Laughing Your Way Through Life, Orkney Island Style
Jenny Drever has a fantastic Scottish accent, a gift for storytelling, and a philosophy she lives by: if you are not laughing, you are probably doomed. My Airbnb host from Orkney Island joins me for my first on-the road interview, and she is Laughter Revolution in human form – proof that a good attitude and a well-placed laugh really can transform how you move through your life.
In This Episode
- Meet Jenny and her recused dog Peaks
- Hear Jenny’s simple philosophy: if you are not laughing, you might just be doomed
- Laugh through one of Jenny’s funniest, most chaotic Airbnb guest stories
- Hear the real story behind Scotland’s strange tradition of putting traffic cones on statues
- See why self-deprecating humour is a sign of confidence, not insecurity
- Hear her most mortifying moment at a ferry ticket booth
- Catch Jenny’s answers in the Laughter Revolution Lightning Round
- Get ready to order your new ringtone – the Snortly!
Timestamps
- [00:58] – Introducing Jenny Drever and her Airbnb in Finstown, Orkney
- [02:45] – Meeting Peaks, Jenny’s rescue dog, who loves every guest equally, though Jenny’s still her favourite, for now
- [04:55] – The chaotic guest story that still makes Jenny wince
- [07:55] – What’s life without laughter?
- [10:34] – Laughter as a defense
- [11:46] – Self-deprecating, with confidence – The pantsuit story
- [13:26] – Describing Scottish humour with a little wine
- [15:22] – The mystery of the traffic cones on Scottish statues, solved
- [17:10] – The silliness of gooseberries
- [20:36] – Siblings and laughter – a sure combination
- [23:29] – Laughing through word muddle mortification
- [25:49] — The Laughter Revolution Lightning Round
- [27:42] — Monetizing the “signature giggle”? We’ve got a plan!
If this episode made you laugh out loud even once, do me a favour and subscribe wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts – Spotify, Apple, all of them. And if you want more stories of what I am learning and laughing about on the road landing in your inbox every two weeks, come join the Laughter Revolution Digest at marlasimlett.com. I promise it is more fun than your average newsletter
Full Transcipt
Marla Simlett: Welcome to Laughter Revolution. I’m your host, Marla Simlett, and this podcast is built on the simple belief that while life can be heavy, getting through it doesn’t always have to be, because laughter.
Today’s episode is extra special because it’s my first on-the-road interview, and I’m super excited about it. As you know, I was recently in Scotland, where I have to say a piece of my heart remains. My piece of my heart will always be in the Scottish Highlands. But I’ve moved on. I’m speaking to somebody from Scotland. I was fortunate enough to meet and get to stay with my guest, whose infectious laughter and love of life made her a no-brainer when I was trying to think who I would interview from Scotland. I’d like to introduce Jenny Drever. She’s coming to us from Orkney Island in the north of Scotland, from Finstown, and she was my Airbnb host during the four days I spent there last week. Thanks, Jenny, for being here. I was so excited that you were willing to come on and have some giggles and fun with me.
Jenny Drever: You didn’t need to ask me twice.
Marla Simlett: Now, you are from Orkney, born and bred.
Jenny Drever: I am.
Marla Simlett: So tell us a little bit about yourself.
Jenny Drever: Oh boy, that’s quite a big question to go straight into. I actually have no idea how to describe myself. I’m just me. I was born and raised in Finstown, where I live right now. I left when I was eighteen and moved to Aberdeen to go to university. I stayed there seven years, and when I left I was like, “I’m never coming back to Orkney. This is a total shit hole.” Am I allowed to swear on this?
Marla Simlett: Yes.
Jenny Drever: Oh, thank God. I was like, “Never will I ever come back.” And then fast-forward seven years, I was like, what was I talking about? I love Orkney.
Marla Simlett: Yeah. Our eighteen-year-old selves don’t always know what the real deal is.
Jenny Drever: That’s true, and I think you appreciate all the things that you hate when you get older anyway. A lot of the things that I was like, “Oh my God, nothing’s going on here, I can’t stand it,” now I’m running home to get my pajamas on after work, being like, “I love that nothing’s going on right now.” Fantastic.
So yes, most of my family is still in Orkney, bar a brother who’s in Canada, and I have another brother who lives in Aberdeen. So that is really me. I live by myself with my dog, Peaks.
Marla Simlett: Yes. I have met Peaks, and I love Peaks. A little bit of my heart is still with Peaks, but I have to say she’s a little bit of a tramp, because the last night I was there, I didn’t see you in the morning, but I think you know the story.
You were out. She came to bed with me, all happy and content, and then the moment you weren’t even in the door, she was up and out and gone. And I have to say, my heart was a little bit broken.
Jenny Drever: Look, I don’t want to offend you, but she is a bit of a ho, okay? Every guest, she is all over them, and she has no self-respect.
She is lying on the floor. She is showing her puggy. She is giving her withering eyes. I’m like, “Have a bit of self-respect, woman. This is wild.” And then the minute they go, “Oh my God, you’re the loveliest dog in the world,” she’s like, “Yeah, see you later. I’m off with Jenny.” She likes to lure you in.
Marla Simlett: Yeah.
Jenny Drever: And I’d like to say that I hate that behaviour, but I love being her number one.
Marla Simlett: Yeah, I guess. Okay, so I can no longer feel special. I’m going to delete her picture from my phone, and I’m just going to move on.
Jenny Drever: Yeah. I hate to drop you down so hard, but that is exactly what she’s like. It’s a little bit harsh with everyone. But she is a stray, so maybe she’s trampy because maybe she just thinks she’s with me for now, and then she’s going to run off with someone else.
Marla Simlett: That’s right.
Jenny Drever: She might be picking out the perfect guest that she likes more than me, and then she’ll be saying, “Adios. See you later.” I wouldn’t put it past her.
Marla Simlett: Apparently that wasn’t me.
Jenny Drever: No.
Marla Simlett: But you let me know who wins over me.
Jenny Drever: Maybe you didn’t have a car.
Marla Simlett: I didn’t.
Jenny Drever: So there you go, the transport. She is quite a lazy diva as well. She’s a bit like me. She likes her life of luxury.
Marla Simlett: So that’s a great segue. One of the questions I was going to ask you was, because you have a pet, what role does having a pet play, or how do you think a pet helps you? You’ve got a joie de vivre. You’ve got a really positive outlook on life. That’s my impression from staying with you for four days.
Jenny Drever: Love that.
How does a pet help you with that? Does Peaks help with that? I always said that Peaks found me, because I had this vision in my head that I was going to have a beautiful pedigree golden lab puppy, and I was going to call her Sandy, after the island my granny is from, which I visit every month.
So it was heaven. I envisioned us running over the hills together, her laughing at my jokes twenty-four seven, her sitting when I told her to sit, her behaving when I told her to behave. Basically doing anything I told her to do, like dogs should do. And then one day, Peaks came into my life. She was this gammy-looking dog, because she’s only got three legs.
One leg was broken when she was a pup, so it’s all twisted and mangled. She has half a tail. She’s got different coloured eyes. I’m not joking, when I first saw her I thought, “Bloody hell, what is this?” And the lady said, “Oh, I foster from Spain and I’m trying to get her a home.” I was like, “Yeah, good luck with that.”
So I was like, “Off you go,” basically writing her off, couldn’t have cared less about her. And then she kept coming back to me all day, and I took her home that night, and the rest is history. So I always say that she definitely found me, and all of a sudden Sandy was gone, poof, into thin air. With Airbnb, sometimes she’s golden, because you get a lot of people saying, “I want to come and stay with you because I like the look of your dog.”
It is good. However, other times she does have a weird sick side to her, where she wants to just really ruin my life sometimes, with the positions she puts me in. When I first started Airbnb-ing, I had a lovely old couple. They were probably late sixties, early seventies, and they were avid birdwatchers.
Marla Simlett: Right.
Jenny Drever: So really quiet, delicate, lovely people. I think they were from Switzerland. Just lovely. They came in, and they introduced themselves, and they gave the dog a pet and all that, and that was fine. Now, what Peaks doesn’t like is loud bangs, like fireworks or gunshots. Other than that, she’s pretty chill.
But that sudden loud bangs puts her in a frenzy. On firework night, I usually have to drug her up, because my God, she goes insane.
Marla Simlett: Poor thing.
Jenny Drever: So it’s not worth it. I need to give her a pill and pop myself a pill, and then we’re all fine. That’s great. But one morning, I think it was 4:00 a.m., there were geese shooters outside my house. So bang, bang, bang. Of course she was up, and she was having a hairy mary, and she was jumping around, and she was like, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” And I was like, “Calm down, dear, I’ll put you out for a pee, you’re fine.” So I went downstairs with her and put her out for a pee. Now, I will say at this point, I didn’t have locks on the bedroom doors.
I just hadn’t gotten around to that. So it was a very trusted environment, might I say, for them as well as me, because they could have been killing me, and I could have been killing them. Who knows? However, I think they probably learned their lesson from this story, because while we were downstairs, she went for a pee, and we came back up, and as we were going upstairs, there was another gunshot.
So Peaks shot straight upstairs, and I was like, “Calm down, dear.” But she headbutted into their room instead of mine.
Marla Simlett: Oh, no.
Jenny Drever: And she jumped on them while they were sleeping. So I was like, “Holy shit.” And they were up in the morning like, “What is going on?” And I was like, “Peaks.” I was only in my dressing gown, so I’m running in trying to be quiet because it’s morning.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, Peaks.” And of course Peaks, a beautiful trait of hers, is that when she’s in trouble she just likes to play dead. I don’t know why, but she thinks this is the time to play dead so she’ll never be angry at me. So she just went limp.
Marla Simlett: Oh, no.
Jenny Drever: So there I am in their bedroom, hovering over them in the dark, trying to pull my dead, limp dog off their bed by her collar, saying, “I’m so sorry, Peaks.” Literally dragging her off the bed. So that next morning was a very awkward morning, and I knew from then this was not going to be a five-star review, Jenny.
Marla Simlett: And it’s time to get some locks on the doors.
Jenny Drever: It’s time to get some. And that was a good moral, because you live and learn. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have put a lock on the door. They’re probably in therapy right now, but it’s probably helped them too.
Marla Simlett: So when I ask how Peaks brings laughter into your life, there is a fine example right there.
Jenny Drever: That is a very good example.
Marla Simlett: That’s such a great story.
So, talking about laughter again, because you know that’s my thing, this is Laughter Revolution.
Jenny Drever: You do like to laugh, I have heard that.
Marla Simlett: What role does laughter play in your life?
Jenny Drever: I just think, if you don’t have a life with laughter, what is that? What kind of life is that? You have to learn, well, you don’t have to learn, it should come naturally, but if it doesn’t come naturally, that’s definitely one skill you should absolutely learn to have: to laugh. Because if you can’t laugh at yourself, and if you can’t laugh at a situation you’re in, you are probably doomed. Not to sound dramatic, but that is a sad life. I think we were very much raised to just get on with stuff. You just got on with it, and probably through that, our attitude became a dry sense of humour, and it is a fantastic skill to have.
Because you might be facing the worst thing, but if you can find one glimmer to laugh about, you’re halfway through solving your problem. You’re halfway getting through that hurdle, over that hill. If you’re focused, I always say, it’s great that we talk about mental health these days.
That is fantastic. Let’s not have anyone come after me for saying this, okay? I think that is a great thing, because it’s what was missing. However, sometimes I think, before, we didn’t talk about it enough, and now maybe we talk about it too much. Because when you do talk about it too much, you’re at risk of dwelling on your unhappiness, and that opens a rabbit hole. And if you dwell and you go down that rabbit hole, there’s no way of getting out.
Marla Simlett: Yeah.
Jenny Drever: Whereas if you can find a way to laugh about a terrible situation, and find humour in it, you are halfway to overcoming that.
Marla Simlett: Yeah.
Jenny Drever: Do you know what I mean? That is going to be a great story at some point, a story of triumph.
Yes. But you have to learn to laugh about it. And you have to learn to distract yourself as well. I always say, if you imagine your problems like balloons that you’re holding on to, and you’re busy, and you look somewhere else because you have to distract yourself, and that balloon flies away from your hand.
Well, soon enough you’re looking up going, “Oh yeah, I forgot I was holding that. It’s up in the sky. It’s a memory.” It’s good. If you can laugh and chuckle and let them go, that’s it.
Marla Simlett: Yeah. And that’s, I think, right on. That’s one of the reasons I wanted us to have this chat, because we’re so in line with our thinking on that.
Because, as you say, I talk about laughter allowing your defences to go down. So if you’re caught in a spiral or a rabbit hole of negativity, you throw some laughter in there and it disrupts. It’s just enough of a reset sometimes to give you the positive energy, the positive thoughts, that will help you move out of that.
Jenny Drever: Absolutely. In that line, I would say that laughter is also a defence. It breaks things down, but it defends you as well. If you’re in an uncomfortable situation and you’re thinking, “God, how am I getting out of this?”
You make a joke out of it. Someone might be in your face, and you’re thinking, “Oh God, this is a really awkward situation.” You turn it on them, and you turn it into a joke, and all of a sudden you’ve got the power. You’re laughing. People are laughing with you. It’s funny, because you could argue that in the past we had a much harder way of life, a much tougher way of life.
Now we’re in a very luxurious way of living, and it’s almost like it’s too difficult now. Is it because we’ve lost the ability to laugh? Is it because, in some way, if you laugh at yourself, you’re doing yourself an injustice? Someone’s judging you for it, saying, “Well, that’s a defence mechanism.”
Yeah, it might be. Why not? That’s a great defence mechanism. And that’s a great way of looking back and saying, “But you shouldn’t find that funny, because that was terrible.” Yeah, it doesn’t take away that it was terrible. But to find laughter in it, to find humour in it, that’s a fantastic way, a fantastic mindset. So I think you should roll with that.
Marla Simlett: There’s an interesting researcher I’ve read who’s talked about four different kinds of laughter, and one of them is self-deprecating laughter.
They’ve said it’s really good, unless you’re putting yourself in a victim position, or you’re doing it to make other people feel better. Do you know what I mean?
Jenny Drever: Okay, yeah.
Marla Simlett: But I think the way we’re talking about it, it’s more that you can make fun of yourself, not because you don’t have high self-esteem or because you’re trying to put yourself down. I think people who can use self-deprecating humour really well have a really good sense of self and a really strong, positive outlook, or else they couldn’t do it, right?
Jenny Drever: Absolutely. I totally agree with that. And it’s funny, because I will often say things like, I was looking ten out of ten today in my outfit at work, I must say. It was what you would call a pantsuit.
Marla Simlett: Ooh, a pantsuit.
Jenny Drever: Yeah, I was rocking one of those from Shein, would you believe it?
Beautiful blue, nailing it. And I came in, and everyone said, “You look nice today.” And I said, “I know. Ten out of ten. Would you believe it? Here I am, Beyoncé, gone with the way. Who knew she worked here?” And everyone was like, “Ha ha ha ha ha ha.” But I was like, “I’m being one hundred and ten percent serious here. I know how good I’m looking.”
So I don’t feel like [unclear, trails off]. I am the funny one in my family, and it’s funny because they say, “Does she make a joke out of it because she’s insecure?” My sister would be the first one to say, “No, no, no, absolutely not one stitch of insecurity in her, I can tell you that.”
Marla Simlett: Yeah, I love it.
Okay, another question.
Jenny Drever: Hit me.
Marla Simlett: How would you describe Scottish humour?
Jenny Drever: Very, very dry.
Marla Simlett: Okay.
Jenny Drever: And we’re quick. I would say Scottish humour is like a bounce back. Like, when you don’t necessarily know someone, and you start having a bit of banter, as we would call it, you might say something funny or humorous, and they might hit you back.
And then you might be like, “Oh, we’re playing well here.” So you hit back with another, and it goes back and forth, and that’s really when you understand whether you like someone or not.
Marla Simlett: Ah, okay.
Jenny Drever: I think that’s a personality thing. When you know, like, “Oh, we’re on the same level here.” You might say something a bit silly to someone.
So I was at a bar, would you believe it, a couple of weeks ago, and it was quite noisy. I went in, and the man behind the bar said, “What would you like?” And I said, “Could I have a white wine, please?” And he said, “No bother, I’ve only got Chardonnay or Pinot.” And I said, “Sauvignon, please.”
Because I didn’t hear what he said at all, since it was so noisy, but I knew he’d said something, and I took the risk that it was probably going to be, “What kind of wine would you like?” I didn’t realize. So he looked at me a bit funny, and then he said, “Pinot or Chardonnay?” And I said, “Oh, I’m sorry, Sauvignon.”
And then he went, “Oh, let me just get you that Sauvignon,” and he poured me a Pinot. Which I was like, “We’re on the same level here. This is funny.” Do you know what I mean? So immediately I got that. However, if he had looked at me weird and said, “I said Chardonnay or Pinot,” I would have said, “I’ll have a beer, calm down.” Not that I’d ever have a beer, but I’d have said something like that just to throw him off course, because that’s the dry humour.
Marla Simlett: So explain to me the pylons on the heads of the statues.
Jenny Drever: The what on the what?
Marla Simlett: You don’t know about this maybe?
Jenny Drever: The what on the what?
Marla Simlett: Pylons. You know those orange cones you have when there’s traffic work happening?
You know what I mean?
Jenny Drever: Yeah.
Marla Simlett: So when I was in Stromness, I saw one and took a picture. It was on a statue.
Jenny Drever: Yeah.
Marla Simlett: And I thought, “Oh, isn’t that funny?” And they’ve just left it there. Then I saw them all over Edinburgh.
I looked it up, and apparently it’s a Scottish thing. It started in Glasgow.
Jenny Drever: Yeah.
Marla Simlett: Somebody put a pylon on the head of a statue as a joke, and then they took it down, and it kept showing up again, so they left it.
Jenny Drever: Yeah.
Marla Simlett: And at one point they decided they wanted to outlaw it and say you can’t do that anymore, and there was such an uproar that they had to leave it.
Now that’s apparently just a thing all across Scotland.
Jenny Drever: I love that. I didn’t know they tried to outlaw it. I do know now what the cone is about, that makes sense. I just thought that was Scottish banter. I think it’s just drunk guys being like, “Look at me climbing a statue,” and then someone saying, “Do you know what would be even funnier?”
If you put an old cone on it. I remember at uni it was quite a fun thing if you could pinch a cone from roadworks and take it home with you. We had one of those orange cones in the front garden of Talisman Road in Aberdeen for many years, and we were very proud of it.
Marla Simlett: Yeah, so the Scots like their orange cones, is what I’m hearing.
Jenny Drever: Yeah, I think we just like to do something so silly it may be illegal. Who knows? It’s silliness, and it’s funny. It’s harmless, but it’s silly, and that always encourages a good laugh.
Marla Simlett: And I love the silliness.
I’m going to tell this story, because this was one of the reasons why I was like, “I need to get Jenny on the show.” When I was at your place and we were talking about gooseberries, and I said I’d never had a gooseberry.
Jenny Drever: And I couldn’t believe it. Wild.
Marla Simlett: I said, “Because we don’t have them in Canada,” and then I looked them up and realized I was a crappy Canadian, because they’re native to Canada, but I’d never had one.
Jenny Drever: That was quite modest of you.
Marla Simlett: And then I was upstairs, and all of a sudden I heard this scream: “Marla, guess what?” And I’m like, “Oh my God, what?” And I came running downstairs, and you had found a gooseberry. I was like, “This is a woman for me,” that you can get that excited. And you gave me one, since there were two, so you had one and I had one.
Jenny Drever: Sharing is caring.
Marla Simlett: What was that?
Jenny Drever: Sharing is caring.
Marla Simlett: That’s right, sharing is caring.
I love the silliness, and I found that when I talked to a lot of people in Scotland, at bus stops, because I spent a lot of time at bus stops.
Jenny Drever: Yeah.
Marla Simlett: And on the bus, talking to bus drivers. When I could understand them, because I’ll admit there were times I just, there was a bus driver with a Glasgow accent, and honest to God, I was just smiling and nodding the whole time because I couldn’t understand him. Every once in a while he’d look like he’d said something funny, and I’d go along with it, because I couldn’t understand a word he said. But there was that silliness, and I think maybe that’s one of the reasons, because I’m like that too. I’m very kind of silly and like the absurd, and I think that’s one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much there.
Jenny Drever: Oh yeah, we all like our silliness. And might I say, I was elated about this gooseberry, because I bought that bush two years ago, and last year it never flourished, and I was majorly disappointed.
I make rhubarb wine, so I wanted to make gooseberry wine too. Anyway, when those two little gooseberries appeared and I was high as a kite, I went to my sister’s after and I burst through the door and I was like, “Carla, you’ll never guess what’s happened.” And she was like, “Oh my God, have we won the lottery?
Have we gotten laid? What’s happened to you?” And I was like, “I found a gooseberry on my bush.” And she was like, “Please rephrase that.” And I was like, “My gooseberry bush has laid gooseberries.” And she was like, “Still not the right term. Try again.” And I was like, “Okay. Gooseberry gin is coming.” And she was like, “There we go.”
Marla Simlett: Nice. So, how many gooseberries do you think you need for gooseberry gin?
Jenny Drever: Probably about a bazillion. More than two, probably. But I saw a cheeky one appear today. So I was low-key trying not to get excited and telling the whole family on the family chat again. But I was like, this is getting wild.
Summer is here. The gooseberries are out. Jenny’s gin is going to be flowing. I love it. Can’t wait.
Marla Simlett: I love it. Okay, so we’re getting close to the end. Let me see, I have another question. When was the last time you laughed so hard that you either peed yourself, couldn’t stop laughing, or spat tea, wine, or water out of your nose?
Jenny Drever: Oh my God. Well, first of all, number one and three do not exist, because I am a lady, so I don’t do any of that.
Marla Simlett: Oh, sorry. I guess that’s just me.
Jenny Drever: It’s all right, these things happen, that’s okay. When was the last time I laughed so hard? It wasn’t that long ago, because I remember it, something really silly with my brother Robbie.
Will I remember what it was? I will not. It was really silly, because I remember I was setting up at my sister’s, and me and Robbie, once we get silly, we just get silly. I think we revert back to being like ten, and we’ll say something, and when we’re on the same wavelength we go into this thing where we’re like, “Ha, that was really funny.”
Normal people end the laughter there and say, “That was good, what a lovely time we’ve had.” We both try to do that, but I have quite a high-pitched, motley laugh that, when I get going, rumbles in my belly and only comes out as squeaks through my mouth. So I was like, “That’s been good, that’s finished.”
But then it would come back, and he’d be like, “Jenny, stop laughing.” And I’m like, “It’s not even funny, I don’t even care anymore.” And he’d go, “Okay, okay, okay.” And within three seconds someone would say, “Would you like a cup of tea?” And it would set us off again. We’re awful at bouncing off each other, so much that I’ve had to leave the room, literally leave for a good solid ten or fifteen minutes, until the conversation has moved on to something completely different. Because once we get into that silliness, we cannot stop.
Marla Simlett: How fabulous is it to have somebody in your life that you have that with?
Jenny Drever: There is nothing better than a full-on puggy laugh. Do you know what I mean? When your belly is having its own little dance, and you can’t breathe.
That’s a weird thing, to enjoy the feeling of not being able to breathe. There’s probably something wrong with that. But it’s a really nice way of just, you’re so tickled, it’s so funny.
Marla Simlett: Yeah. Or even when it isn’t that funny, but you get into the swing of it, and it doesn’t happen very often. I bet if you asked most people when the last time was they laughed so hard they couldn’t stop, it wouldn’t be recent.
As adults, it doesn’t happen that much anymore. How do you feel after that?
Jenny Drever: Exhausted. Exhausted. It’s like a workout.
Marla Simlett: There’s something more to it than that, though. Why is it so good?
Jenny Drever: I don’t know. It sends your endorphins up, doesn’t it?
Marla Simlett: Yeah.
Jenny Drever: And what better way to use your time than to laugh with someone?
And then you create that memory as well. You share that bond.
Marla Simlett: Yeah.
Jenny Drever: There is nothing sweeter than that. It’s like the euphoria, or whatever the word is, after it, when you’re all laughed out and you’re like, “That was nice.” That was a good moment to share. That probably wasn’t the word I was supposed to use, judging by your facial expression.
Marla Simlett: I don’t know what word you were looking for, but I get the drift.
Jenny Drever: It’s along that. I’m not very good with words, so it’s along that way. I will say I muddle up my words quite a lot. I’ve got the good old dyslexia, dyspraxia, whatever you call it.
I can’t remember. However, I muddle up my words, and a very good story of that is when me and my sister Carly, and my brother Billy, and my brother Robbie, we were visiting my granny. We were coming home, and you’ve got to get a ferry to come home. It was a really rainy day, and we were plodding down to get onto the boat, and it was raining, and you had to get a ticket from the ticket man before you went on the boat.
As we were walking down, I realized there was a hole in my shoe, so my sock was getting wet, and it was awful. As we were walking down, I was going in first.
And I go to get the ticket, and I go, “Oh no,” and I have that sudden realization. And the man goes, “What’s wrong with you?”
And I go, “Ugh, I’ve got a shoe in my hole.” And then he looked at me, and I was like, holy fuck. And then I realized what I had said, and what made it even worse is that I said, “No, I meant I’ve got a shoe in my hole.” So I just repeated it with more vigour, and he was like, “Well, what the hell is that doing in there, lass?”
And I was like, “Oh no, my toe,” and ran onto the boat. And of course I had three siblings behind me laughing hysterically, and that must have happened way over ten years ago, and it still gets brought up at parties. It’s still a punchline, and when I turned thirty they sang a song about it. I was like, oh my God.
Marla Simlett: The thing you can always count on with siblings is that they’re going to keep bringing it back, and bringing it back, and bringing it back.
Jenny Drever: They will remember every little detail of you absolutely embarrassing yourself. Do you know what I mean? They don’t need to ponder your achievements or your great self-improvements or anything like that. That is boring to them. They need something where you have thoroughly embarrassed yourself or really gone above and beyond. That is what they remember, and I still, even to this day, find that hilarious. Do you know what I mean? You’ve got to laugh about that.
Marla Simlett: That’s so funny. What a great story, and the comeback too. There’s that dry Scottish humour.
Jenny Drever: Oh yeah. That’s exactly what that humour is.
Marla Simlett: I love it. All right, so we’re almost out of time, so I am ready for the lightning round if you are.
Jenny Drever: Ooh, I’m excited.
Marla Simlett: The Laughter Revolution Lightning Round.
So, first thing that comes into your head.
Jenny Drever: Oh God, okay.
Marla Simlett: Ready?
Jenny Drever: Right.
Marla Simlett: Number one: laughter is cheaper than…
Jenny Drever: Wine.
Marla Simlett: You know you need to laugh when…
Jenny Drever: You need to cry.
Marla Simlett: The most inappropriate place I’ve ever had the giggles was…
Jenny Drever: Oh God. At a funeral.
Marla Simlett: Any one in particular?
Jenny Drever: No, let’s not go into that. Terrible time, terrible time. One place just not to laugh is when someone is dead, and you know you shouldn’t, so yeah.
Marla Simlett: Okay, enough said. Next: the one thing guaranteed to make me laugh every single time is…
Jenny Drever: Oh, the one thing to make me laugh every single time is mistakes. Injury.
Marla Simlett: Yours or someone else’s?
Jenny Drever: Obviously someone else’s.
Marla Simlett: A day without laughter feels like…?
Jenny Drever: Oh, blue. I don’t think I’ve ever had a day like that, to be honest.
Marla Simlett: And yet some people do. That makes me sad in my soul.
Jenny Drever: That is sad. That was very profound. That is sad in my soul.
Marla Simlett: Okay.
Jenny Drever: Deep.
Marla Simlett: And the last one.
Jenny Drever: Yep.
Marla Simlett: You ready?
Jenny Drever: Yep.
Marla Simlett: Give me your signature giggle in three, two, one.
Jenny Drever: It’s not even one of those cute, sultry giggles. I am a motley. Everyone’s like, “Oh, how indeedy,” when someone’s like, I’m like…
Marla Simlett: Are you a snorter?
Jenny Drever: No.
Marla Simlett: This is a question, it’s not on the list, but are you a snorter?
Jenny Drever: I would never snort. I’m a lady.
Marla Simlett: Oh, I’m a snorter.
Jenny Drever: Oh dear. Oh, Marla. Oh, Marla.
Marla Simlett: But don’t look down on me. Don’t think less of me.
Jenny Drever: I won’t. Do you know what? You put my motley with your snort and you’ve got a ringtone, if we were back in 2010. That is a ringtone for your Nokia 3310. Going wild.
Marla Simlett: Okay, you know what? I’m going to get this in the can, and then I’m going to talk to you about ringtones, because maybe we can get that going.
I think that would be a good one. People would buy that.
Jenny Drever: Oh my God, I like that. What would you call it, though? The Marla-Jenny ringtone? So it’s got to be the Marny, or the…
Marla Simlett: The Jenny…
Jenny Drever: Jerla.
Marla Simlett: Jerla?
Jenny Drever: Or the…
Marla Simlett: Well, these are not going to work.
Jenny Drever: The motley snort. You’ve got the Mort, or the snotly.
Marla Simlett: Ha! Snotly.
Jenny Drever: Snotly.
Marla Simlett: There you go.
Jenny Drever: Bam.
Marla Simlett: Look for it on your ringtone-purchasing websites everywhere. I don’t know where you get ringtones these days.
Jenny Drever: Magic has just happened. And do you know what’s funny? Retro is coming back, so it’s the new thing to go back. Everyone’s going to get Nokia 3310s, and they’re going to be playing the, what did we call it?
Marla Simlett: The snotly ringtone.
Jenny Drever: Snotly ringtone.
Marla Simlett: Perfect.
Jenny, this has been so much fun. I knew it was going to be. Thanks for being here with me today and sharing your laughter and your joy and your positivity and your va-va-va-voom.
Jenny Drever: I have enjoyed myself. Thanks for having me, this is my first podcast.
Marla Simlett: Well, it might not be your last.
Jenny Drever: I think I’m a bit famous.
Marla Simlett: I think you’ve got a career there for yourself.
Oh, here I go again, I tell you.
Jenny Drever: Awesome. Well, thanks for being here, and that’s it for our episode, everybody.
If you enjoyed it and you know you want more, hit that subscribe button so you’ll get the podcast every time a new episode comes out, and feel free to pass on the link to anyone you think needs some giggles with their growth.
You can also subscribe to my Laughter Revolution Digest, especially if you want to follow along with my stories and giggles and pictures. You can subscribe to that on my website, marlasimlett.com.
And keep in mind, I want to hear from you. So what did you think of this episode? Where are you getting stuck? What’s making you giggle? Send me pictures, videos, any questions or insights you have. You can connect with me through Instagram, Facebook, or send me an email at [email protected].
Thanks for being here. I’m Marla Simlett, and this was Laughter Revolution.
Remember, until next time: laugh more, be well, become your greatest you.
