointed. True story.
I'm not saying that every woman would go lesbian if they knew what men were really thinking. I'm just saying that they might give the brochure a longer look.
The other day I was walking when I heard a familiar voice, that I couldn't quite place, say “Hey, I spy a Lance Manion,” to which I replied “Shhhh, if you're quiet you can watch him in his natural environment.”
I then pecked at the ground and began to gather twigs. An hour later I had finished a serviceable nest. Turning to finally see the owner of the familiar yet unknown voice I found that he was no longer there.
How rude.
Pausing a TV show because someone in the room is talking is like asking them to be quiet. Pausing and then staring at the ceiling is like saying “shut the fuck up.”
Not saying “Yay!” out loud when something good happens is missing an opportunity. Even the smallest things. Just because other people are too inhibited to verbalize it doesn't mean you have to be. Throw your hands in the air if you want. If you want to be happy, be happy.
An interesting dilemma is walking by a retarded man fishing in a pond that you know unequivocally has no fish.
I think if you made traffic lights take even 30 seconds longer to change, that most major cities would burn. That's how fragile I think our civilization is.
I was asked to write a children's story so I did. It was titled “Gary The Dragon With Erectile Dysfunction.”
Gentlemen, when at the bar and witnessing a girl about to sit down be careful of how you say “May I push in your stool?” If you don't lift your eyebrow just so she might miss your meaning.
If you're going to stage a protest, make sure your message is clear. For example, last summer all of the squirrels in our local woods disappeared. Just packed up and left. Not one squirrel was seen all summer. This spring they're back. Not sure what their point was. Fucking squirrels don't know dick about protesting.
In fairness to the Pope's decision to canonize John Paul II, Catholicism did need a Patron Saint of Covering Up Rampant Pedophilia In The Church.
I sat at the bar listening to her and putting her words in my pan and swirling them around like some horny 49er in the hopes of spotting gold.
I realize saying that I don't enjoy burlesque as much as I do strippers might be as fine a line as saying I like hookers more than escorts but there it is.
So let me get this straight... Donald Sterling was caught saying anti-black comments to his half-black girlfriend and Jay Z was wearing an anti-white medallion while sitting next to his bleached-her-skin-to-look-more-white wife. How can average folks deal with their own racial identity issues when even the racists don't know what they want?
As time passes too many of us are like trees on the outside but bars of soap on the inside.
I'm alright with the “For he's a jolly good fellow” part, as redundant as it may be; it's the last bit that has me a bit skeptical. Nobody?
I'm sure that this makes me a horrible person but I just love to look at the promo pictures of shitty TV series that get cancelled after one season. Everyone in the picture smiling like an asshole, convinced that that they are part of the next big show.
If you want to ruin a wedding toast, include some real advice to the groom: “And finally, and most importantly, always clear your browser history. Never forget. Ever. Not once.” Half the women in attendance will glare at their husband.
I remember sitting at the edge of the bed with a good friend. I said “Will this make things weird?” She said “I certainly hope so.” It forever changed the word. From that moment on I equated weird with good.
It was just one of those games... three pucks in a row sailed into the crowd and killed somebody. You know how Pee Wee hockey gets...
If bombs sounded like mosquitoes then more people would be swatting at their necks before they died.
The desire to take a good look in the mirror is usually replaced with a realization that I strongly dislike mirrors.
Assuming for a minute that birds could use briefcases, would they? I like the idea of the skies filled with birds carrying little briefcases. One bird turning to the other in the nest, grabbing their briefcase and saying “Gotta fly,” before launching themselves off to work. Occasionally you'd get bonked on the head by a dropped bird briefcase but then you'd not only get the enjoyment of rummaging through it quickly before they swooped down to collect it but the amusement of them giving you the “What the fuck do you think you're doing?” face.
After reading that 90% of the medical advice on Wikipedia is incorrect I think it's time to remove the bacon wrap from my testicles and go see a professional.
Last night there was a huge thunderstorm and a tree fell into my neighbor’s hot tub, flattening it. In surveying the damage this morning they looked at me straight-faced and said “Well, at least no one was hurt.” “Yeah, cause going out in the hot tub during a freak electrical storm is so commonplace.” I replied. They stared back. To clarify I said “Yep, you really dodged a bullet.” They continued to stare as I went back inside.
Of course the thumb is a finger. Otherwise the middle finger wouldn't be the middle finger. Duh!
I picture a dark raincloud coming over the mountain and looking at the parched plains lustily and saying “Where do you want it?”
The defense attorney finished his arguments by saying “Don't judge lest you yourself be judged.” The judge then said “Fine, but just so you know... I was going to rule in your client's favor.”
I think it would be fascinating to watch a very muscular man take a dump in a field.
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. Except she was a spider and one day the owner of the shoe returned and crushed her to death putting it on.
The time I'm most bewildered by humanity? When I hear someone calling another human being “His Majesty” or “His Holiness.” It's just embarrassing. “Hey buddy” would work just as well.
What kind of demented mind writes circus music?
I want to write a book about finding love after 50 entitled “Finding The Perfect Mate Amongst All The People That Nobody Else Wanted.”
While I never give much thought to the coordination required to dry myself off when it comes time for each arm to dry the other I will invariably imagine one thanking the other followed by the second saying “Right back at you señor,” when it is their turn to wield the towel. I'm not sure why but whenever my limbs communicate with each other they do it in a heavy Spanish accent.
Men who have lived alone for a long time will usually start unzipping in the hall and have their dick out before they even reach the toilet.
Given that Tony the Tiger is the pitchman for Frosted Flakes, you'd think that there would be chunks of antelope in it.
When I imagine a product being shipped over to America on an enormous ocean-going freighter and then unloaded and placed on a giant, yet slightly-smaller train and then placed in a huge, yet slightly-smaller 18-wheeler and then again in a big, yet slightly-smaller van I like to finish the thought by picturing it being delivered to my door by a midget riding a unicycle.
Went to a Phillies game yesterday in an effort to blend in. As my fellow males debated the finer points of bunting and the designated hitter I finally offered up “And don't try and tell me that home plate doesn't give the other bases attitude.” Cover blown.
If I ever get a talk show I will have my guests sit on a leather couch on a slightly elevated platform and I, to show my humility, will sit in a pit of my own filth.
The past is the past. Who you were doesn't matter. All that matters is who you are now. Who you are at this very moment. At this very moment I'm a drunk asshole.
All I know is that if I were a pro golfer, I'd get the oldest and frailest caddy I could find. That way nobody would worry about my score, they'd all be watching to see if he made it from hole to hole. Especially since I'd carry 40 clubs in my bag.
Whenever I see someone who is pigeon-toed it reminds me of when I was twelve. When I was twelve I thought I was a pigeon.
Given that the average gorilla weighs 400 lbs the 800 lb gorilla in the room would be who let the gorilla get so obese.
My friends tried to warn me that buying her a drink was wasted money. Her on/off switch was an off/really off switch.
If you smile broadly enough, long enough, people will conclude that you're an asshole.
Is there anything I hate worse than listening to someone tell me how the child of a famous actor/actress chose to use a different last name in order to make it “on their own?” As if they weren't handed roles because they were the child of a famous actor/actress. As if they earned them and changing their last name meant anything. They've earned nothing. It was given to them. Is there anything I hate worse than listening to someone tell me how the child of a famous actor/actress chose to use a different last name in order to make it “on their own?” No.
To the rest of the soccer-crazy world ... just remember that we're using our, at best, fifth-best athletes. Only after our football, baseball, basketball and hockey teams are filled do we ever start looking for soccer players. If LeBron James played soccer all his life, he'd average three goals a game. Just saying.
I think the worst part of being a fish would be constantly swimming through other fish's pee. You'd never get the taste out of your mouth.
Don't try and tell me that a unique idea isn't powerful. It's a unique idea, not an unique idea. It breaks the rules of English for starters.
Another day wasted trying to teach the dog to yawn on command. It's just not boring enough for her.
Some days are just frustrating. I'm shooting this porn where all the girls are flowers and all the men are bees and we spend the whole movie pollinating and the prop department just doesn't understand why I need bigger wings.
How do men with beards do it in the summer? When things heat up their faces must be itchy as hell ... said my ZZ Top-esque ballsack.
I think if I had only a week to live and wanted to leave the world a better place I would buy a rifle and kill all the lawyers who advertise on the Maury Povich Show. I would probably end up getting a national holiday.
What is it that makes a dog suddenly start licking its bunghole? Is it the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The home furniture place near me closed yesterday. I didn't realize how serious they were about their liquidation sale until I heard that at the end of the day they killed all the employees.
I hate when speakers or comedians have a guitar up on stage with them, as if to say “Look at me. Look at how talented I am.” If I was good at golf should I interrupt my talk to drive balls into the crowd?
One-night stands are fun for the same reason you drive less carefully in a rented car.
It's one thing to catch someone on the toilet. It's another to catch them wiping.
I can't help think that men would handle menstruation more efficiently. None of this three to four days of acting crabby. Perhaps a pop-out uterus that can be hosed off. Tell-tale cramp. Get the scraper. Done!
There's just something hot about watching a 21 year old girl ride a big wheel.
I once wrote about listening to a neighbor's kid practice the banjo on his driveway every summer. It's true, most days it's my favorite part of the day ... walking past the house and listening. Typically I take a walk each day not so much to clear my head as refill it. Like a hungry person pushing a shopping cart.
A public speaking tip. Start off by explaining to your audience that before you underwent hypnosis you were too terrified to even get up in front of a group of people. Then laugh and ask that for the next hour that nobody clap three times. If somebody does, begin to bark.
Writing Tip #8: If you are describing someone swimming and they are doing well don't say they are doing swimmingl