What’s so funny about Vermont?

Vermont political cartoonist Jeff Danziger writes that Vermont humor has a quality of "Yankeeness," characterized by "undemonstrative passions, studied understatement, and a reverence for patient consideration."

Like this exchange, when a stranger stops to ask for directions.

“Does it matter which road I take to Goshen?” asks the lost traveler.

“Not to me it don’t,” replies the Vermonter.

The weighty question of what’s so funny about Vermont is tackled in the new book, I Could Hardly Keep from Laughing: An Illustrated Collection of Vermont Humor. The book is written by retired teacher and journalist Bill Mares, co-author (with Frank Bryan) of a bestselling book of Vermont humor, Real Men Don't Milk Goats, and illustrated by Don Hooper, a former Vermont Secretary of State. (Mares and Hooper also serve on the board of the Vermont Journalism Trust.)

On this Vermont Conversation, Mares and Hooper share some Vermont humor and discuss how it has evolved, though some might argue that it never has. And they unsuccessfully attempt to hijack the interview but are rebuffed by host David Goodman.