Wit, whimsy and wiseacre-ness

Time for some sophomoric humor. In my case, that means it’s a day that ends in “y. 

These video clips are not new, but are pretty timeless. The oldest features Vincent Price and Peter Lorre in a cinematic smackdown/taste-off in “Tales of Terror.” They truly do not make movie scenes like this anymore, for better or worse.

Some would say that they don’t make “Saturday Night Live” skits like this anymore. Most of the folks taking that stance have been doing so for decades now, conveniently forgetting that many of their treasured moments were, like this one, extended riffs that amused us with naughtiness as much as clever wit.

If “SNL” is indeed not as consistently hilarious as in the past, a big reason is that writing talent is infinitely more spread out, to venues that include an entire comedy network, which spawned this bit of silliness featuring John C. Reilly.

Reilly’s Dr. Steve Brule character actually knows even less about wine than Borat, whose viniferous primer has its moments.

And that’s not even taking into account the amateur humorists posting material throughout the endless realm of social media. Every wine sales rep with whom I have shared this animated gem has confirmed that the spiel is not taking any liberties with the truth.

That, after all, is where they say the best writing comes from: life its ownself.