When I was a wee lad I only knew of a couple of Laurel and Hardy titles, chiefly MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS and perhaps a short or two.  I remember laughing so hard that my neighbors heard me.

When I was in my late 20's, it wasby chance that I saw Laurel and hardy videotapes in a shop.  I didn't recognize any of the titles by name, but I remember how much I had loved watching the comedy duo, so I took a chance on some of the anthology tapes.   The first one was called "Stanley 'Helps' Ollie" - and it contained four 30-minute shorts.  I was not prepared for how I would react.  I laughed so hard I thought I was hurting myself. 

I hungrily bought every possible videotape of theirs that I could find.  I wasn't too interested in their silent films, however. 

After watching their films again and again for countless times, I wondered to myself why I loved them so much.  It seemed odd that something like that could instantly make me happy.  In fact, I had learned to reverse foul moods or to fight depression simply by plopping in a Laurel And Hardy videotape.

There was a lot to their comedy.  The physical aspect, of course, is hysterical.  But why didn't I find the physical humor of the Three Stooges funny?  I figured out a vital difference.  When Laurel and Hardy wipe out they are embarrassed by it.  Their characters never do that on purpose, the way the Three Stooges did.  And as I studied more, I began to see that as simple as some of the gags appeared on the surface, they had a genius setup that was very often quite subtle.

Another important quality was that the duo was very endearing.  I LIKED them.  They are, in my opinion, the most like-able characters ever to appear on film.

I couldn't help but to become influenced by them, and for a few years, while I was still in the phase of shooting comedy skits (I hadn't made a movie yet), I couldn't break away from Laurel and hardy.  I wrote skits that had a lot of physical humor, and the pace was a bit slow. Looking back, I think that what made the physical humor funny was that I didn't know what I was doing.  I was never trained as a stuntman, nor were any of my friends.  So the stunts were funny in the way that backyard wrestling is funny - you watch it because you know people are wiping out and getting hurt.  It's funny watching the injuries because the people who got injured were stupid - the injuries didn't happen to innocent people - they happened to idiots who were begging to get hurt.

As time passed I stopped doing the physical humor, but I never lost my deep appreciation for Laurel and Hardy.  In fact, a new DVD occasionally becomes available that features a movie or short that had been buried for a while.

I was able to actually learn about Laurel and Hardy - there are quite a lot of books and resources.  The more I read, the more I saw them as visionaries.  There was quite a lot more to their art than was immediately apparent.  Learning about them allowed me to see how unlikely it was that I could have recreated their magic when i was making slapstick skits.  Well, my attempts would be closer to success these days, but back when I had no film or writing education it really was hopeless.

If you ever saw my skit about chimney cleaning, that was an example of my mimicry.  I had been in awe of Oliver Hardy because he braved all sorts of dangers in the name of comedy.  In fact, he was on a roof on more than one occasion.  I am afraid of heights, but I decided to film on a roof and to do some dangerous things on there.  The problem was that as soon as I climbed up there, I was a bit frozen by fear.  So people hoisted up beer until I got my nerve up.  Unfortunately I had too much nerve.  I had to be talked out of jumping onto a tree from the roof.  Many years later I had seen fools try to do similar things, all with very painful consequences.  I could have died or become paralyzed.  Anyway, as interesting as it was to see people on a roof doing silly things, it just didn't have the other ingredients to make it a great slapstick skit.  I don't consider those skits to be a waste of time - they were usually a lot of fun to attempt.

I can understand how someone these days might consider some of the pacing a bit slow, but Laurel and Hardy are my favorite comedy actors.  Quite a lot of their gags and their antics are not affected by time.  As long as I live, I will never tire of watching their films.