The funniest gift you received is...

[Unknown User]

The funniest gift you received is...#0

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:22pm

A quality soft-cover book entitled, "When I Knew," Edited by Robert Trachtenberg and Illustrated by Tom Batchell. Published by Regan Books.

"When I Knew is a collection of smart, hilarious, and often poignant stories about that revelation for all gay men and women: then they first knew."

My 77-year old mother gave this to me as a "stocking-stuffer." When she came across in Barnes & Noble, she could not stop laughing.

The riminescences are from a very wide variety of men and women, including Broadway & BWW's own Marc Shaiman. Some are very short, some a longer, all are true.

I have been laughing since Christmas morning, and I cannot put the book down. I read aloud to whomever is in the room. I was thinking about some stories in the shower this morning and had a laughing fit.


Here's one brief excerpt from Andrew Freedman, marketing/film industry:

"1969--My father was watching the evening news. The announcer said that Judy Garland had died. I fainted. I was nine."



Updated On: 12/26/05 at 12:22 PM

[Rathnait62]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#1

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:25pm

LOL!!! That's wonderful.

Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

[paradox_error]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#2

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:29pm

I want it!

[YankeesFan175]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#3

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:37pm

my grandma got my mom a book entitled "How To Dress With Dignity"

i think it was written by the pope or something. but before i opened it and saw the word "pope" on the top, i thought it was a gag gift saying my mom needs to learn how to dress well.

Bob: "there is a chance, albeit a microscopic one, that our baby at some point in his or her formative years will get lodged in a tree" ~Related~

[shameless]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#4

Posted: 12/26/05 at 1:05pm

Well, after reading Jose's, mine just seems lame.

My sister-in-law gave me a gift card to Best Buy to have the Geek Squad come out and hook-up the Tivo that I got for Christmas last year.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be enbered with your old nonsense. ~ Emerson

[Elphaba]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#5

Posted: 12/26/05 at 1:29pm

Jose I have been considering getting this as I now have $90 in gift cards from B&N and Borders, but I didn't know quite what to expect. Just the little part you posted makes this a MUST read.

It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story... AGATHA CHRISTIE, Life magazine, May 14, 1956

[iflitifloat]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#6

Posted: 12/26/05 at 1:36pm

My husband received a pair of slippers...Freudian Slippers, to be precise. Each foot is a little stuffed head of the good doctor, and the box reads...no you CAN stick your foot a mouth that is not your own.

Sueleen Gay: "Here you go, Bitch, now go make some fukcing lemonade." 10/28/10

[Elphaba]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#7

Posted: 12/26/05 at 2:48pm

iflit, one of my gifts from my mother yesterday was U of Oregon slippers (Ugh)......but apparently I am not alone, as my Dad got U of Pittsburgh slippers........

It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story... AGATHA CHRISTIE, Life magazine, May 14, 1956

[xM3L24x]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#8

Posted: 12/26/05 at 3:16pm

yesterday, i was at my friend Nicole's house. Her grandma came over for Christmakkah, and gave her a diamond necklace. Now, this would be a beautiful gift if it wasnt the same necklace that Nicole had FOUND on the street last year WITH her grandmother, and gave it to her grandma as a present.

[Unknown User]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#9

Posted: 12/26/05 at 3:43pm

In When I Knew, Howard Bragman, public relations executive, writes

"I knew I was gay when the most exciting part of my Bar Mitzvah was meeting with the party planner."

[Calvin]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#10

Posted: 12/26/05 at 3:46pm

My oldest sister and I have a tradition of giving each other horrible gifts every year. One time, she gave me a copy of Richard Simmons' "Sweating to the Oldies." I got her back the next year by giving her William Hung's Christmas CD. I had to order that one online, because I was too embarassed to let anyone see me checking it out. However, it really screwed with my Amazon recommendations list.

[Unknown User]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#11

Posted: 12/26/05 at 3:55pm

Let me be clear that while most of these recollections are humorous because they are based on truths, there are equally some snippets of memories that will be bring a tear to the eye, also because of the familial love demonstrated.

You'll laugh so hard you will cry, too.

The book is divided into roughly 3 sections:
1. When I Knew
2. When My Parents Knew
3. When Everyone Else Knew.

Here's one for the ladies.

Ms. Leslie Belzberg, film producer, writes

"My mother always dressed me, always. So in 1976 when I came home fro colege and told my parents I was gay, there was somedrama. But the next morning when I came downstairs in my usual jeans and flannel shirt, my mother, after seeing me in the idential outfit I've worn for twenty-two years, looked at me and said, "Aren't you looking at little butch this morning?"

[JLSatUD]

re: The funniest gift you received is...#12

Posted: 12/26/05 at 6:23pm

aw, man ... I thought my reindeers that poop out little brown jellybeans was pretty funny, but now they're not as amusing :)