Humor

THERE MIGHT not be many jokes in the Bible, but all those fortunate enough to have studied religion at Villanova University under Donald Robert "Dutch" Schultz were assured of plenty of laughs. This jovial professor was one of the most popular teachers at the university, revered for his rich sense of humor and knowledge of his subject. Dutch Schultz died of cancer Feb. 15, at age 84, in Cornville, Ariz., where he and his wife, Juanita Quigley Schultz, had been living since he retired in 1991.

INDIANAPOLIS - It's as prominent a facial feature as Joe Paterno's nose. The players closest to Bill O'Brien often tease him about it. They even have a nickname for his cleft chin. "Butt chin," Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer said. Tom Brady also likes to pick on O'Brien's receding hairline, according to Hoyer - not that the Patriots' offensive coordinator is the butt of every joke. He likes to give as much as he takes. It's the kind of atmosphere O'Brien has fostered with his quarterbacks, and one that stands in contrast to his public persona as a fiery, intense competitor.

WELL, HE didn't really look like Groucho Marx. But one of his advanced-calculus students said Marvin Knopp had a "Groucho-like" delivery. He might not have been as funny as the Marx brother either, but his rich sense of humor was known to keep his students riveted on a subject that most people would not find very amusing. Marvin Isadore Knopp, a nationally known mathematician who, as a professor in the math department of Temple University since 1976, and other schools before that, managed to make the intricacies of higher mathematics a fascinating subject, died suddenly on Christmas Eve on a family vacation in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 78. Before coming to Temple, Marvin taught at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and at the University of Chicago.

ONE SAYS, "Poe-tay-toe. " The other says, "Julienned tubers lightly sautéed in Irish butter, finished with finely ground sea salt. " On Sunday, Andy Reid, the worst interviewee in the history of sports, will lead his Eagles against the Jets and Rex Ryan, the funniest and cleverest jock boss ever. Where Reid recites tired mantras about improving and assigns blame to himself for everything except the Occupy movement, Ryan generally answers questions frankly; sometimes with arrogance, sometimes with self-deprecating humor.

The first in a series of three guest-artist exhibitions at Vox Populi Gallery has no title, but all four of its artists share a subversive sense of humor. Michael May tells the story of a mental-patient character he has invented, through a group of oil paintings depicting the character's misbegotten cures and inventions. As in mid-20th-century instructional posters, each of May's paintings is divided into several parts demonstrating the steps involved. In Extracting Spirits from Photos of Native Americans , for example, three measuring cups and bottles of denatured alcohol and mineral spirits sit on a counter; on the adjacent stove is a glass baking dish containing portraits of American Indians, with a vacuum-cleaner hose attached to its base.

A wide variety of DVDs - featuring everything from aliens to Smurfs - will be released this week. The Help (Grade B): A white aspiring writer's friendships with black maids in 1962 Mississippi results in a provocative book. Director Tate Taylor has managed to pull off the nearly impossible. He created a sweet, intelligent, and serious movie about racism in the Deep South of the '60s and kept the humor that made the book by Kathryn Stockett a best seller.   The Smurfs (Grade B-minus)

And So It Goes Kurt Vonnegut: A Life By Charles J. Shields Henry Holt. 513 pp. $30 Reviewed by Carole Mallory   And So It Goes , Charles J. Shields' riveting biography of Kurt Vonnegut, examines the late author from every side, not all of them flattering. Although it's an authorized biography, written with Vonnegut's cooperation, Shields doesn't flinch from showing some less attractive character traits that made their way into Vonnegut's fiction - for example, a cruel streak that dated to his childhood and manifested itself throughout much of his work.

LOS ANGELES - Jimmy Kimmel is going to be cracking jokes for the president. The White House Correspondents' Association says the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" host will be the featured comedian at its 98th annual dinner next year. Association President Caren Bohan said yesterday that Kimmel was chosen because his "humor is sophisticated and edgy while appealing to a wide audience. " - Associated Press

University of Pennsylvania orthopedic surgeon John D. Kelly IV says the monthly humor column he writes for a medical trade magazine was due, so he "threw some jokes together" about fat patients. "You should worry about performing surgery on the supersized," Kelly riffed in that August piece, if "there is a comma in your patient's body weight. " Or if a patient "wears his wristwatch on his finger," needs "a blood pressure cuff the size of Montana," or "has more chins than a Chinese phone book.

DAVID SEDARIS is the writing equivalent of Bruce Springsteen. While other guys are playing smaller rooms, Sedaris consistently plays the equivalent of arenas. This week he's at the 1,800-seat Merriam Theater, where he will read eight new short stories on Saturday. Sedaris called us from Paris, where he lives with his oft-mentioned partner, Hugh, to chat about what makes him such a rock star of the literary world. Q. What is it about your writing that lends itself to performance?