Open an internet browser, go to “https://www.coloradomesa.edu” and add a backslash and then some random character. Shield your eyes because there’s Rowdy in the shower!

Many students have seen this by clicking on links on Colorado Mesa University’s  (CMU) website that are in need of updating or by typing in a URL incorrectly. I find CMU’s response to be unique. Rarely ever do you take a wrong virtual turn and end up in an anthropomorphized steer’s virtual bathroom.

At least Rowdy can make people smile, even if he wasn’t what they were looking for.

On CMU’s part, I’m glad they had the idea to go the extra few yards to make their error page humorous. It’s not something that people would often think about, but whoever did this was going for quality.

This took setting up. Someone had to get in the Rowdy uniform and they had to go find a shower, bring a camera person and make it happen. The best achievement of humor is if it can get people to laugh.

The second best result humor can get is when the joke is made and the people don’t realize it’s a joke at all.

When my brother was moving into his dorm at the start of the semester, he was given one of those carts, on which was written the name of the building, “Garfield.” My father, who has always been one for making pretty terrible jokes, said to one of the facility staff members in the building, “Sir, I think you’ve made a mistake. His name’s Vader, not Garfield.”

The staff member just looked bewildered and said, “Nah, that’s the name of the building.” How does one respond to that?

Anywhere you go, you’ll get those who can’t identify a joke no matter how obvious, and you’ll get those who’ll go through the trouble of putting Rowdy in the shower for the occasions when someone types their URL wrong in order to get a few laughs.