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Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'.
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Subject: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Rick Fielding Date: 07 Dec 00 - 10:57 PM Hi. In my almost three years here at Mudcat I've started two other threads on this topic (can't even remember the titles) 'cause it's obviously something near and dear to my heart. There are so many more folks here than a year ago, I thought I'd throw it out again. Humour is SO important to me that I've probably missed out on quite a few interesting relationships simply because I couldn't detect a sense of humour in someone on first meeting. Almost everyone that I am (or have been) close to in my life laughs a lot, or constantly makes others laugh. Some have that deadpan dark Andy Kauffman style that can knock you off your guard and leave you feeling "had".(I laugh loudest when I've been "taken") Others go for the "literate aside", and a few are terrible "punsters". Some simply have "a delivery" that makes me smile. As I did the first time I broached this, I still wonder how we get to the point where we think something (or someone) is screamingly funny, while our neighbour finds the same thing horrid, nasty, stupid, dumb (and dumber) or in rare (but documented) cases murder-worthy. It's how each of us looks at the world isn't it? When I was growing up I used to watch comic after comic (mostly American) go on Ed Sullivan and make "Mother-in law" jokes. I simply never "got it". Was that because my Mom's Mother lived with us and fit none of the stereotypes that Alan King or Henny Youngman focused on? My Dad thought the world of her. Same with Bill Dana in his "Jose Jimenez" character. In Montreal, as a kid I doubt I ever heard a Spanish accent (let alone, equate it with some kind of ethnic stupidity) so after about twenty seconds I simply couldn't fathom why others would find this funny. When I first heard "The Goons" on radio, that all changed. I could barely understand the various British Isles dialects, but I quickly "got" what I thought was their focus...that this world is totally illogical and that they were as confused as I was...and THEY WERE ADULTS! I felt the same kind of thing in a much milder form from the American humourists Shelly Berman, Bob Newhart and Mort Sahl. They simply commented on "how silly it all is", and I seemed to relate to that. Some of the Comics like Sid Caesar, Steve Allen, and Ernie Kovacs did this in visual ways, but didn't do much for me as I found them having to go "over the top" 'cause they WERE doing mainstream TV and had to keep a general audience (sort of) in the loop. What I did find was that folks like Bob Hope started to become hilariously funny to me because (in my mind) they were so totally "unhip", and that in itself made me laugh. I think I was ripe for the kind of humour that Saturday Night Live, Kids in The Hall, National Lampoon, and The Realist (anybody remember THAT?) presented. My impression was that the folks involved in those ventures ALSO thought that Bob Hope was funny for the wrong reasons! Shows like AB/FAB, Yes Minister, Rising Damp, Bottom, Northern Exposure, Married With Children (the first year), The Simpsons, King Of The Hill, and that Brit cartoon one about the dentist, who's title I've forgotten, seem to be "up my alley" laffs-wise. With films, it's things like Fargo, Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman etc. I'm really looking forward to Best In Show, simply because Christopher Guest and Fred Willard are in it. I remember one Simpsons episode where the family is in Washington, and somehow they're at the Whitehouse during a comedy performance by Tom Lehrer wannabe Mark Russell. Bart yells out "That guy is SOOOO lame!" I actually said to the TV (causing Heather to once again question her choice in husbands) "Way to go Bart! YOU understand"! Anybody got any humour thoughts? Rick |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: catspaw49 Date: 07 Dec 00 - 11:13 PM No, but thanks for asking. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: blt Date: 07 Dec 00 - 11:20 PM I believe humor definitely has a personal as well as a cultural twist to it. What I find funny usually involves laughing at myself or others of my own ilk. I also like irreverence, which is one of the most endearing aspects of the Mudcat, its irreverence. This seems to be a great quality to cultivate as a folkie, since taking oneself too seriously can be very boring for those who are patiently listening. Having said that, as a songwriter, I have a difficult time writing irreverent lyrics. I truly appreciated the "How to write a Folksong" classic thread because it really made me laugh at that quality in myself to diligently and mindlessly search for the "right" folk metaphor. On stage, it can be such a great feeling to say something on the spot that people find funny (even if the next song makes them weep), there's a lot of power in being able to say something genuinely amusing and unrehearsed. Since I'm also a creative arts therapist, I rely on humor, especially when working with adolescents, because the kids I see are having such a difficult time in their lives--laughing and playing are so healing, it's almost magical. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Bugsy Date: 07 Dec 00 - 11:35 PM This one tickled my funny bone, Click here CHeers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Peter Kasin Date: 07 Dec 00 - 11:42 PM It's interesting how one's sense of humor developes from childhood on. I remember watching The Three Stooges every afternoon when I was a kid, and loving it, but don't remember actually laughing out loud at them until I reached adulthood. Notice how some kids shows are appreciated much more by adults? Rocky and Bullwinkle come to mind. When I was in high school, I began to "get" humor that didn't strike my funny bone earlier. I noticed that when I started to watch The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, and became a big fan of the show. All of a sudden I was laughing at things that only a year or two earlier went over my head, or just didn't seem funny. A few things were funny to me all along - Buster Keaton, who is my all-time favorite film comedian, Chaplin, Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields. So, what makes me laugh now? Reading The Onion, watching Monty Python, the Zucker/Abrams movies: Airplane! The Naked Gun, etc., The Three Stooges (w/ Curley), Keaton of course, Fields, Marx Bros., witty humor, good slapstick that's not too broad, deadpan humor, such as Christopher Guest movies, subtle humor, Mystery Science Theatre, Jewish humor, Irish humor, just whatever strikes me as funny. Most TV situation comdies of the last twenty years don't, with a few exceptions. Anyone ever see the six - the only six - episodes of Police Squad? Incredibly funny. Too good for mainstream American sitcom tastes at that time. -chanteyranger |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Bill D Date: 07 Dec 00 - 11:52 PM Rick...you & I could probably sit and share humor & laugh all day...We have very similar outlooks...I HAVE old copies of The Realist...and MOST of the National Lampoons for the first 15 years..(after that, it got more & more stilted and awkward)...I like GOOD puns and limericks..(not just smarmy ones).....I loved some of Ernie Kovacs....and Pogo...and I like Non-Sequitur now.... What I do NOT like is stupid jr. high scatological jokes and related things...or painful ethnic humor..(some can be funny, but the line is so fine)...It is much like the "folk music" definition problem...some people just do NOT want to take the trouble to see and hone the nuances of the genré, so they respond to humor in a very ....mmmmmmmm...... well, 'crude' way, is the best I can come up with...I don't mean that they tell naughty jokes necessarily, just that precision of timing, setting, wording, drawing...etc., is lost on them--just as the carefully crafted words of some older songs is lost on the group who thrive on the "hey, hey, baby, I reeeealllly needja" mode. (same with tunes) When I was younger, I sort of liked The Three Stooges, but the more I see of them, the more I groan at the dumb situations and BAD lines....how many times can poking someone in the eye be funny? As you remarked, Rick, "this world is totally illogical", and humor that plays on this 'can' be very wonderful...(witness the wild directions scenes went in 'Monty Python')...humor that 'carefully' does satirical slicing up of sacred cows, so that you get funny steaks, and NOT semi-cute hamburger is a great treasure! If I were to choose a companion to be marooned with on an island, his sense of humor would rank even ahead of his taste in music...though.....*grin* |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 07 Dec 00 - 11:57 PM I've always been fascinated by what various people find humorous. I had a teacher once who gave our class several jokes and we chose the one we liked best (funniest to us). I always seemed to be in the minority! I have one son that can read my mind, and we usually laugh before we get to the punch line. He also uses literary references that most people just don't get. But when he uses the sports analogies, I don't get it. Speaking of don't get it, on the other thread here, I don't get over half of the jokes! Another friend from the UK tells about a double date where she and the other lady were British, and they convulsed in laughing about self-deprecating stories and embarrassing anecdotes, while their dates (another nationality) were very uneasy. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Bill D Date: 07 Dec 00 - 11:59 PM Bugsy...the Santa cartoon was well done.....the 'jokes' to the kids, it seemed to me, were lame and **HEAVY**, not polished...Simply portraying Santa as a hateful lout didn't feel like what 'running out of Prozac' might have been developed into... (I don't claim 'I' could write it 'right',,,but that one didn't quite make it.) |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Ely Date: 08 Dec 00 - 12:06 AM I remember watching M*A*S*H reruns with my parents as a kid. I thought they were really funny but I never laughed because I knew my parents didn't think I was old enough to think they were funny. I was a very odd child. I think I appreciated the Toy Story movies so much because they are very clever, and there are things that I would have thought were funny 15 years ago, and other things that I think are funny now that I wouldn't have understood 15 years ago. I can't stand most animated movies. I'm a big fan of a lot of the above: the Simpsons ("My God! The dead have risen--and they're voting Republican!"), King of the Hill, Fargo, Monty Python, the Onion. I'm not generally a big slap-stick person but my class studied the 1920's when I was in sixth grade and I cannot resist Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Bugsy Date: 08 Dec 00 - 12:18 AM Just went back to the site. I never got past the Letters to Santa to be honest. I didn't claim that it was a "Gutbuster", just that it hit a funny bone.
Cheers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Bill D Date: 08 Dec 00 - 12:19 AM M*A*S*H was funny because they took real life and 'tweaked' it...some of the plots and jokes were 'overdone' , but the general way of weaving the black humor of war into serious situations made it a special show...what I liked LEAST on it was the buffoonery of Frank Burns and to a slightly lesser extent, Col. (Whatsis) ..before Potter...those characters were done with too broad a brush...Winchester was a better scripted foil... |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: CarolC Date: 08 Dec 00 - 12:22 AM To me it's like breathing. If I think about how it works, I probably won't be able to do it. Some things make me laugh, and others don't. I've said this before here in the forum, so I apologize for repeating myself. When you dissect a frog, you have to kill it. When you try to explain or define things like music or humor, you take the life and the magic out of them. Carol |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: GUEST,traveler - a guest Date: 08 Dec 00 - 01:03 AM One thing everyone left out was language. Maybe that's the same as culture but I don't think so. Try reading the literal translations of some German or Italian jokes to see what I mean. They're just not funny except in German or Italian. My own sense of humor was shaped by my neighbors in the mid-west, who were all skilled storey tellers. And by Ed Sullivan, who taught me to never laugh at my own jokes. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: kimmers Date: 08 Dec 00 - 01:25 AM Humor is very important to me. My husband's sense of humor (and our shared vision of such) is the strength of our marriage. I, too, love the BritComs, Monty Python, and anything quirky. Anybody here love the movie Time Bandits? My kind of humor! Most of the people who work for me think I'm nuts. They are the sort of folks who will pay big bucks to see the latest Adam Sandler movie but edge away from me when I try to explain just why "The Princess Bride" was so very funny... or for that matter, when I tell them jokes I learned here. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Mickey191 Date: 08 Dec 00 - 02:06 AM One of the best things in life is a good laugh, and one of the worst feelings I get is when someone bombs. Tonight David Spade was on Tonight Show And it was a torture to watch.He was awful-and his appearence didn't help either. Looked as if he just rolled out of bed. Does anyone think a performer doesn't owe the audience atleast, the appearence of being clean? Sorry for going off on a tangent. Bob Hope,Youngman,& Diller never made me laugh. I think the best humor comes from conversation.On one of Tom Snyder"s last shows he had Billy Connelly guesting. It was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. I literally had a pain in my side from lauging. Ditto anyone I show the tape to. Some of the best stuff is right here on mudcat. There are 4 or 5 catters who are wickedly funny.Slainte, Mickey191 |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: GUEST,Harvey, the no-necked Goon Date: 08 Dec 00 - 02:12 AM The absurd, especially in a somber context, always cracks me up. Consider the movie, "Steel Magnolias". The graveyard scene where Sally Field is angry at God and everyone and Ms. Dukakis grabs Shirley McLain and says "Hit her!" That was a royal moment. Monty Python and the old Muppet Show were wonderfully absurd. Htn-nG |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: mkebenn Date: 08 Dec 00 - 07:06 AM How is it no one has mentioned Richard Pryor and George Carlin? They just kill me, I mean spit up on myself fits..Mike Bennett |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Little Neophyte Date: 08 Dec 00 - 07:47 AM A major sign of a good marriage is if you share the same sense of humor and are both stand up comedians within your own home, laughing at yourselves and the silly things that you take too seriously. Same with friendships. If an issue gets too serious, it is a wonderful gift to dismantle the tension through humor. You got to laugh. Life is just way to bizarre to take too seriously. But there are those who do not appreciate my black humor or whatever I said flew over their head or they took it the wrong way. What can you do. I'd rather have the courage to crack a joke that may not be taken the right way, then to miss the opportunity of sharing a very funny moment. Bonnie |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: GUEST,Steve Latimer Date: 08 Dec 00 - 08:10 AM I love Python, Spinal Tap, The Commitments. I was forutnate enough to grow up in a house where both my parents had a wonderful sense of humour. My father had the early Cosby albums, Noah, Chickenheart, Hofstra etc. and the Smothers Brothers. I heard these when I was about ten. I will always remeber the first time I saw the Marx brothers. I was twelve and recovering from a Hernia operation. I was laughing so hard and hurting so much that I was crying, but I couldn't turn it off. I grew to love the Marxes. Peter Sellars was a comic genius in my mind. I never got the Stooges. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Patrish(inactive) Date: 08 Dec 00 - 08:23 AM Some things make me laugh out loud - bits from Ab Fab, Austin Powers, Time Bandits and lots of others. Its almost like crying its so out of control. I tend to shriek and whoop when my funny bone gets touched - you don't want to be in a cinema with me if I find something really funny. I find it hard to understand the humour of people who take themselves sooooo very seriously. My earliest memory of uncontrollable laughter was a Lucy show where she is locked out and is jumping up and down on a trampoline and her face keeps appearing in an upstairs window. I can remember being convulsed. On the other hand, sometimes I can be in the company of people who see the humour in something I just cant see, but I usually find laughter is infectious and thats it, I laugh like a drain............. Patrish |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: sophocleese Date: 08 Dec 00 - 08:23 AM I had two wisdom teeth removed under local anesthetic when I was 17. The guy that did it kept me cheerful by explaining everything he was doing and also quoting bits from different Peter Sellers movies. A friend of mine keeps a Far Side cartoon in her purse as one of the first tests of a new acquaintance. If they laugh at it they've got common ground. If they don't there's not much chance. I like a little finesse in a joke. I'm not a prude but I don't find a dirty joke funny simply because it is a dirty joke, there needs to be wit with it. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Naemanson Date: 08 Dec 00 - 09:25 AM I have to agree with CarolC. If you dissect it you kill it. I love to laugh and enjoy a wide range of humor, puns, oneliners, longer jokes, funny songs, slapstick, etc. I respond with anything from a belly laugh to a happy chuckle. The one requirement is that the joke has to be well thought out and not malicious. I can enjoy a gentle ethnic joke but not one that says "Ain't they all dumb?". As the folk at Barry's Party can attest I have a few funny songs in my repertoire. I am always on the make for more. I plan to have a few in my Catconcert next week. Maybe I can include a few jokes as well. Then we can judge a sense of humor as applied. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Steve Latimer Date: 08 Dec 00 - 09:40 AM Sophocleese, Ah, the Far Side. I'll always remember the first time i ever saw it. Two kangaroos hopping along, one looking disgusted with the other and saying "all you have to do is jump, you don't have to say boing, boing, boing. I've been hooked ever since. Musically, I found a lot ofe Dylans earlier stuff extremely funny, I Shall Be Free, Talkin' New York, and his various Bob Dylan's Dream songs still make me laugh. Arlo Guthrie, Farnk Zappa, Joe Walsh & Homer and Jethro have brought many smiles to my face too. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Kim C Date: 08 Dec 00 - 10:03 AM I like quirky stuff. Rick and Bill and I would have a big ol' time! King of the Hill is my favorite show on TV right now. I have grown weary of the Simpsons but it's still amusing. I laughed my ass off at Fargo. I hate to say I laughed at a murder mystery... but the kidnapping/murder business wasn't really what the story was about. Here, Marge, lemme fixya some eggs... he was funny lookin'..... hey, I was bangin that girl! Y'all realize the "funny lookin" guy played to goofy buffalo hunter in Lonesome Dove... Cultural jokes... well... there are some that are lighthearted and funny and others that are downright mean-spirited. But I think most people can tell when someone's trying to be ugly on purpose. And then there's that adolescent-type silliness that really just isn't all that funny. But I have to say, I laughed all the way through Austin Powers. Grooooovy, baybeeeee! |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Rick Fielding Date: 08 Dec 00 - 10:23 AM One of the things that really surprised me about twenty years ago, was that I would start to chuckle when certain celebrities (not Comedians) and especially politicians would come on the screen and simply do their thing. I remember folks like Liberace, Bob Hope, and especially Farrah Fawcet, on talk shows. They seemed so completely "out of it", almost as if they were totally unaware that there was a real world existing parallel to that of their own. When I watch Dubya and Al Gore, I get the same feeling. (although I repress the chuckles) They both seem like trapped animals, attempting to sound casual and even honest. What desperation political ambition must bring. I wish I didn't find them funny (am I'm not kidding) but I do. Their endlessly spinning lawyers and sycophants are just as trapped but not nearly as funny. Bill D. Yah, Pogo! Very American (or considering the times..."un-American") was an absolute staple in our Canadian household. I never thought about this (til now) but the fact that my Dad loved and obviously understood Pogo, probably explains where I got my sense of the absurd. Carol C. and Naemanson: You make an excellent point about "disecting" humour. My guess is that the ones (like me) who find it fascinating and entertaining to do just that, are the terminally curious. There's this constant desire to figure out WHY our take on things always seems so different from most folks'. It's like eagerly anticipating each episode of AB/FAB, knowing that I'll be literally falling down laughing, when NOT ONE of my friends can even bear to look at it. Ya start thinkin' "Geez, I'm a nice person, I treat humans and animals well, I've got wonderful friends......why the Hell do I love something that so many HATE?" "Hand me that frog!" Rick |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Naemanson Date: 08 Dec 00 - 10:39 AM Pogo was funny even when I was too young to understand the messages. I still look at a calendar and exclaim, "Oh no! Friday the thirteenth comes on a Wednesday this month!" Those around me tend to edge away from me after this statement. Plus I have found tha Rowrbazzle is a perfectly suitable replacement for the ubiquitous "Oh f**k!". Did anyone else get a kick out of the many incarnations of Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy? And Red Green? And then there is the deadpan delivery of our Downeast (I guess you'd have to say Northern New England) humorists. The old stories are the best. "Dontcha move a goddamned inch!" "You're in a balloon, ye damned fool!" "...but after ya clean 'em there ain't much left!" "...that a button popped off his fly and killed a pahtridge."
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Steve Latimer Date: 08 Dec 00 - 10:44 AM The Hitchiker's Guide, aboslutely brilliant stuff. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Patrish(inactive) Date: 08 Dec 00 - 10:44 AM My daughter thinks that I am just like Edina from AbFab, I can't see it myself. My husband fancies Patsy rotten. I like the lot of them, and even watch the repeats with relish. Alot of present humour is vabout words. I like the visual stuff better - thats what gets me hysterical. Patrish |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Steve Latimer Date: 08 Dec 00 - 10:54 AM Dave Allen was one of my favourites. A wonderful story teller and his skits ripping into the Church were hilarious. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Bert Date: 08 Dec 00 - 11:39 AM Rick, I'm glad you started this thread. Here's the 5 day weather forecast from our local paper. Variably Cloudy - Partly Cloudy - Partly Sunny - A mix of clouds and Sunshine - Partly sunny. I know the guy must have been rolling on the floor laughing when he composed this and was wondering if he could sneak it past his dumb editor. And how come no one has mentioned 'Malcolm in the Middle' yet? Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: sophocleese Date: 08 Dec 00 - 11:42 AM Ah the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I loved that and haven't reread it in a while, its about time. "They hung in the air the way that bricks don't" or something like that. I tend to like gentle humour or black humour but find bullying humour offensive, or simply less funny. For instance I didn't find When Santa Runs out of Prozac terribly funny but I do like the song "Hey Santa where's my f**king bike!" quite funny. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 08 Dec 00 - 11:53 AM Humour definitely has its cultural elements. I've been in England for over 2 months now, but I haven't met anyone yet with the same sense of humour as the Northern Ireland one (which is black, twisted, sarcastic and slagging and very, very funny). I'm not saying that there's no humour in the South West of England, just that it's of a totally different type (at least with the people with whom I'm mixing). Most people don't pick up on my jokes, and I miss a lot of theirs. (Also, I've had to hold back on the crude retorts - I'm trying to appear civilised!) There was definite culture shock for a while. I'm worried I'll lose my edge and return home at Christmas and be unable to keep up with the cutting humour of my friends! Still, any country that can produce humour of the Monty Python standard has got to be funny. And kimmers - I love The Princess Bride! |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Ebbie Date: 08 Dec 00 - 12:17 PM I agree, Harvey, etc: "Hit her!" I think the unexpected is what makes me laugh most explosively. If I can see it coming, it may be funny but it often loses it punch. When my daughter was young, we lived in a small place. I gave her the bedroom and I slept in a hideaway bed in the living room. I went to bed before she did because I got up early so I often went to sleep to the TV she was watching. I remember when 'Soap' began. I ignored it until I found myself giggling to myself at the dialogue- and finally I had to sit up and watch. It became a ritual to watch the show together. I still think it was inspired. Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Rick Fielding Date: 08 Dec 00 - 01:48 PM OK Bert. I'll mention "Malcolm in the Middle". It DOES have that "dark" quality doesn't it? Do you remember Bloodnock's School for BBC announcers? All day long they intoned "Earthquakes in East Acton"! Yup Ebbie, "Soap" has to be in there too. From AB/FAB: When Edina goes to the Ashram, may be the funniest thing I've witnessed in my life. Ya know, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and Joanna Lumley have taken the kind of career risks on TV that 99 percent of actresses would never dream of taking. Rick |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Roger in Sheffield Date: 08 Dec 00 - 02:21 PM Bottom - the one with the devils sprouts The first time I saw it I was rolling round in tears - its a flame thrower thing! |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: mousethief Date: 08 Dec 00 - 03:00 PM Hitchhiker's Guide (the radio play is the best!). Monty Python. Princess Bride (best movie ever!). The completely unexpected punchline is the best -- the absurder, the better. I once watched "Life of Brian" with a gang of male friends. Among them was my (now passed away, alas) friend Ed, who had a very quirky sense of humor. I sat back and watched everybody laugh at the obvious jokes, and then watched Ed laugh at the Ed-humor. By the end of the movie I was predicting (fairly accurately) which gags Ed would laugh at. By and large they were the ones I found funny too. Humor is a very peculiar and fragile thing. While I don't think dissecting it makes it funnier, I don't think it hurts any, once the joke is over. And just talking about which things each of us finds funny seems completely harmless. "Harmless." "That's it? Just one word? Harmless?" "Well the galaxy is a big place, and not many people had been to the earth before." "Well I hope you've rectified that." "YEs, I sent off a new entry, they had to edit it down a bit, but it is an improvement." "What's it say now?" "Mostly harmless." Alex |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Kim C Date: 08 Dec 00 - 04:06 PM I never could get into the Hitchhiker's Guide but I had friends who just LOVED it. And I used to love Dave Allen also! I don't care for Malcolm in the Middle so much. His mother is evil and his father is an idiot. I watched the very first episode where someone had burned Mom's dress, and she basically tortured the kids over it, when it was bumbling Dad who did it. I did watch it one other time, when they had the school picnic- they were serving all tofu and Dad took a cooler full of wienies. Now THAT was pretty funny. I like Third Rock from the Sun. I never watched it on prime time but a few nights when I was staying up late I watched reruns and found myself ROTFLMAO. Harry is Just Too Much! Seinfeld in small doses. I loved Kramer but George and his parents always got on my nerves. So glad Spinal Tap is out again on video. I'll have to get me one. That's one of my all-time favorites. "But these go to eleven." We have nicknamed one of our dogs Miss Eleven because... well, because she goes to eleven. "I need large bread..." |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: DebC Date: 08 Dec 00 - 04:29 PM Two Words:The Onion Deb Cowan |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Little Neophyte Date: 08 Dec 00 - 05:16 PM Here is a good example of some folks thinking something is funny while others think it is not. The BS: When Santa Runs Out of Prosac Bonnie |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Giac Date: 08 Dec 00 - 07:43 PM Carol Burnett. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Amergin Date: 09 Dec 00 - 11:53 AM I love Monty Python and the Hitchhiker's Guide....but I am surprised that no one has mentioned one staple around my house.... The MacKenzie Brothers.....especially that great classic, Strange Brew. Another classic we had growing up is The Ice Pirates....and Tremors....what can I say? We like odd movies.... Amergin |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Naemanson Date: 09 Dec 00 - 12:11 PM Odd movies - That could be a thread all by itself. We make a point to rent the occasional oddball film. We never would have suffered through Dead Space or Nautilus if we didn't. Try the classic film Death Race 2000. Wonderful. Years ago I used to laugh myself sick watching Paul Hogan's old TV show. He had some great gags. There was the park employee who was picking up trash with a sharp stick completely distracted and following a sexy woman in a tight dress. There was the Pizza Hut fire which turned out to have been arsony committed by Ronald MacDonald. There was the guy on a picnic with his family looking for a place in the park to take a leak. Great Stuff. Then there was a British show called The Oddies. I still use lines picked up from that show. "Look! It's Rolf 'Arris!" "Since the blacks have all left South Africa we need a new prejudice. We will hate short people. It will be called apart-height!" The t |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Amergin Date: 09 Dec 00 - 12:12 PM This is a song that has always tickled my funny bone ever since I first heard it on Dr. Demento....
Whip Me Santa Claus
Chorus: Whip me Santa Claus
Whip me Santa Claus
Choosing the correction
Chorus:
What is this you tell me,
Chorus
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Snuffy Date: 09 Dec 00 - 12:31 PM Naemanson Do you mean The Goodies? Bill Oddy was one of them, with Graeme(sp?) Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor. The ancient English martial art of Ecky-Thump! Wassail! V |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 09 Dec 00 - 12:32 PM These people up on the box are all very well. But I think the folk world can be funnier.
The funniest person I have ever seen, the one who can quite literally make me laugh so much that it is painful, is Les Barker....And then there were the Kippers (Sid's OK, but the double act with his dad Henry was sublime)...and Cosmotheka...and Vin Garbutt (with his ability to reduce an audience to helpless hysterics with a rambling introductory spiel, and then move straight into a totally serious and challenging song that tears their hearts out). And a handful more.
And noone outside the folk scene, and very few outside these islands will have a clue what I'm talking about.
And none of those people really tell jokes either. That's not what real humour is about. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Peter T. Date: 09 Dec 00 - 02:28 PM There are very few films or plays that can send you (or an audience) into sustained hysterics. Those are what I cherish -- the ones that build, until you are helpless. But there are only a few in my book. I would love to hear about others: The dinner scene in "La Cage Aux Folles" is one of those, in part because of the subtitles -- you can laugh without fear of missing much. Most of the first compilation Monty Python movie. None of the rest ever did much for me, though lots of people swear by them. Much of Michael Frayn's play/farce "Noises Off" -- but only if done really well. There is at least one scene in the film "Twentieth Century" that takes off into the stratosphere -- John Barrymore describing the Passion Play at Oberammagau, complete with camel impressions and a hysterical Carole Lombard.
There is one scene in a Marx Brothers film -- not one of the famous ones -- where Groucho is seducing a woman in her stateroom -- which is complete insanity for about one minute. It just goes on and on getting loonier. I saw it with an audience once and I can remember them losing it, but only in that scene. Cannot remember the film.
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: alison Date: 09 Dec 00 - 11:04 PM The stage version of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead" was hilarious, (film didn't do it justice)..... I loved "the princess bride"...... tears rolled down my face the first time I saw Billy Crystal as the "apothecary"....... and of course "My name is Inigo Montoya (?spelling) you killed my father, prepare to die....." loved the "young ones" yet couldn't stand "bottom".... and I cannot get into "south park" at all... although hubby thinks its hilarious...... Dave Allen gets my vote for a great delivery style.... slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: DonMeixner Date: 09 Dec 00 - 11:43 PM Firesign Theatre has alway put me on the floor laughing. The Goons, Pythons, ( Thank you PBS) and Steve Allen. After Peter Sellars, Steve Allen, Ernie Kovacs, Sid Ceaser, Imogene Coca and Bob Newhart showed us what belly laughs are evrything else was just shits and giggles. Don |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Murray MacLeod Date: 10 Dec 00 - 10:34 AM Surprised that with all the appreciation of British humor, no-one has mentioned Blackadder. It underwent a strange metamorphosis, with the first (medieval) episodes being totally unfunny, IMHO, then improving out of all recognition in the Elizabethan segment, and reaching its humorous zenith in the Georgian episodes. One of the most endearing (not to say redeeming) qualities of the USA is this understanding of British humor. Even more remarkable, and encouraging is that everyone with whom I have discussed this loves Monty Python, and shares my distaste for Benny Hill, despite Hill's inexplicable popularity in the US. Murray |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Bill D Date: 10 Dec 00 - 01:38 PM Benny Hill HAD some creative talent...but once he discovered that smarmy single-entendre' jokes and girls in underware sold better, you seldom saw much of it..(the talent, I mean)... |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Rick Fielding Date: 10 Dec 00 - 01:40 PM Bravo Murray! When I first met Heather about thirteen years ago, I was impressed by her hour-glass figure, her ability to think and use the language, and the fact that she laughed at my constant jokes (she's stopped by the way) but what sealed the deal was her recommending the series "BlackAdder" to me. I watched the episode about Edmund cutting off Richard the Third's head while he was having a pee behind a tree, and KNEW I'd met the gal for me! Have to agree that the series got better as time went along. Rick |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Mrs.Duck Date: 10 Dec 00 - 02:05 PM I think some of the best comedy shows/films are the ones where the humour is not based on jokes or slapstick but just on the way characters live. Prime example being the Royle family with Caroline Aherne where nothing actually happens at all. Films like the Full Monty mix humour and sadness and had me in tears on both counts. Tragedy and comedy are often close. Things that are over done leave me cold so I have never got on with Absolutely Fabulous, Bottom or The League of Gentlemen. Having said that I loved Monty Python simply because it was so off the wall. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: sophocleese Date: 10 Dec 00 - 03:19 PM Well I have to admit that I liked the thread that appeared on Saturday that parodied many Mudcat contributors. It seems to have diappeared so I guess my enjoyment was not shared by others. Not having a lot of access to television I've missed out on seeing a lot of Blackadder episodes but I have laughed through all the ones I saw. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Diva Date: 10 Dec 00 - 07:16 PM I have a very warped humour which sometimes gets me into trouble. I love The Goons, Python, Spike Milligan's Q series and his books. I enjoyed Hitchhiker's Guide so much that when I was expecting my daughter Jane I called her Zeephod. None of this namby pamby "Bump" stuff. The other night on paltalk Liz the Squeek and I were christened Cackle and Squeek.....well we were having hysterics at the time and that just made us worse. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 11 Dec 00 - 01:41 AM Victor Borge. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: P05139 Date: 11 Dec 00 - 06:35 AM I like Monty Python! I was watching "Holy Grail" on TV ast night and chuckling manically. Add that to liberally splattering chocolate dip everywhere and I think you realise how insane I am. My boyfriend says I'm not weird. Litte does he know... hehhehhehheh!! |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Steve Latimer Date: 11 Dec 00 - 11:14 AM Seamus, Victor Borge, I havn't thought of him in years, but he sure was funny.
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: richlmo Date: 11 Dec 00 - 11:53 PM Robin Williams and Jonathon Winters are funny. Adam Sandler is not funny. He's stupid. Bill Cosby may be the funniest of all. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Rick Fielding Date: 12 Dec 00 - 12:08 AM Rich, gotta disagree with you about Cosby. Years (and years) ago, I was quite a fan of his, but I think he stopped taking chances entirely, and I'm afraid whatever he does now just doesn't make me laugh. Victor Borge! Yup he's still got it. And he hasn't changed his act in 50 years! Rick |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 12 Dec 00 - 02:02 AM Rick, one of my theories about great comics is that the truly great ones are/were musicians at one time or another, or had some connection with musical performance. Victor Borge, Steve Allen, Steve Martin, Henny Youngman, Jack Benny, Billy Connolly, George Burns (hoofer), Bob Hope (another one). Any takers? All the best Seamus |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Clinton Hammond2 Date: 12 Dec 00 - 02:18 AM Billy Connolly... bad example... ya know what he says about folk musicians eh... "If I had a hammer, there'd be no more of those tossers!" ;-P |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 12 Dec 00 - 02:39 AM Clinton, despite what Connolly says, he is a helluva fine banjo player and can acquit himself well on the guitar, too. Seamus |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: GUEST,Lepus_Rex, cookieless, lazy... Date: 12 Dec 00 - 02:40 AM I think Blackadder sort of got LESS funny as it progressed. 'Blackadder goes Forth' was the worst one, I think, though I still like it. The second series (the Elizabethan one) was my favourite by far, and the first and third series tie for second. Some other stuff I love: MST3K (From back when it was just a local UHF show...), The Onion, the Coen Brothers' movies (and Ethan Coen's book, Gates of Eden), Monty Python, and especially The Far Side, which was pretty much the only non-fiction I read when I was 12-13... ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Brendy Date: 12 Dec 00 - 03:06 AM It has been a long time since I have read it, but I remember a passage from Dr. Oliver Sacks book The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat where the good doctor was observing some of his patients as they watched the T.V. President Ronald Regan was giving a speech somewhere, and the patients were rolling around on the floor in hysterics at the sight of him. Apparently his body language was different from what his eyes 'said', and this was the reason for their uncontrolled mirth. Must admit, I got that impression off him a few times as well. Didn't find it particularly funny, though. But most other preformance artists, I can take. B. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Naemanson Date: 12 Dec 00 - 03:49 AM Snuffy - I don't know if it was the Goodies or the Oddies anymore. It was a VERY long time ago. The power of their humor is such that these are things that have stuck with me down through the ages. On episode involved a tour of a zoolgical park faturing singers instead of animals. Rolf Harris was one of the singers. I think they were always taking shots at poor Rolf. There is a book, Dr. Dogbody's Leg, by James (?) Nordhof (Of Nordhof and Hall who wrote Mutiny On The Bounty) that I found to be a scream. It is a simple set of short stories connected by the fact that they are told by Dr. Dogbody in a tavern in Plymouth, England, to his buddies in the years following the Napoleonic Wars. Each one is reputed to be the story of how he lost his leg. Each one is different and each is a howl. The scenes between the stories are funny as well. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: GUEST,Dave Bunker Date: 12 Dec 00 - 12:17 PM Schindler's List has got to be the funniest movie I've ever seen--it leaves me absolutely in stitches!!!! And Dick Cheney ,doesn't even need to say a word and he cracks me up--And the philosophical writings of David Hume--priceless!! Wait, none of those things are funny at all..Damn, I posted to the wrong thread again! |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Bert Date: 12 Dec 00 - 01:40 PM If I had a hammer... great line Clinton, I can just hear Billy Connolly saying that. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: kendall Date: 12 Dec 00 - 01:53 PM Tim Conway is the only comic who can make me laugh out loud. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: mousethief Date: 12 Dec 00 - 02:56 PM A big AMEN to the mention of Carol Burnett. I loved both versions of Rosenkranz and Guildenstern. Richard Dreyfuss as the tragedian was priceless. Peter Schickele as PDQ Bach is also a very funny man. Alex |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Lepus Rex Date: 12 Dec 00 - 03:34 PM Oh, I forgot to say 'Kids in The Hall'...... ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: sophocleese Date: 12 Dec 00 - 05:42 PM The Frantics, The Arrogant Worms and This Hour has 22 Minutes. The whole idea of petitioning the Canadian Government to get Stockwell Day to change his name to Doris was brilliant on many levels. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Burke Date: 12 Dec 00 - 08:25 PM e get a lot of classic radio drama on our Public Radio Station. I love Jack Benney and Fibber McGee & Molly. I don't like humor based on someone acting just stupid. The Jerk is one of the few movies I've ever walked out of. It was in a multplex so we went to the original La Cage aux Folles instead. Missed the beginning, but still one of my favorites. I love Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy. The Gods must be Crazy. All the old Screwball comedies. |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Peter Kasin Date: 13 Dec 00 - 02:51 AM Yeah, Mousethief, Peter Schickele. How did I forget him in my original post? In 1975 he did a PDQ Bach concert in Berkeley which was just brilliant. He made his entry by swinging on a rope onto the stage from a balcony. "PDQ Bach On The Air" is my personal favorite of his. Radio station WOOF in Hoople, North Dakota. Beethoven's fifth announced as a sports event, complete with an inane color commentator, the field recording of the piano piece with the maid running the vaccuum cleaner in the background. Great stuff! |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Bill D Date: 13 Dec 00 - 01:54 PM so...we see that humor strikes all of us very differently....for me, the best humor is 'ususally' that which involves a surrealistic twist on 'real life'...but for many, this is not 'strong' enough....if it resembles life too much, they are upset or angry...so slapstick, sit-coms and bad jokes based on sex or bodily functions become their humor of choice. Having said that, I admit that I, too, will laugh at some slapstick, etc...but not ALL...there are so many poorly done, STUPID attempts! I saw a TV program where a stand-up comedian had invented a routine about "falling asleep", in which the premise was that he didn't know what it was..and the punch line all thru the bit was "I went unconcious"...most inane, insipid, dull bit I ever saw!...*shrug*... now, the movie "Being There", on the other hand.......... |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: mousethief Date: 13 Dec 00 - 02:14 PM Ahhhhh, "Being There." A fine, fine flick. Gods Must Be Crazy also. Crazy stuff. The comedy sketches on PHC (Prairie Home Companion) -- especially Guy Noir, Private Eye, the humor in which is very subtle most of the time. Alex |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Bill D Date: 13 Dec 00 - 05:11 PM The Gods Must be Crazy was inspired! The poor little Bushman in his confusion making more sense than any of the "advanced" society members.... and does anyone remember "The Wrong Box" or "Brewster McCloud"? |
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Subject: RE: Your attitudes toward 'what's funny'. From: Burke Date: 13 Dec 00 - 05:46 PM Some things others find funny are just painful for me. I first realized it as a teenager when I say a scene with Jerry Lewis as a bell boy repeatidly dropping ice or something. Slap-stick like that just hurts. I love most of the routines by the Capitol Steps. Especially the mangled words routine. Guy Noir has his moments of brilliance, but I don't think I'd call it subtle. I really like Garrison Keillor's monologues. He did a sketch on Lutherans & music once that I also love. The Finn who did not like to Sauna is a classic. I hated Buster the Show Dog. Cafe Boeff got old in a hurry. |
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