Chris Jepson: Out to pasture but not out of life

Old white boys, who needs ’em? The only permissible sex or ethnicity in America that is still allowed to be publicly lampooned are white men. Sigh. I grew-up in a family of joke-tellers. My grandfather was the dean of the Sioux City Bar at the turn of the 20th century, and storytelling (a-la the tradition of Abraham Lincoln) was part and parcel of the culture then. My father didn’t fall far from the tree. Dumb Dane (Scandinavian) jokes were de rigueur. I heard a million Ole and Lena jokes. Example: “Ole and Lena got married. On their honeymoon trip they were nearing Minneapolis when Ole put his hand on Lena's knee. Giggling, Lena said, ‘Ole, you can go farther if ya vant to’... so Ole drove to Duluth.” Love it.

My father was the master of the harelip joke. He could create such a masterful lisp that you didn’t need to hear the punch line to begin laughing. Back in the 1950s, Sioux City had a couple of fine Jewish delicatessens. We’d go in and Dad would slide to the back of the store and a minute or so later you’d hear loud, raucous laughter. Quiet murmuring would ensue and then another outburst of joyous guffaws. We’d leave with oysters and smelly cheeses, liverwurst and beer and you just felt your day was better for having entered either Meyer Orlikoff’s or Harry Holdowsky’s establishment.

Jokes, storytelling with a punch line at “someone” else’s expense, are no longer fashionable (politically correct) and I get that. Yet, the one permissible butt of the typical TV sitcom is the white male. Typically, he’s either a good-natured pudge-ball or a know-it-all doofus or a preening, self-absorbed jerk who inevitably gets his comeuppance from his wife or children or co-workers.

No one gets in your face for lampooning white boys, and why not. We have it coming, historically speaking.

I shared with my wife last Friday night that we were going to a “man’s” movie (“Land Ho!”) and that I did not expect many women to be in attendance. Men (being male) are so out of fashion these days. Understandably so. Yet, when I walked in, surprisingly, most of the people in attendance were women.

It’s the delightful story of two somewhat estranged 70ish former brothers-in-law who on a “planned” whim travel to Iceland. It’s a road trip for older guys. They have adventures, talk about sex, rediscover their kinship, eat, explore and simply reconnect with life and each other. It’s beautifully filmed, and what is amazing is that the lead actor (Earl Lynn Nelson) is an actual real-life surgeon. “Land Ho!” has a perspective that is definitely masculine.

I particularly like fiction writer Jim Harrison for that very same quality as well. He unabashedly relishes the distinctions (anatomically for sure) between male and female. He loves women and it shows in his stories. “Land Ho!” too speaks of the jazz that is part of the male/female dynamic and does so in a playful, affectionate manner.

Old white boys on a lark in Iceland. “Land Ho!” could be a joke but it isn’t, not so much. It’s about the importance of relationships and laughing at life while keeping a joyful zest for living.

Finally. A now quite old Ole phones his doctor and says: “Every morning at 5 I have a BM.” “Fine,” says the doctor, “That’s very healthy … so what seems to be your problem?” “Vell,” said Ole. “I don’t vake up until 6.”

Hey now.