A crucial element of comedy is timing. I believe the most hilarious moments occur when the right person is exposed to the proper circumstances at just the right time. Yesterday I laughed out loud when I recalled a time that I witnessed Zach flourish after stumbling into such a moment.

Levi and Zachary...Laughing as Usual!

Our whole 5th grade class was watching a skit put on by some staff members at a camp. They pulled Zach aside (I assume this was not a random choice) and prevented him from hearing the basis of the skit as they introduced it to the audience. They told the audience, this skit will demonstrate the need for legislation requiring seat belts on toilets, or something to that effect. They placed a chair in the front of the auditorium and told the audience that the chair would represent a toilet in the skit.

Zach was told to go out and ride the chair like it was a motorcycle. If you know Zach then you know that he most likely had imagined the make, model, top speed, and fuel capacity of his imaginary motorcycle before climbing onto that chair. I’m guessing by the way he grabbed those imaginary handle bars he was thinking about a Harley.

When the staff gave him the go ahead, Zach ran across the room, jumped onto that chair, and fired it up with a deep rumbling sound as a he grabbed those imaginary handle bars. Now as an audience member you see Zach jump on a toilet and start revving it up, that is hilarious! The whole class and staff start roaring with laughter the moment he gets on the bike. All Zach knows is that he’s riding his motorcycle, he has no idea why everyone is laughing, but he loves it.

He backs the toiled out of the driveway and gets it up to top speed on the highway, the audience is captivated, laughing at every sound and motion that accompanies his toilet ride. Realizing that the amount of audience laughter is directly correlated to the brazenness of his actions, Zach took it up a notch. The moment he popped a wheelie on that toilet the whole audience hit the floor laughing. Then, for the finishing touch he got that toilet back up to top speed and performed a magnificent stunt jump, lifting the toilet off the ground and soaring over the crowd. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life.

After the skit was over, Zach set down next to me, his face glowing with satisfaction from the laughs generated by his performance. I told him he did a great job. He said, “That was really funny wasn’t it?” Then without missing a beat asked, “Why was that funny?”