Bernstein's humor, a repetition/parody of borscht-belt schtick. Like "How do you get to Carnegie Hall? (Theory)." You have to know the old joke about the guy walking up to someone with a violin case in his hand in mid-town Manhattan. Take my language poetry--please! This strikes me as quite different from Silliman's observational wit. To observe men of three different generations on a couch watching football without saying a word--(example from "Paradise") is funny, but it's not in the Henny Youngman vein--fortunately I might add.

Susan Howe strikes me as quite humorless, on the other hand. I don't mind a lack of humor or wit, necessarily. I do like finding it in unexpected quarters.