You Gotta Laugh at Yourself...My Wardrobe Malfunction

That’s a priceless Steinway!

That is a line from one of my favorite moves. In and of itself, it is not particularly funny. But when you add the next line in the movie, “Not any more”, it becomes one of the funniest, most irreverant comic retorts ever (from the movie The Pink Panther Strikes Again).

(The Steinway going down.)

One of the advantages and benefits of having a long-time best friend (40 years) is that they are a great source for reminiscing. In my case, that source is my friend Bob. The above movie line is one of our favorites.

Bob’s quips and quotes from our past are almost daily reminders to me of how much fun we had when we were younger. That we were put here to make fun of ourselves. One prime example of that: Peter Sellars movies.

But Bob’s history lessons to me are, by far, not limited to movie lines. One such event concerned a “wardrobe malfunction” I once experienced in the 10th grade at Canoga Park High School.

It was the first day back to school after summer vacation. In those days, my parents took me school-clothes shopping at the end of the summer. My Mom had purchased a “cool” new shirt for me, one that had a button down collar. It seemed when I put it on that the collar was particularly stiff, it stood up real well. I assumed that was how it was designed and/or my Mom had ironed it with a lot of starch. I was stylin’! Or so I thought.

It was sometime around lunch when the “malfunction” occurred. I noticed Bob staring at the collar of my shirt with an inquisitive look on his face. “What the hell is that?”, he questioned.
“What the hell is what?”, I answered obstinately. “What the hell is this”, he said while reaching for the collar of my new shirt.

Bob then reached under the “starched” button-down collar of my brand new JC Penneys shirt and yanked out the cardboard packing liner that was still under the collar. This all happening in sight of and ear-shot of at least 100 people in the lunch area. Bob was hysterical. I was overwhelmingly embarassed. Needless to say, other kids in proximity thought it was quite funny as well.


(Bob at our 35th high school reunion...the lunch area, scene of the "malfunction").

I’m not too sure I spoke to him the reaminder of the day. But this is one of those memories that is always at close hand in the vault for a quick chuckle. I don’t think I would have remembered it had it not been for Bob.

Truly...it wasn’t until 20 years later that I could rightly appreciate some of the moments I lived with my buddy. Hopefully, you have similar ones in your lives.

Coming soon...'birdie num nums'.