Mashed Potatoes... That's Unusual!

I love a funny commercial.  Always have!  And, in my house growing up, we were really bad about repeating the funny lines from a commercial ad nauseum.   We would laugh and laugh, and basically, no one got it but us.   But, hey… who can complain about growing up with corny humor?  Not me, that’s for sure. 

When I was a teenager, there was this one Stove Top Stuffing commercial that came out that was that corny type of humor that we loved.    A man was sitting at the dinner table and his wife was serving food on his plate.  He said “Mashed Potatoes... That’s unusual.”   And the wife gave  him this really mean look and just plopped  the potatoes on the plate.  This commercial made me laugh out loud!  It’s not a very memorable commercial and  I’m not sure why we thought it was funny, but go figure… Some things just hit you funny, and you can’t explain it. 

So… wait… there’s more…  At Thanksgiving that year, we were all sitting at the table with all the bowls of food in the center, family style.   And my dad asked me to pass the potatoes.  So, I couldn’t resist.  I picked a big spoon of potatoes and said “Mashed Potatoes… THAT’s Unusual!”  and flung the potatoes onto his plate.  Only, it was an EPIC FAIL!  I missed his plate!  Potatoes went everywhere!  Some hit Dad, some hit the floor, and some hit the cat that was sitting at Dad’s feet begging for food.  The cat screeched, jumped straight up in the air, and came down hissing up a storm!  Dad just gave me a blank stare, and there was TOTAL silence in the room.  Scott, Chris, Mom and I all just held our breath and stared at each other in disbelief.  Basically, there are two good rules to follow at the dinner table.  One, don’t throw food, and two, NEVER throw food at your DAD!   We didn’t know whether to laugh or RUN!    The silence seemed like hours, but I’m pretty sure it was only seconds.  Then, Dad just busted out laughing!  Whew!  And my Dad has this amazing belly laugh that makes everyone laugh.   We could not contain ourselves at the table.  We were laughing so hard that no noise was coming out.   Dad was laughing about the cat and it was hysterical watching him re-enact the cat’s shock at being covered in potatoes.  We would calm down for a minute, then someone would snicker under their breath, and we would all just start laughing again.   I can’t even remember if we ever really ate.  We couldn’t stop laughing long enough.  

Yes…It’s true that the way someone makes you feel is much more important than what they say.  And, I have so many fond memories growing up in a house full of laughter.  Granted, we fought like normal families, but we laughed even harder.  It’s been about 35 years since this happened.  But, still to this day, when we have mashed potatoes, my Dad will pick up the spoon and say “Mashed Potatoes…. That’s unusual”… And it’s still funny!