The other day, I ran across a list of quotes from comedian Rodney Dangerfield, of “I don’t get no respect” fame.

Some of my favorites:

–I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.

–I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it.

–I haven’t spoken to my wife in years. I didn’t want to interrupt her.

–I joined Gambler’s Anonymous. They gave me two to one I don’t make it.

–I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous- everyone hasn’t met me yet.

OK, I didn’t include the cruder quotes. Or a lot of the ones in which Rodney picks on his wife.

But even in most all of Rodney’s jokes, he is either directly (”gee, I’m so ugly”) or indirectly (”gee, I’m so ugly my wife even hates me”) the fall guy of his own humor, the butt of his jokes, the punch line.

And I like that. I don’t like humor that puts down other people and leaves out the person making the joke. (I actually think a lot of today’s TV shows are like that.) I write a weekly column that is supposed to be humorous, at least much of the time, and humor plays a big role in my novels, too.

In my column, I always try to be–like Rodney–the fall guy, the butt of the joke, the punch line. My self-imposed strict rule is to never, ever make fun of family or friends.

I do send up what my friend Mary Tom calls “people in power acting badly,” both in my novels and sometimes in my column. (Isn’t that a great phrase? Wish I’d have thought of it!) As she would also say, those people need makin’ fun of. (Kind of a milder version of “he/she needed killin.’)

And those things are harder to do than you might think–not because I can’t find plenty of things to make fun of about myself. That’s easy! But one doesn’t want to cross the line into the “poor pitiful me” category–not funny. And in sending up “people in power acting badly,” one doesn’t want to set up us vs. them, either–also not funny.

In what appear to be very simple one-liners, Rodney always managed to strike just the right balance.

For that, I give him my respect.