BS: A sense of humor

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: Lox
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 05:08 AM

Hey Jacqui, did you see the revised link?

I thought you might enjoy it.

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 11 Dec 09 - 11:51 AM

On "Word of Mouth", BBC Radio 4, Tuesday 22 December at 16:00, "Michael Rosen dissects some jokes to try to find out why they're amusing. Funny how they don't work so well after he puts them back together..."

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: SINSULL
Date: 11 Dec 09 - 12:00 PM

There is an element of the unexpected in humor. Take that away and it falls flat.
Yet there are some story tellers (and Kendall is one as was Utah Phillips) who manage to tell the same story and with a slightly different inflection or wink of an eye or just a different expression, keep it new and humorous.

I can't tell a story to save my life but I can recount a funny thing that has happened to me or I have done and get a laugh...once.

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 06:29 AM

The golden rules is that here are no golden rules. GBS

I always cite the Gerrard Hoffnung "Respected Sir" sketch on the "Debate at the Oxford Union" Album. More people will know the "Paddy's Sick Note Song" which used the story and probably the Hofnunf rendition as its theme.

Everytime I listen to it it is funny, even though I know the story, and wait for the "bit" and still laugh. It is about delivery. In detail it is so intricate that not all of it can be remmebred so the element of surprise is still there a bit. But I agree if the delivery is more obvious it ceases to be as funny when you jeard it before or could see the punchline coming.
Another rather telling aspect is when people happen on a subject and the jargon can be seen to be funny. If you are immersed in that jargon it is boring as hell to hear the quips for the n'th time.

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: kendall
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 06:45 AM

The "sick note" is always funny

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 08:50 AM

Senses of humour vary enormously; I have never cracked a smile at a single moment of any of Hoffnung's monologues. He seems to me to rely entirely on a silly voice. I once sat solitarily poker-faced among a hysterical audience in the Cambridge Union in my student days when he did his other one, about the hedgehog & the lavatory-brush.

Same with Ivor Cutler.

Incidentally GBS was wrong about the Golden Rule being that there is no Golden Rule. - The Golden Rule [courtesy of The Wizard Of Id] is:

— The One Who Has The Gold Makes The Rule -.

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: Becca72
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 02:08 PM

My mother didn't have one; my father has a very wide-ranging and twisted one. Luckily my sisters and I take after Dad...although from time to time I do find myself to be the only one laughing at something.

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: Alice
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 02:22 PM

It's interesting how different cultures (and even families) create their own idea of what is funny.

Some people think insults are funny.

I definitely DO NOT find anything funny about insults.

But I DO have a great sense of humor.

"Funny" is relative.

And I have funny relatives.


Alice

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 06:01 PM

I was reading an article about humour in this week's Radio Times, with a quote from a man who recently took over as "the BBC's acting controller of comedy".

"Comedy ought to be risky - that's what makes it funny".

And it struck me that that is absolute unleavened crap - and the heart sinks that anyone who can actually believe something as stupid as that can be put in a position to be a "controller of comedy". (So I won't give the man's name, since it's possible to hope that that "acting" can become "former" before he can do too much damage.)

Risky comedy is obviously part of comedy, as is risqué humour for that matter. But just a part, and by no means the most important part. And it's not being "risky" that makes something funny, it's being funny that sometimes can make the risk worth taking.

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: Ed T
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 06:53 PM

Humour can be fun...but dangerous, a well intended joke to one person , may be seen differently by another....from a different perspective....be careful and sensitive before you use humour, beyond the basic. Know the receiver.

"It's rare to find learned men who are clean, do not stink and have a sense of humour". ...unknown

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 07:02 PM

===it's not being "risky" that makes something funny, it's being funny that sometimes can make the risk worth taking.===

A most excellent & cogent formulation, McGrath of H, for which many thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: Ed T
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 07:33 PM

An interesting perspective on humour:

http://www.succeedsocially.com/funny

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 09:10 PM

This dimension of humor may have been mentioned in my sifting through this thread but it's illustrated well by:
"Q: Why is an orange?
A: Because a duck has no armpits."

It's when the joke takes an unexpected turn.

Kendall is a master of that. You think you know where he is going, and suddenly you're overboard without a life preserver.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: gnu
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 01:01 PM

I posted above about my great nephew. Young autistic lad. If you haven't read that post, you should read it before continuing with this one.

Today, at a grocery store, while looking at "Xmas" type cookies with Mum, I was reminded of a similar story which occured Xmas day two years ago.

Every year, SiL baked for Xmas... and far beyond. Included were well over a thousand cookies. Yes, that's what I said. Takes a lot of time to do that. So... three racks in the oven and two pans per rack and the oven (non-convection) is FULL. Now, all of you bakers know what comes next.... some cookies not quite cooked and some cookies burnt on the bottom side.

After the Xmas meal, out came the cookies and squares. The young lad bit into one, then another, then another... then, "Nan... you should serve these cookies upside down so I can tell which ones are black on the bottom because they don't taste good and they are hard to eat."

Followup.... today, Mum said that she expected SiL would be serving cookies on Xmas. I lifted a plastic package of "Xmas decorated" shortbreds and looked at the underneath and said, "Not like these."

Mum did not laugh out loud, as I did, but I could see her stifling herself. She's a laaaady, she is.

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 05:27 PM

"...you should serve these cookies upside down so I can tell which ones are black on the bottom...

That's a very logical suggestion.

Subject: RE: BS: A sense of humor
From: gnu
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 06:04 PM

Yes it is. The lad is autistic but that does not detract from his accumulated logic, intelligence, innocence and genuine nature. Unlike some.

Sorry. I know that sounds bitter. But, there it is.