Orson Bean, the actor-comedian-raconteur who became one of America’s most famous storytellers in the 1960s and 1970s when he made constant appearances on the Johnny Carson show, is now a terrifically spry 80 year old. He has just posted to YouTube a series called “The Art of the Joke,” and the series is pretty wonderful, a crash course in how to tell a joke. Though Bean is not Jewish, the jokes are all Jewish jokes, which testifies to his good taste in selecting the best jokes. Here’s one (there are ten in all, though I have to warn people a few are racy and some have bad language):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUgXPpLh8L0&feature=related[/youtube]