Where are the roots of humor? Often, it’s in tragedy. American’s laugh at anything. Mostly. There are limits, stretched these days, as political correctness makes a comeback. What’s funny to you? A man slips on a banana peel, or “There once was a man from Natucket…?”
Humor is everywhere in American society, though we don’t always agree on what it is.
Wikipedia describes humor this way:
So, a sense of humor would be our ability to experience humor, though dependent on a number of absolute and relative variables.
Such as? Such as culture, age, education, maturity, context, geography, language, background, experiences.
Who’s funnier to you? Chris Rock or Lewis Black?
Who’s funnier to you? Jay Leno or David Letterman?
See? It depends. Taste is involved, though the variables above create a Maytag washer load of comedic colored clothes, vs. bleached whites.
What’s comedy (as opposed to humor)?
In the sctrictest sense, comedy is a use of humor in the form of theater; often a play with a happy ending, versus a play with a tragic ending; a tragedy.
Mel Brooks once said, “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an elevator shaft and you die.”
Question: What’s the difference between recession and depression?
Answer: A recession is where you’re out of a job. A depression is when I’m out of a job.”
Why is that funny (a broad assumption on my part)? Or not?
What are you watching on TV today that you consider truly funny?
Is it the satire cum slapstick of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart?
Is it the baudy one liner assembly line of “Two and a Half Men?”
Is it the fictional reporting of FoxNews or the SpinCity superstars in DC, CNN’s “The Situation Room?”
All too often I find that what we consider comedy these days, has a root somewhere in tragedy, as if the extreme difference in feeling good versus being miserable, somehow tickles our collective funny bone (in some perverse way).
Pity the politician that makes it as comedic fodder for Leno or Letterman.
Comedy is very subjective. What some people “get” others simply don’t. For me, I enjoy “dark” comedy and uncomortable comedy such as “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. Although past seasons have been funnier, Larry David is the master of awkward and hilarious situations.
I believe that much comedy comes from uttering the Truth so baldly, and completely devoid of cultural nicity and pretense, that we find it both daring and outrageously funny.
My favorites are Scrubs and Malcolm in the Middle. In Scrubs, Dr. Cox is funny precisely because he always says what he thinks of someone straight to their face. The same is true of Lois in “Malcolm”, she’s always funniest when speaking an unvarnished truth about motherhood or men. Jon Stewart is funny because he removes the ‘spin’ from the stories of the day, and lays the truth bare.
This works, however, only in a staged setting such as TV or theater. Speaking the absolute truth in the cold light of reality will only leave one without friends, family, or a job!
Funny is not always that relative. I’ve TIVOd a bunch of episodes of King of Queens…a few of which caus dizziness from laughing so hard! It’s done in a brilliant manner so you don’t feel stupid for laughing.
Other favs are Jon Stewart and a few reality shows like American Idol. Who can’t be amused at Hicks’ dance performance on Tuesday?
On the other hand, one of my best friends in HS loved the t.v. show MASH. I tried to watch it. I just couldn’t do it. It was almost as bad as going into a shoe store with wifey. And I want those hours back. Not even a snicker.