Taken from an Article printed in Nude and Natural Magazine. The article was written my Mark Storey, a well read editor for Nude and Natural Magazine, is also the author of  Cinema Au Naturel: A History of Nudist Films. To see the entire article, you may contact The Naturist Society at www.tns.com

Nudist Among Us

Naturist humor is surprising hard to find. An Internet search for "nudist jokes" and "nudist humor" turns up only porn sites and the same short list of nudist jokes copied and pasted from one site to the next. Allen Parker’s new book of comical short stories, Nudist Among Us, is thus a rare treat for naturists.

Among the stories’ characters is the lovable but bumbling nudist, Chester. Both a Christian and a nudist, Chester stumbles and crashes his way through life, often to the dismay of his long-suffering nudist wife, and to the chagrin of his non-nudist fellow parishioners.

In one story, "An Isaiah Afternoon," we read Chester’s request for $2000 from his church. Chester’s request is to cover legal expenses accrued when he was caught naked in his neighborhood. In the letter making the request, he tells his story.

Leafing through his Bible for guidance one morning, Chester comes to the passage in Isaiah where God tells the prophet to walk naked among His people, telling them to repent. Chester comes to believe that God wants him to be naked all day. Since only he and the dog are home, he figures that obedience to divine fiat should not cause too much trouble. Once naked, however, his adventure begins.

A neighbor phones Chester telling him that her young son is screaming in the bathtub with his toe stuck in the drain. Would he come over to help? Chester is committed to following God’s puzzling command for the day, and figures he can sneak over and help the kid without anyone noticing he’s nude. This shows, of course, signs of his idiocy, but therein lies the humor for the rest of the story. Chester makes one mistake after another in trying to stay nude while avoiding the fear, offense, and accusations of his neighbors and the local constabulary.

I find the story funny. Why? The superiority theory offers an easy explanation. Chester’s misunderstanding of both the biblical passage and God’s confirming "voice," along with his poor choices during his naked odyssey into his neighbor’s house and back, allow me to feel superior to him. Thus I laugh, confident that I’d never be that stupid.

Those favoring incongruity theories will point out my jolting pleasure in watching Chester make one wrong decision after another, bringing him spiraling down to arrest and humiliation. The humor is found in the glaring contrast between his innocently misguided choices and the calm prudence of rationality.

Viewed from the perspective of Freud’s relief theory, Chester’s antics provide me release from our my frustrated desired to bound about the neighborhood naked, daring all to catch me. I laugh at Chester as he does what I do not allow myself to do.

All three of the more established theories can explain the humor of Nudist Among Us, but Allen Parker’s intentions for Chester seem more in line with Solomon’s inferiority theory. Parker said as much in a phone conversation. "I hope," he told me, "that everyone sees a little of themselves in each of these stories."

We can read of Chester’s exploits—inane as they are—and see ourselves in his every move. Chester is a nudist "Everyman." We know that we are capable of unsound choices. We know that we often do our best to please those around us, yet fail in ways that beggar description. While reading of Chester’s attempts to get along with life doing good whenever he can, we are amused, and chuckle, at his—no our—attempts.

Nudist Among Us is not great literature, but it’ll put a smile on your face. The fun comes from Parker’s ability to draw us into a world of good-hearted, good-natured lunacy, a world that once we stop taking ourselves and our naturism too seriously, we can acknowledge with a chuckle.

Each theory of humor I’ve discussed has its limitations. They each account for the comedy we find in some situations, but fail to do so in other cases. Perhaps that is simply the nature of the laughing beast. We find things funny for different reasons in different contexts. Given the complexity and pluralism of humanity, that should come as no surprise. Together the theories can both help us understand why we find certain jokes and situations funny, and point us to a healthier, more lighthearted naturist life. Little gems like Nudist Among Us will be of help, too.