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Comedian's hilarious raps get nursing home residents grooving any way they can

Pauline Schantzer (aka Polly Wolly) created "The Finger Dance" so those in wheelchairs can groove.

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Comedian Polly Wolly raps and dances with nursing home residents.

You're never too old to sing or dance. And Los Angeles-based comedianomedian Pauline Schantzer (@therealpollywolly) is making it her mission to keep residents in nursing homes doing both. The actress, writer and rapper (aka Polly Wolly) has been bringing her beats, songs and dance moves to nursing and assisted living homes, inspiring them to live it up and find joy.

"I started performing in nursing homes in November 2023," Polly tells Upworthy.

She got connected with her first nursing home via her friend, Rena Hirsch, who was the director of the nursing home that first booked Polly. "At first I didn't plan to pursue [work] in nursing homes. But I grew up going to see my grandma in the nursing home, and my mom Judy who is my comedic inspiration also lives in an assisted living home," she shares. "She has minor dementia, so it means a lot to me to give people laughter. My mom used to be full of laughs and jokes, and she's lost that. So it's been really tough on me to experience that. And humor is how I've dealt with it."

Understanding her audience, Polly recently created a song called "The Finger Dance" that allows everyone to get dancing, including those in wheel chairs. In the video, Polly raps and sings as she interacts with the residents. "In the wheelchair, let's groove! What's that button do? Oh ooh. It's electric, vroom vroom. Can't get up? That's fine! Put your fingers up real high, aye!" she raps and sings in the video.

She continues, "Move it from side to side. Yeah girl, looking real fly! Aye! Shake them fingers, don't be shy. You got arthritis? Come on just try!" Polly pans the camera to the small crowd, who have their fingers up and are grooving along with her.

The sweet video got tons of supportive comments from viewers. "Ur in those homes everyday! I love it! Respect what you do so much, laughter is the best medicine," one wrote. Another added, "👏👏 I love how you bring a moment of happiness and joy to our seniors !! ♥️" And another viewer shared, "You've got me over here doing the finger dance at my desk while at work. Lol."

Polly adds, "I wrote this song, 'The Finger Dance' because my mom always did this dance [with her fingers]. She was so cute, she was overweight and her cheeks would look all chubby and she'd point her fingers up in the air. It was inspired by her."

In another post, Polly performed another original song in another assisted living home, encouraging everyone to dance through their aches and pains with more funny lyrics. "You got aches, you got pains, da da da da da da. So groove with your cane, da da da da da da da." And viewers noted that her performance was "100x better than Coachella" and "Next stop…Coachella."

Another bop she created is called "Shake It Doll", and it's a banger that has consistently put smiles on faces when she performs it. During a recent show, she told the crowd, "Let's get wild up in here, you know? We only live once. Let's do it!" she said as the song started. "Shake it doll, shake it at the mall! Shake it doll in the bathroom stall!" The beat is irresistible, and in the video Polly dances alongside an enthusiastic woman.

"It makes me really happy to see the residents really enjoy it. A lot of times they will first refuse to dance and enjoy. But when I get a man or woman who doesn't [initially] want to dance to suddenly get up and move, it means so much to me," says Polly.

She has big plans for the future and reaching more residents in nursing and assisted living homes. "I would love to do a nursing home tour around the United States. I have a lot of big visions for it," she says. "It really warms my heart a lot seeing how many people around the world tell me how much I'm making their day and giving joy to them. It means so much to me to see people have laughter. That's what life's about."

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Billy Crystal's 'Princess Bride' ad-lib was so funny cast and crew had to leave the set

Mandy Patinkin actually bruised a rib from holding back laughter.

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Billy Crystal created most of Miracle Max's lines off the cuff.

Comedic actors know how to deliver lines in just the right way with just the right timing to make an audience laugh. But true comedians are often funnier when they’re allowed to go off-script and let their gift for spontaneous humor shine.

Enter Billy Crystal, whose ad-libbed scene in “The Princess Bride” was so funny it took nearly 30 hours of work to get five minutes of usable footage. Cast members of the cult classic film have shared what happened when director Rob Reiner decided to take the reins off of Crystal, telling him, “Forget the lines, just go for it,” according to actor Cary Elwes. That invitation to improvise would prove to be one of the best—and worst—decisions he could have made for the film.

In the scene, Crystal plays “Miracle Max,” a crotchety old apothecary who argues with his wife (played by Carol Kane) and brings the "mostly dead" Westley back to life with his chocolate-covered magic pill. There were lines written for his character, but he didn't need them. He could—and did—ad-lib for hours, but it proved to be a bit of a problem because the cast and crew just couldn't stop laughing.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

The sound department had to start banishing people off of the set because they were ruining takes with their giggles. Reiner himself, who has a big, boisterous laugh, was one of the first people to go because he couldn't keep it together during the filming. Mandy Patinkin, who played Inigo Montoya and wasn't able to leave, shared that he sustained his only injury in the entire making of the film during the shooting of that scene—a bruised rib from holding in laughter.

Elwes said Reiner told him he needed to lie perfectly still and hold his breath in the scene, but Crystal's "medieval Yiddish stand-up" proved too hilarious and Elwes had to be replaced with his rubber dummy for much of the shoot. Patinkin said that Reiner nearly threw up from laughing so hard, and people in the cast and crew had to bite their hands to keep quiet. Production was nearly shut down for the day and the scene became one of the most expensive scenes in the movie because it used so much film, according to InCinematic. And the vast majority of what was filmed never got seen.

"Unfortunately, there's so many spoiled—brilliantly hilarious takes that we all spoiled," said Elwes. He also wrote in his book about the movie that Crystal never said the same thing or delivered the same line twice. Crystal's improv resulted in some of the most memorable lines from the film, such as the classic, "Sonny, true love is the greatest thing in the world—except for a nice MLT–mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean…"

Even the look of Miracle Max was from Crystal's brain child. He told his makeup artist that he wanted the character to look like a mix between Casey Stengel, former manager for the New York Yankees, and Crystal's grandmother.

Casey StengelCasey Stengel served as inspiration for the Miracle Max character in "The Princess Bride."Public Domain

People loved hearing about Crystal's comedic genius, wishing the footage that couldn't be used would be released.

"You can't plan a movie like The Princess Bride, when you've got the right people sometimes it just happens."

"Nothing greater as an improvising-comedian actor than hearing the words; 'Forget the lines, just go for it.'"

"Three straight days of Billy off the cuff is pure gold. I would've loved to have been on that set lmao."

"When the comedy is so good, you bruise your OWN RIB tryna hold it in."

"Release the tapes, raw and uncut. The people demand it."

We may not have access to the unseen footage of Crystal's improvised hilarity, but we can at least enjoy the scenes that did make it into the film by rewatching "The Princess Bride," which many fans do annually. The film even returned to theaters briefly for its 30th Anniversary in the fall of 2023, much to the delight of people who yearned to see it on the big screen again.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

This article originally appeared in January

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YouTuber Dax Flame continues to baffle fans over if he's a comic genius or just plain awkward

Whether it's real or all an act, he will definitely make you laugh.

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Funny on purpose or by default?

Imagine this: You're at Target when a guy in his early 30s awkwardly approaches and asks if he can "try to make you laugh with a physical comedy-type thing." He then proceeds to attempt to sneeze confetti, fumble his keys and, of course, fall down for no reason. He's open to notes. In fact, he always asks for them, and in this particular case, his extremely polite one-person audience suggests "lifting a box that's clearly too heavy?"


That's Dax Flame, and he has been creating content since he was a kid back in Dallas. The thing is, he's actually quite famous, having become one of the first YouTube stars to receive a million clicks. To say he was ahead of his time would be an understatement, as he slowly built a following by dressing up as an "angry Superman" and venting on camera, among other strange and hilarious videos. He'll stop at nothing to make people feel simultaneously happy and uncomfortable. It's so layered and mysterious that even a good portion of his longtime fans can't figure out if he's Andy Kaufman-level genius or just plain awkward.

@ttfeo

Dax Flame’s villian origin story. #daxflame #daxflameprojectx #daxflameedit #redrex #editaudio #villian #orginstory #evil #whereitallbegan #vsp #capcut #ttfeo #edits

If you Google Dax Flame, the suggested queries include: Is Dax Flame for real? Does Dax Flame have anxiety? Was Dax Flame in the movie 21 Jump Street? The answer to the latter is yes. But the other two questions remain unclear.

The truth is—it might just not matter. With 2.3 million followers on TikTok and over a million on Instagram, Dax's star continues to rise. He appeared in the films Project X, 21 Jump Street, and 22 Jump Street and often asks random people if they've seen those films. And yet, fans still wonder—is he in on the joke? Did he create the joke? Is there even a joke at all?

An entire documentary called Ice Cream Man was posted on YouTube, which explores Dax's enigmatic personality and his dreams of hosting an online game show about making smoothies. If he breaks character, it's tough to tell. One of the commenters shares, "Dax radiates charisma. It doesn't matter how you look at him; he is so genuine that you will feel drawn to him and appreciate his approach to things in life. His speech is very gentle, and he didn't put pressure on either of the contestants during the show. It was awesome."

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Five years ago, the BBC did a story on him and wrote, "Dax Flame was huge on YouTube. But that was more than a decade ago. What happens as he tries to revive his career—and why does a mystery about his channel persist to this day?"

Now, a handful of years later, Dax IS reviving his career. Sort of. In the last year or so, he has started trying his hand at stand-up comedy by doing open-mics. Hard to tell if it's cringe on purpose or just a level of anti-comedy brilliance done with such an adorably deadpan delivery you'll feel gaslit. That said, he might just make you laugh harder than any working headliner today.



He also enjoys ordering pizzas and giving gifts to delivery drivers when they arrive.


That's why this week, when Will Smith appeared in one of his videos, his fans went wild. On what appears to be a basketball court, Dax asks Will, "If you check out my new song, I'll check out your new song." Will agrees, "That's a deal." And in keeping with Dax's brand of (in his words) "making people feel awesome," Dax then asks, "Do you feel good?" Will emphatically replies, "I feel great!"

One Instagram follower wrote, "It must have been such a honor for Will Smith to meet Dax Flame."

After watching these videos, we still might not have a clear answer as to "Is Dax Flame for real?" But many of us will feel awesome, either way.

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People are sharing their favorite Mitch Hedberg jokes, 20 years after his passing

"I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin', and hook up with them later."

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Comedian Mitch Hedberg

It will have been twenty years this month since comedian Mitch Hedberg passed at the age of 37, and he's still revered by many as one of the best stand-up comics who ever lived. He had a delivery unlike any other. A combo of styles that was pieced together in such a specific way that no one could quite replicate it. Sometimes it was one-liners, sometimes not—but it was always observations about life from a mind that refused to think "inside the box."

In honor of his one-of-a-kind absurdity, fans online are sharing their favorite Hedberg jokes, plus telling stories about the few lucky times they saw him perform.

Across two Reddit threads, both entitled "What's your favorite Mitch Hedberg joke?," fans were eager to share their answers

@johnny5comedyisalive

What's your favorite dwelling cheese? #mitchhedberg #comedy #standup #standupcomedy #fyp #fypcomedy

.

There were the shorter jokes:

"I’m highly opposed to picketing, but I don’t know how to show it."

"I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin', and hook up with them later."

"Dogs are always in the pushup position."

And then the longer premises with twists. (Some are performed differently than Reddit fans remember.)

Map Safety

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

“I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down.”

My house, my choice

"I bought a two-bedroom house, but it's my choice how many bedrooms there are, isn't it? This bedroom has an oven in it. This bedroom has a lot of people sitting around watching TV. This bedroom is over in that guy's house."

Prove your donut

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

"I bought a donut. They gave me the donut and a receipt. I said, "Whoa, man, there is no need to bring ink and paper into this transaction. I give you the 50 cents, you give me the donut." I can't fathom a situation where I have to prove I bought this donut. A skeptical friend asks, "Is that your donut?" And I say, "Yeah, and I got the documentation to prove it. No wait, it's at home in the file, under D for donut."

Koala scatter

"My apartment is infested with koala bears. It's the cutest infestation ever. Way better than cockroaches. When I turn on the light, a bunch of koala bears scatter. And I do not want them to. I'm like, 'Hey… Hold on, fellas… Let me hold one of you and feed you a leaf.'"

Who can eat at a time like this?

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

“When you go to a restaurant on the weekends and it’s busy, so they start a waiting list, they say, 'Dufrene, party of two, table ready for Dufrene, party of two.' And if no one answers, they’ll say the name again: 'Dufrene, party of two.' But then if no one answers, they’ll move on to the next name. 'Bush, party of three.' Yeah, but what happened to the Dufrenes? No one seems to care. Who can eat at a time like this? People are missing. You people are selfish. The Dufrenes are in someone’s trunk right now, with duct tape over their mouths. And they’re hungry."

Of course, people didn't just relay the jokes. They talked about why the jokes worked and how Mitch would deal with one that bombed. One Redditor points out, "Even jokes that bombed were hilarious... 'Cause then he'd be like, 'Oh, that didn't work? I'm going to take all those words out and replace them with new words. That joke will be fixed.'"

The OP of the thread later revealed, in part, "The fact that all you guys know all these Mitch jokes means he was obviously an awesome Force, even though he died. And many stand-ups still talk about him fondly. He really had a different thing. He was up there with Steven Wright, and probably followed by Demetri Martin... just a fantastic style."

comedy, show, stand up, improv, stageblack and gray microphone on black stand Photo by Matthias Wagner on Unsplash


On the thread, "Almost 20 years since Mitch's death," this commenter shared, "I got to see Mitch at the DC Improv while I was a freshman or sophomore in college. A couple of years later (2005) he was coming back in town and I had tickets. I remember getting on the computer in the library to make sure the show was still happening. I saw the news that he had passed away, and like other people, I thought it was an April Fools joke."

This fan sums it up perfectly, paraphrasing one of Mitch's most recited jokes: "I used to be a fan, I still am, but I used to be too."

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