The Comedian Mitch Hedberg, the Musician Leonard Cohen, the Poet Robert Hass, and Eating a Lot of Blueberries

What do they all have in common? You think I'm just going to tell you? Well the answer is yes, if you keep reading.

Feb 06, 2025

Dear friends,

Thank you for being here.
I’m very happy that you are choosing to be here and read these words.
And now, here is the latest entry in my new project wherein I examine a joke I love that often ends up being more profound than its surface appearance would have initially suggested.

The project began with a piece about one Mitch Hedberg joke, where I assessed Hedberg thusly:

”His jokes are songs, infinitely relistenable. Whereas so much comedy requires surprise to have its desired effect, Hedberg's has somehow transcended that.”

I now revisit another of his classics. I hope you enjoy!

“An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an ‘Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign,’ just ‘Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.” ―Mitch Hedberg

First, what a wonderful joke.
If you’ve heard it before, I hope you enjoy hearing it again!
If you haven’t heard it already, I hope you enjoy it forever!
And either way, I hope you enjoy learning that it is also one of my mom’s favorite Mitch Hedberg jokes!

I hope you think about it whenever you see an escalator.
Or stairs. Or even an elevator. Or whenever you want.
Close your eyes and think about it now.
And then open them, if you wish.

This joke really helps illuminate this concept for me:

We can see things in different ways. Did you know that?
Or did you think that you could only see things in same ways?
Well, I’m pretty sure you can see things in different ways.
Take it from me, a guy who used to see things only one way but eventually learned he could see things another way. Maybe even multiple ways!

You can see things in different ways.
You can also SAY things in different ways as well, and that can lead you to see some sames differently!
You may have heard "if you see something, say something” but how about "if you say something, you see something"?

Quick note… maybe you're perfectly happy seeing everything exactly as it is and thus you might not be interested in seeing things differently.
If so, I get it! You're enlightened maybe! Enjoy it!

But for anyone who’s not experiencing eternal bliss all the time…
If you’ve ever come across something in life that didn’t make you feel perfectly happy, say, a literal or metaphorical out-of-order escalator…
If you’ve ever thought something like "OH NO, I WANTED TO BE ESCALATED BUT NOW I FIND THAT I HAVE TO ESCALATE MYSELF?" then I think that Mr. Hedberg has done and/or can do a great service for us here.

Because not only has he seen escalators differently, but in so doing he has shown us that THINGS CAN BE SEEN DIFFERENTLY. And if you're like "yeah I already knew that things could be seen differently" then great! You’re ahead of the game! (Though why do you want to be ahead of the game? Come back! Join the game!)

Now, I may be repeating myself a bit in saying that we can see things in different ways, so here’s a variation on that repetition, in the form of a wonderful quote from the poet Robert Hass:

"Repetition makes us feel secure; variation makes us feel free."

I repeat that to myself frequently (and it makes me feel secure).
And also, I appreciate the variation BETWEEN repetition and variation.
Because in life, it can’t be only repetition.

Imagine a song that's all chorus.
I mean, it could happen.
Some pieces of music are just drones.
Maybe your favorite song is a banger of a Gregorian chant.

I'll just say that most of the songs that I know and love don't do just one thing.
Most of them have multiple notes! Melodies! Harmonies! Surprises!
There might be a chorus (repetition) but then they also often have verses and bridges and solos and more (variation).

Sometimes a song might not even have a chorus (all variation!).
Which is cool, though sometimes too much variation and we might be like "Security! Please!" and then security shows up and they say "hey hey too much variation, we need some repetition here" and then they say "hey hey too much variation, we need some repetition here" and then they say "hey hey too much variation, we need some repetition here" and then they say "hey hey too much variation, we need some repetition here" and we'll be like "okay you had me at 'hey hey'" because that's repetition already right there, and it makes us feel secure.

Things can be seen differently.
AND
Things can be seen samely.

And while seeing things differently is great for when you’re not loving what you see, seeing things samely is great for when you ARE loving what you see.
Keep it up! Like a gratitude practice.

And it doesn't have to just be for sight.
Try it with hearing and tasting and all your favorite senses!

Also remember, sometimes a same can become a different.

For example, when I'm eating blueberries at first I'm all like "mm these are great" and so I keep eating more because repetition makes me feel secure and blueberries make me feel like I love blueberries and then if I keep eating more and more and more, eventually TOO MUCH REPETITION AND MY STOMACH HURTS, and blueberries turn to boo-blurries (I say things differently!), so I have to see/taste/experience things differently. I mean, I don't have to, but differently is what happens then.

So, if you love what you see, keep seeing it and keep loving it.
And if you don’t like what you see, seeing things differently might be the perfect thing for you!

Like, if you see a broken escalator and it bums you out, now you know that you can see so much more.

You can see stairs.
You can see a Mitch Hedberg joke.
You can remember that it’s a favorite Mitch Hedberg joke of my mom, and thus you can now see my mom’s love for that joke, and my love for my mom and her love for me, and anyone’s love for anyone or anything! It’s magical!

You can see the very possibility of seeing things differently.

You can see love as the chorus of life, even if the verses are long and different.
You can see gratitude for what exists, even if it IS something that's broken.

Leonard Cohen wrote and sang this:

"There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

And I’m pretty sure he was talking about that same broken escalator.

Temporarily stairs?
More like permanently gratitude!
Thank you for receiving and letting the light in!

PS Maybe we don’t even need to get up wherever that escalator was going.
Maybe we’re good right where we are.

And now, because I like sharing my own jokes as well, here are a few, about machines that are similar to OR DIFFERENT FROM escalators:

A) is for An elevator pitch:

”It’s a machine that goes up and down, but it’s only named for one of those directions!” — my elevator pitch for the first elevator

B) is for a Big But:

Love is like a fax machine, BUT where both parties get to keep the original.

C) is for Come on, is that what C is really for?

I swear by this new toaster I just got.
It doesn’t work, so I stand by it and swear.

Share Arty Har-Hars

And that’s all from ME for now. What about from YOU? Here are questions!

1) How are you doing? How is your heart? What is new and good?
2) Any favorite jokes you’d like me to consider for future dispatches?
3) Are there any sames that you see differently because of a joke?
4) Or a poem or visual art or music or anything you want to share?
5) How are you doing NOW?

Arty Har-Hars

The Comedian Mitch Hedberg, the Musician Leonard Cohen, the Poet Robert Hass, and Eating a Lot of Blueberries

What do they all have in common? You think I'm just going to tell you? Well the answer is yes, if you keep reading.

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