ALL COMEDY IS CONSERVATIVE:

What not to do after you fall into a fountain: Cathy Cruz Marrero's tumble in a mall became a viral hit -- but her reaction has turned her into a villain (Mary Elizabeth Williams, 1/22/11, Salon)

Her name is Cathy Cruz Marrero, but you probably know her better as the Fountain Lady. Last week, as she walked past the Piercing Pagodas and Radio Shacks of Pennsylvania's Berkshire Mall, engrossed in the act of texting, she plowed face first into a fountain. And because this is 2011 and every minor public mishap is not just recorded but broadcast, it didn't take long for the security camera footage -- replete with the delighted giggles of mall security and their enjoyment of the spill from two different angles -- to make its way to YouTube. [...]

Did Marrero need to be texting her friend from church about her birthday that fateful Wyomissing day? Of course not. Should she have been on the ball enough to realize that she was about to eat a faceful of cast-off pennies and wishes? You bet. But if you have never once glanced at your mobile device while engaged in other activity whatsoever, congratulations. You're in a small, exceptionally rare population, like people who pay to see Nicolas Cage movies. And while it's easy to point and laugh at Marrero -- hey, falling down is a reliable laugh getter -- it's worthwhile to ask whether the employees of a shopping mall should be spending their time deriding their patrons and disseminating their spills.

And you wonder that they're humorless?

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 21, 2011 4:35 PM