Comedy Is Not Pretty (And Neither Is CES)

That Steve Martin is on Twitter is a good idea. That he’s taken to tweeting about the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas this week is a great one. Who better than Martin to sardonically poke fun at the annual gadget bacchanal that promises to launch game-changing technologies but more often than not ends up showcasing derivative ones?

Below, four of Martin’s bulletins, each one of them a taut little send-up of the conference commanding so much of our attention this week.

• At Vegas Consumer Electronics Show: electronic wired “voice” phone, with “touch” rotary dial surface. Weighs a ton. Wow factor. 3-D.
• At Vegas Consumer Electronics Show: Saw large wooden device that can fling boulders over castle walls. iPad killer.
• At Vegas Electronics Show: Pet “cat” that you feed and will “die” if you don’t. Also needs air, kitty litter. Gives birth and has feelings.
• Report from Vegas Consumer Electronics Show: Saw demonstration of “bow” modular unit that can direct an “arrow” into bale of straw “pad.”