Does Gord ever tell jokes on stage?

[Shutup and Deal, I'm Losin']

Does Gord ever slip in a joke or two in between songs during a concert?

On one of the Two Tones albums, one of his co-singers asks him "That is a tenor guitar, isn't it Gord"? Gord replies "'Ten-or twelve dollars,... plus tax! :D

Another is where he's about to sing Dark As A Dungeon, he explains what the song is about (digging in the coal mines) and right before he begins, he says "It's called Dark As A Dungeon, and I'm sure you're gonna DIG it.

Also, when he opens up with a song called We Are Here To Sing, and after he gets done, he says to the crowd "Just in case you didn't know, we're here to sing". (You'd have to hear the song for it to be funny, but believe me, I laughed out loud when I heard it).

Does Gord still ever do this?

[teherie]

Gord once told a joke about his mother being hard of hearing and at night when his parents went to bed, his father would elbow her in the side and say, "Well do you want to go to sleep or what?" and his mother would say "What?"

As I recall, Gord's timing was spot on and I haven't heard that joke repeated by anyone in over 25 years.

I also got to see him perform live the year he turned 50 (1988) and he made a few jokes about turning 50. That's easy to remember because he and I share the same birthdate even though he has a few years on me.

[Oh, Linda]

Yes! As a matter of fact there were several during the 9-18 Kalamazoo concert. I jotted them down too during the show but didn't include them in my concert review I posted the following morning--I ran over the word limit as it was! Here they are:

1) After singing the second song he tells us "it's Saturday night and we're here in Kalamazoo. It's nice to be back. We're having a nice little tour--5 weeks. (Pause with that GL look on his face that says 'I'm gonna pull one on ya') and continues "It's not like it's five years!"

2) A little while later he says "It's Saturday night. Saturday night's a good night. (Pause) Better than working on a Tuesday!" We all laugh.

3) He dedicates Hangdog Hotel to "all the party animals of the 70's...those were some years." (Does that count?)

4) He introduced Blackberry Wine as "here's another toe tapper."

5) When he told us about almost meeting Elvis, he told us Elvis really wanted to meet him, and that he wanted to meet Elvis too. Continuing "he wasn't president Nixon."

and finally I think he must like the words "dig it" because that's how he launched into Early Morning Rain, saying "I hope you dig it."

You can read back over my concert review (9-19) too where I wrote about meeting him and his response when I asked him about still having to practice. He made it sound like his fingers were worn down to the knuckles which of course isn't true. It was definitely a dry humor joke and I couldn't help but laugh. In fact, I bet underneath what appears to be a quiet reserve is a very funny man with a nice, dry sense of humor. Just guessin'

[joveski]

Originally Posted by teherie

Gord once told a joke about his mother being hard of hearing and at night when his parents went to bed, his father would elbow her in the side and say, "Well do you want to go to sleep or what?" and his mother would say "What?"

As I recall, Gord's timing was spot on and I haven't heard that joke repeated by anyone in over 25 years.

that one comes from a Benny Hill song (Older Woman) from the 70s, actually.

[johnfowles]

Nobody has yet mentioned Gord's current pair of jokes in rotation,these being
How long is the hare on a rabbit's back?
About 2.5/3 seconds
!why is the moon pale?
Because it's been out all night!

[johnfowles]

The intro to the "hard of hearing" joke
in the 60's was "I come from a large family.......

[Patti]

One about the song, Restless, that it gets so into nature, that they wrote about it in Field and Stream magazine.

[Shutup and Deal, I'm Losin']

Speaking of the joke about the 'tenor' twelve guitar, here's the joke again at :25.

YouTube - Gordon Lightfoot and Johnny Cash For...

[Patti]

That's funny and cute. Good find.

[Borderstone]

At the Jan. '07 show here in Phoenix,Gord talked about how great the amenities were at the Orpeum Theatre,the food,the drink...the dancing girls! LOL!

[jj]

Originally Posted by joveski

that one comes from a Benny Hill song (Older Woman) from the 70s, actually.

so Gord uses other people's material? good stuff

that means he could be Prime Minister one day

char, next gift needs to be a sweater instead of a tshirt

[charlene]

a new beige one with zipper front might be next..


I should just take him shopping..lots of places on Yonge..there's a nice WINNERS in Yorkville..

Lightfoot for PM !!

[joveski]

on a side note, he does wear polka dot underwear!

[jj]

Originally Posted by charlene

Lightfoot for PM !!

lol, but it would be ugly to watch him get there

[jj]

Originally Posted by joveski

on a side note, he does wear polka dot underwear!

and char, while you're checking, "boxers or briefs or au natural?"

[charlene]

Originally Posted by jj

lol, but it would be ugly to watch him get there

look at Elizabeth May of the GREEN Party giving him 'what for' about flying all over the bloody country while she's campaigning by train!!
lol

[Jesse Joe]

This looks pretty real jj,

[Jim Nasium]

Many years ago when Gordon last toured the UK, 1981, I saw him in Birmingham and part way through his set he said, 'I'd like to introduce the band, then proceeded to introduce them to each other, 'Mike meet Rick, Terry meet Pee Wee' etc, They all shook hands with each other then carried on with the show. It made me laugh.

[Tim]

Oct 1 in St. Louis, just before the song "Beautiful"

"Meet me by the rock pile honey, and I'll get a little boulder (bolder) for ya."

[dad2mak]

Waaaaay back in the late 60's and early 70's, he used to ask if the audience knew what the 3 headed dragon said. "Hello, hello, hello." Then he'd giggle and launch into a song.

[charlene]

Originally Posted by dad2mak

Waaaaay back in the late 60's and early 70's, he used to ask if the audience knew what the 3 headed dragon said. "Hello, hello, hello." Then he'd giggle and launch into a song.

he was doing a brit 'ello, ello, ello' joke a few years ago...can't recall the rest tho..
lol

no one enjoys a Lightfootism more than Lightfoot..

[timetraveler]

I don't know about him telling any jokes, but I do know that he told some cute little tales that got folks to laughing & put people at ease while he was here on the 5th.

[Oh, Linda]

Here's one at the beginning of the video from Thursday's (Oct 16th) Hanford, CA performance before he begins singing 14K Gold.

YouTube - Gordon Lightfoot - 14 Carat Gold Live

[Jesse Joe]

He speaks to Dore/DSR right ? Heard your voice there DSR !!!

[mandoann]

Originally Posted by Jesse Joe

He speaks to Dore/DSR right ? Heard your voice there DSR !!!

Yes, Jesse Joe, he carried on quite a conversation with Dore at Cerritos!