Twitter Fuels an 84-Year Old's "Comedy Routine"

In Franklin, Massachusetts, Bruce Wood spends time exchanging jokes on Twitter while taking care of his father James Wood, who turns 84 this month.  James suffers from the effects of a stroke and the onset of dementia. As new joke comes in, Bruce announces them to James, who then memorizes them and repeats them to nurses, doctors and visitors.  James has become popular for what is starting to be known as his "comedy routine."

The jokes are all one-liners, due to Twitter's 140 character limit.  They are all clean, and most are dumb ones worthy of children.  For example, one of the early ones is "Why did the turtle cross the road?  To get the Shell station!"

Bruce Wood, who is a full-time Internet business marketer and trainer, started Tweeting simple jokes as a way to initiate conversations with prospective clients.  "People on Twitter are there to have casual conversation.  By starting with a joke," he says, "I've been able to break the tension of meeting new people, and develop a following for my blog."

Bruce started a Twitter account last year, and shared "Tweets" with about 30 business associates.  He realized that there was potential for making new contacts, but wasn’t sure how to approach them.  Bruce relates, "New Internet marketers seem to be flocking to Twitter, and they are treating it like a billboard, spamming about their products in every Tweet. I didn't want to be obnoxious." So he tried telling jokes instead. 

Since starting with the humor a few months ago, his followers have increased quickly.  They now number over 6,000, and about 50 new ones find him every day through the referrals and “Re-Tweets.”

The jokes have become a kind of therapy for James, as well as a way to provide levity in the midst of what some may see as a grim scenario. "When I started repeating the little nuggets to my Dad," Bruce continues, "He lit up and got a huge kick out of repeating them."  

Bruce also reports that memorizing and repeating the one-liners has been helpful for his father’s short-term memory.  Each joke becomes a little “test” to see if James can repeat it verbatim and remember it days later.  Repetition also has helped James keep in practice of speaking distinctly, a condition which required the attention of speech therapists.

James' eyes are bad, and he gave up his computer a few years ago.  He also has a difficult time reading anything but headlines, so his main stimulation during the day was meals, television, and visiting nurses.  Now he has a collection of one-liners to remember, and his conversations are punctuated with impromptu Confucius jokes ("Confucius says 'Man who runs behind car gets exhausted.")  and medical jokes ("Man who wants pretty nurse must be patient.")

James appreciates all the new attention.  He says that Bruce’s mother raised him up right.  That’s because he wouldn’t lie down.