If There is a Comic God, Show Me a Sign

Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere,

This weekend we talk about found comedy, those chuckles that one gets by tripping over something undeniably and unintentionally funny, specifically ones you find on advertising signs.

As a child, there was a local strip mall called "The Square" with a notoriously small parking lot. To keep those with business elsewhere from taking up needed slots, they posted a large sign that said "Parking for Square customers only." It caused me great distress as a child to know that as a family, we were not so hip as to be forced to find parking elsewhere.

Often the humor comes from malfunction. Burned out lights allow signs to say something completely different, such as the flea bag motel on the edge of Frederick that for the longest time had parts of its neon "M" burned out so it actually advertised itself as a "notel."

But my favorite was a grocery store, Foodarama, who simultaneously had a burned out d, r, and m, making the sign read Foo-a-a-a.

And then there are the signs that advertise businesses that are named in such a fashion that you cannot help but marvel. The greatest name of any business I've every come across is near Lexington Market in Baltimore, Horney's Hardware. The ads just write themselves, don't they?

So, funniest signs you've ever come across?

Live, love, and laugh,

Irreverend Steve