My husband Chris probably escaped from a lot of situations by having a sense of humor. The thing is, he could make me laugh without doing anything; just the anticipation of him being outrageously entertaining could ignite laughter from me and everyone who knew him, including his grandkids.
One thing that he did was that comedian Charlie Callas airhorn sound done by expelling a short breath of air from closed lips. (In the video below, Callas makes that very sound at 8 seconds into the act.) It was that sound which Chris would often make to entertain me.
One day Disneyland threw a Free Day for all broadcasters, admen, and journalists. We spent the whole day there — watched Disney’s new feature, ate, and then got back in the car to drive home
We always talked a lot while driving around, and this time I asked him if he would teach me how to make the hysterical Charlie Callas airhorn sound with my mouth. It’s not that easy. It’s not just a matter of blowing through your lips. You have to do it a certain way or it isn’t funny. The puff of air has to explode past your lips. You can do it to make a high pitched airhorn sound, or low and slow like from one of those Mac trucks. It’s your choice, but you have to know how to do it.
So while driving, he taught me by modeling the sound and telling me how my lips should be positioned and then I would imitate him. We had so much fun making airhorn sounds in the car that Chris passed the turnoff to get to where we live and we ended up going in the direction of the Ontario Speedway. It was a fun day. We bonded on airhorn sounds.
And he always did it at home and he could do it in different accents: Chinese, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Indian, French. Whenever he did it, I always knew the airhorn’s nationality.
ONE NIGHT…
One night while I was lying in bed watching him brushing his teeth, stark naked at the sink, I asked him to please do an Italian accent for me. Chris was always ready for a laugh and a chance to do Stand Up comedy. He put his toothbrush down, turned off the water, opened the closet door, and emerged about 30 seconds later with one of his Italian jackets rakishly draped over his shoulder, still buck naked. At that point I totally lost it and began laughing so hard my stomach hurt. It was funny before he opened his mouth; I knew that this was going to be a riot.
Now here’s the Charlie Callas video beloe. Watch for what Callas does at about 8 seconds into the act. That is what Chris used to do. The rest of the Callas shtick, Chris would do as well, but that is another time when I am telling the eau de toilette story.
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