It's Statler and Waldorf

So, I went to a funeral the other day. I realize that this shouldn't really be an entertaining activity - it was a very nice service - but it was also pretty funny.

It was a service for an elderly lady- so most of all of the attendees were also elderly. As we are waiting for the service to start I realized that the 2 old men on the row in front of me are talking pretty loudly. The longer we wait...the louder they talk. Then the organ starts playing...and they continue to talk...only louder...and at this point they are drawing stares from all the people in the surrounding rows. And at this point you can clearly hear what they are saying. Critiquing this...commenting on that...comparing wives...etc. It is almost time for the service to start and I am really starting to worry that they won't shut-up. And then it hits me...they think they are whispering to each other because they are both so deaf. Each one taking turns shouting into the other's "good ear" but neither of them know that they are shouting.

I started to wonder what to do if they didn't stop "whispering" by the time the service started. Tap them on the shoulder, pinch them like mom used to do, yell "sshhhhhhh" into the good ears? I could only imagine that any of those would result in a "whispered" response...and would draw attention to me.

I was really starting to get tickled by the two of them. All I could picture was Waldorf and Statler from the Muppets - completely oblivious to the rest of the world.

They did stop talking. I don't know if they could hear what was going on in the service or not, but at least they didn't continue to critique every part of the service. On second thought, that probably would have been pretty funny too.