Kids We Love: Carter the Comedian
Carter has a perspective of the world that is analytical and endlessly questioning, and slightly… skewed.
Something of a lone wolf, he loves putting pieces together, and learning how they fit, like the straws and connectors, or the tracks of the marble run. He appreciates practicality, and gets sentimental about mechanics, and this fascination with the functional also colours his conversation. He’s pretty deadpan.
Carter’s logic is always expanding to incorporate new information, and he constantly asks about the reasons for things being the way they are. Now that he’s four, he makes me laugh with his observations of people, and conjectures about their motivations. They’re often hilarious, in an Adam Sandler way.
But while a questing mind and unique wit go a long way in the world of comedy, the pros know: the secret’s in the timing.
As quiet munching gives way to packing up and putting away, the kids leave the snack table in search of fun. The teachers are tidying, unaware…
With a jerky efficiency Carter approaches a single, small, yellow plastic chair, raises his arm, and tips it over backwards. At the clatter, everyone turns, and as they do, Carter tips his own head back and gives a flat, fake, and but still hilariously diabolical “ha-ha-ha.”
He stands there, blinking at us, beside his overturned chair, and there’s nothing in the world we can do to avoid laughing at the stunt. It came out of nowhere, and the look on his face… That “ha-ha-ha” is too funny, and the sheer victimlessness of it… All the elements of a perfect daycare prank.
Our outburst thrills him, and he positively glows with the success.
Of course now all the kids are flipping chairs over, and half of them are going “ha-ha-ha,” for the rest of the afternoon, but Carter has retired from the spotlight.
He’s back at the train tracks, building an elevated section, and meticulously spacing his support blocks.
Carter’s not the most out-going kid, and rarely shouts out his ideas, but for those lucky enough to hear them, he’s a innovative trickster: comic gold.
