The Christmas Turkey

"Get out of the kitchen, the turkey is on fire!", a phrase far to often spoken when it comes to Christmas dinner and the mishaps surrounding it, but that is what makes it humorous, because at one time or another everyone has, or will be, in a predicament involving a turkey and Christmas. In Stuart Maclean's short story "Dave Cooks the Turkey" the use of his humour surrounds relatable situations. In the story Dave's wife Morley wants to enjoy a Christmas without her having to do everything and so when Morley asks Dave if he can cook the turkey " I can do that," is what he says, not fully understanding what he has gotten himself into and when Christmas eve comes round, he has forgotten to do the one thing that was more important than cooking the turkey, buying it. From here Dave's situation only deteriorates which leads to a funny, relatable situation, the type of humour that Stuart Maclean thrives at. This type of humour is very strong due to the fact it is so easy to compare your own life to and makes people chuckle not only at the situation but at themselves for being in their own such predicaments. For instance, when Dave is forced to try and find a turkey "At 4:00 a.m., with the help of a taxi driver named Mohamed," It is a situation that not only adds humour from the relatable situation, but simply the ridiculous premise of the entire thing. Another way Maclean adds humour is by having Dave continually blunder his way through his predicament because he has had to much to drink, like when he is talking to his neighbor Jim at the place he is trying to get the turkey cooked because he can't cook it at his own house and he says " Turkey and the kids are at the Food Bank, I brought Morley here so they could cook her for me" a simple blunder but with hilarious results. But, the best type of humour Maclean uses is at the very end, when Jim, the man who Dave had talked to at the place he was getting the turkey cooked, was invited in for a drink by Morley, leading to what was obviously more than just a little bit awkward. With such a wide variety of humour at his disposal Stuart Maclean is a true maestro of comedy, due to the fact he can so easily weave such hilarious events.