Betty White is one saucy seniorita. She has a mischievous sense of humor that keeps her young, seven Emmy’s on her shelf and a hilarious show on NBC: Betty White’s Off Their Rocker. At a recent conference hosted on January 3, 2013 by NBC, Betty White talked about her new show, her quirky sense of humor, and turning 90…again.
While there have been a variety of prank shows, there is something delightfully funny about sweet grandmotherly figures taking us all for a ride with ridiculous and jaw dropping behavior. While Betty’s senior prankster posse is reason enough to tune in to Off Their Rocker, the show also boasts an all-star lineup of special guests including Kim Kardashian, Ed Asner, and PSY. But hey, what else would we expect from Betty White?
While Betty White is known for telling stories that can make a grown man blush, she claims that her sense of humor comes from her parents. “I was an only child and my mother and dad were great and good buddies, and my dad would bring jokes home…he’d say, ‘now sweetheart, you can take that one to school, but I wouldn’t take that one to school’…I always see more than one meaning to a word, so the double entendre kind of came naturally. But a double entendre is one thing, and then dirty humor is something else. I don’t like dirty jokes, but I do enjoy a double entendre.
Given some of the pranks Betty has pulled, it is safe to say that the line between a double entendre and a dirty joke is a fine line to say the least. That being said, Betty is so sweet that no matter how risqué her comments might be, they tend to fall on the side of classy rather than trashy. However, when asked about how pranks fit into her comedic repertoire, Betty replied simply: “I’m not a real prankster. I love doing Off Their Rockers because the other people are pranking, but I will maybe kid my friends and say one thing or tell them something happened that didn’t really happen, but I straighten it out pretty fast. The trouble is, you can paint yourself into a corner if you try too many pranks.” It’s hard to argue against that logic. But fortunately for the viewing public, there are more than enough seniors willing to step in and make a scene. There are more than enough eager elderly pranksters ready and willing to fool unsuspecting bystanders. So Betty doesn’t have to muddy her hands with all that prankster stuff, and the general public gets to marvel at what they have witnessed and experience quirky television at its best.
In Betty’s words, Off Their Rockers is “silly, nonsensical, but good spirited.” In other words, this is the show you can enjoy with your friends, your family, and your elderly neighbors alike. So settle into your rocker, and watch these senior pranksters go off theirs.
“Do you feel your spicy humor and sense of mischief help keep you young?” –Betty: “I always see more than one meaning to a word, so the double entendre kind of came naturally. But a double entendre is one thing, and then dirty humor is something else. I don’t like dirty jokes, but I do enjoy a double entendre.”
_Written by Waverley Chmura