Greetings denizens of Gather! Tis Monday once again (no really it is, I checked my calendar), which means it's time for Good Humor Monday here in the Writing Essentials Group. Today rather than post my usual hissy fit regarding the grossly disproportionate ratio of morbid poetry to humor article submissions here in the Writing Essentials group, I thought we'd have a little discussion on what makes you laugh.
Perhaps you're a fan of the absurd, and nothing gets you rolling like the Monty Python-esque humor of non-sequitur fish slaps or ferociousness of the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, who can only be defeated by the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, and then only if the directions are followed correctly:
'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.'
It loses a bit in text format, but you get the point. I love this style of humor, but I understand that it's just not for everyone. My wife and I went to see Spamalot last year, and while I was almost rolling in the aisles, some of the more absurd bits performed in the show were outside of her range of taste.
If the absurd isn't your flavor of humor, perhaps you enjoy gross out jokes. Humor based on the sounds and smells of bodily functions is a staple among both the preteen, college and Dad communities, though there are subtle variations that are popular within each group. The preteen set favors more the flatulence and belch related jokes, while the collegiate crowd tends to enjoy humor that involves actual bodily fluids and/or waste byproducts, and the Dads tend to marvel at their ability to clear out a room or turn the bathroom into a hazmat quarantine area. (I'll spare you from any examples of these)
Intellectual humor tends to attract folks who shy away from the absurd or the disgusting. The use of conceptual puns, parodies, and satire all fall under the category of intellectual humor because some amount of thought is required to appreciate the joke. In recent years however, another form of intellectual humor has recently become popular again due to shows like Seinfeld, Friends, and any television show or movie that stars Bradley Whitford. I'm referring of course to art of bantering:
You: What's banter?
Me: This is banter.
You: This is banter?
Me: This is banter.
You: But we're just talking.
Me: Talking is bantering.
You: Talking is bantering?
Me: When we talk like this it is.
You: How are we talking?
Me: Short sentences where we repeat each others words as questions.
You: Repeat each others words as questions?
Me: Repeat each others words as questions.
You: But you just repeated my words.
Me: We also repeat to answer the question.
You: Repeat to answer the question?
Me: Repeat to answer the question.
You: So people find this funny?
Me: People find this funny.
Of course you can't acknowledge the art of bantering without giving a nod to the masters: Abbott and Costello. Their Who's on First routine is still one of the funniest bits ever created.
These are just a few examples of the types of humor. So what makes you laugh?
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Comments: 69
I love all the above examples you cited except I would qualify intellectual humor. It makes me laugh if it's not too intellectual and I don't have to define the difference between parody and satire and farce and whatever.
I am a big fan of Steven Wright like "Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time."
As I get older, I find the familiar jokes are often the funniest. Like the one about prisoners and jokes, I always get a howl when I hear #67.
Guys like Abbot and Costello, Danny Kaye, George Burns and Gracie, The Marx Brothers... alot more too, are my comedic classic heroes
Over the past couple of years, I've been obsessed by UK or British comedians and or shows. Thanks to DVD, YouTube, and streaming audio/radio, I've discovered a whole group of what I feel to be very funny people.
Definitely try to find some of these people
Stand Up:
Ross Noble – one of the quickest minds I have seen working in stand up
Ed Byrne – Irish stand up
Dara O'Briain – Irish stand up
Frankie Boyle – Scottish stand up
The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre – a man and his sock puppets. He also does a sock puppet version of "Who's on First" and "Romeo and Juliet"
Sketch/Improv/Panel Shows:
Fry and Laurie – A Bit of Fry and Laurie
Mitchell and Webb - Stars of "Peep Show" and "that Mitchell and Webb Look" – very funny sketch comedy
QI – stands for "Quite Interesting" a panel show hosted by Stephen Fry.
Mock the Week – Panel show hosted by Dara O'Briain – comedic weekly look at current events, but not like the Daily Show
Never Mind the Buzzcocks – Rock and roll panel show.
The Mighty Boosh – starring Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt – surreal comedy show
BBC Radio – Radio 4 or Radio 7 (www.bbc.co.uk) – click on "radio tab"
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue – panel show featuring Graeme Garden and Tim Brook Taylor from "The Goodies" – silly games are played
Just A Minute – panel show in which contestants must speak for one minute on a topic w/o hesitation, repetition, or deviation. Very funny show
Despite being a Angophile, we also own dozens of CD's and DVD's of our favorite comedians and or shows:
Sid Cesar
SCTV
Warner Brothers Cartoons
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Rocky and Bullwinkle
The Kids in the Hall
Reno 911
Buster Keaton films
Mystery Science Theater 3000
The Tick
Spinal Tap
The Office (US version)
The Young Ones
Patton Oswalt
Jim Gaffigan
Eddie Izzard
Bill Hicks
Dana Gould
Flight of the Conchords
Woody Allen
Nichols and May
Bill Cosby
Bob Newhart
And dozens of others.
That movie gets me every time.
"But Mother..."
"Father, I'm Father."
"But Father..."
You've almost inspired me to actually write something. I'm thinking it may have to involve O.J. Simpson. Good job, Chris (and other gratuitous praisey-type things).
If you're a fan of the Tick, I'd recommend checking out The Venture Bros if you haven't already done so already.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977119650
Well, Chris, I'll pass on your message to Dana Gould when he comes to town in November for a 3-day stint at ACME comedy company in Minneapolis. I've seen him live twice and he's great. I love his bit about Don Knotts not being able to make prank/obscene phone calls because his voice always gets recognized.
said I was English, because I'd get the joke a few hours or days later and just burst out laughing whenever it came to me.
Banter is big in our family, it's my Daddy's fault. Some of my siblings and myself, can hold totally off the wall conversations for hours. We get stared at in public alot.
Irony, sarcasm, innuendo, and kid humor, the kind where a child's viewpoint will have
you rolling on the floor, those are great.
The absurd is usually not appealing as humor to me. America's Funniest Videos, where
people fall, or kids run into humans, buildings or doors, that doesn't make me laugh, it
makes me cringe and gasp, and groan.
Williams' idol Jonathan Winters is one of the funniest people ever. He did terrific one man sketch comedy.
I'm a sucker for British comedy. I loved the comedy series that have appeared here on public TV including "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin," "To the Manor Born," "Red Dwarf," "As Time Goes By..." Geoffrey Palmer is an unsung hero. He held his own against Judi Dench. His characters in "Butterflies" and "Perrin" were outstanding.
I have to agree with everyone on Robin Williams. First his manic act seemed genuine and brilliant, now it feels like a forced cariacature.
Someone who I used to love but you don't see much from anymore is Martin Short. My last exposure to him was while watching Barbie: The Princess and the Pauper with my daughters. (Okay, I was watching it by myself, but to be honest, that's the strongest of the Barbie direct to DVD flicks.)
Come back Marty, we miss you!
A friend on Gather [http://grphter.blogspot.com] is doing a blog entitled: Living and Loving through a Friendly Divorce. He does BANTER better than anyone else I know. Very funny if it wasn't for the fact it's also a bit sad.
I believe the word 'meat' is intrinsically funny when used as an adjective and works well in any word pair for comic gold. Meat sauce, meat man, meat socks, meat meat, meat juice, meat mail, the list goes on and on.
I have the same trouble. The problem is whether to say the right thing or to say the funny thing.
Now for a shameless plug; examples of such twists are in my articles which can be accessed by searching "Rated G Published" or copy and paste this link to your browser search:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977096440
(Coffee Monkey, Buzz Cut, and Drive-in Banshees are examples of real events that ended humorously)
Interestingly my story "Smokey's Lesson" was at first rejected by an editor. But I sent him an e-mail as a petition to reconsider. The e-mail was actually a spoof of me and myself involved in a bit of banter. He enjoyd it and decided to accept my story.
You can see this Banter in the e-mail "Rejecting Rejection' which is linked at the end of my story "Smokey's Lesson."
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976742529
I note that humor is sometimes improved by cutting close to the bone. How about the first time that Roy Sheider sees the shark in "Jaws" and says "you're going to need a bigger boat"? Often the things we find funniest are things that have elements of "gross" or "scary" in them, or that cruelly mock someone. Funniness is sometimes not pretty.
(Before anyone gets the opportunity to say anything, yes I am an avid fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have all seven seasons on DVD and I don't care who knows about it because it was a damn good show.)
Enough so to warrant a dirty look from the librarian. >.> I should be studying.
This man's name? Pheuk Kue
I think he might want to consider changing it.
And they could have a daughter or son named Curly.
Oh so pretty and witty and gay
Two sausages are in a frying pan. The first turns to the other and says, "My, it's getting hot in here!"
The other one screams, "EEK! It's a talking sausage!"
Could you really call that intellectual humor? Whatever it is, I appreciate it.
Two cows are standing around, eating. One turns to the other and says "Mad cow disease, that's pretty scary, huh?"
The second cow says "Yep. That's why I'm so glad I'm a chicken."
What's wrong with morbid poetry?