Which recliner is considered London’s most famous? Check in the legendary Freud Museum, 20 Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead. This was in Freud’s London lodgings, where he treated patients. The centerpiece is his study, precisely as he had it arranged after all that time handling patients, and located there is his couch, source of numerous theories, butt of countless lampoons and one-liners. As with its owner, his recliner comes from outside Britain. It was already moving toward immortality in Austria. As you perhaps know, this was Freud’s household while researching and devising his legendary concepts of psychoanalysis. The recliner itself — comfortable, casual and cozy — is unsurprisingly iconic, due to its crucial part during his work. Perhaps not such common knowledge is the preservation of the father of psychiatry’s own seat. His chair was where he observed from, no distraction to his patients on the couch, during their “free association”. Psychotherapy, free association, comfortable seating and all the other notions frequently associated with approaches are a rich source of comedy for cartoonists, entertainers etc. from the outset, and possibly the smartest funnyman in this regard is Woody Allen, an observer, a student and a patient of psychiatrists (A.K.A. shrinks) for close to forty years.

“My poor analyst got so frustrated, the guy finally put in a salad bar. Maybe the poets are right. Maybe love is the only answer.” “I’m treating two sets of Siamese twins with split personalities. I’m getting paid by eight people.” “We broke over the concept of penis envy. Freud felt that it should be limited to women.”

There are many comedians who unearth hilarity in psychotherapists, psychotherapy and their sofas. As an example, Marshall McLuhan remarked: “If the nineteenth century was the age of the editorial chair, ours is the century of the psychiatrist’s couch.” Sitcom character Niles Crane offers: “A funny thing happened the other day. One of my patients had a rather amusing Freudian slip. He was having dinner with his wife and he meant to say “Pass the salt,” but instead he said “You’ve ruined my life, you blood-sucking shrew.”

More from Dr. Niles Crane? He’s also said “I have a session with my multiple personality. Not to worry: if I’m late, he can just talk amongst himself.”

It isn’t just counselors who create humor touching on furniture. I leave you with a political observation: “Senator Hillary Clinton is attacking President Bush for breaking his campaign promise to cut carbon dioxide emissions, saying a promise made, a promise broken. And then out of habit, she demanded that Bush spend the night on the couch.”

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