OT - So whatever happened to laughter?

[TommyRude]

Does anyone remember?

[Tusker]

My wife and I watched the Pink Panther on Netflix last night. Slapstick it may be and a reboot it may be, but by the third reappearance of the runaway globe and the cyclists, our sides were hurting. We were howling uncontrollably. It’s been awhile Tommy. We needed that. 

[MAJUSCULE]

Paramore did.

[16251]

Inside Amy Schumer repeats on Paramount +. Be prepared for anything goes.

[re Pete]

The Weird Al movie cracked me up. 

[time4jazz]

I saw an interview with Jerry Seinfeld who was wondering about essentially the same thing, and its impact on comedy. 

[ElmerJFudd]

[RABid]

I'm really getting tired of the dark mode that Hollywood has been in for the past 10 years. I heard a lot of good things about "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" so I binge watched an episode a night and quickly hit depression overload. Had to counter it with reruns of Big Bang Theory and some older comedies. It was done well, good cast and writing, but who wants to be depressed by TV? If I want depression I will watch the news. Same with the Harry Potter movies. When you watch one a year as they are released it is not so bad. When you watch one a night for 8 nights in a row you see how it went from happy to dark and sad really fast and stayed there.

[ElmerJFudd]

 

[Stokely]

There's still tons of comedy around and always has been.  Maybe not in movies, I don't watch many anymore.

There's a lot of (relatively) modern comics on youtube that I'll put on if I need a laugh.   I like a lot of Conan O Brien's bits when he gets off site.  One of my favorite "low key" ones is Tom Segura, I get that he'd not be everyone's cup of tea.  He's got a more NSFW one called "69" that kills me.

 

[o0Ampy0o]

Netflix has a lot of stand up specials. These range from well-established comedians to newbies. Some (all?) are staged with a cookie cutter formula including layered pre-recorded laughter. If they all are it makes sense. An hour is usually too long IMO and these are essentially story-tellers that have to have structure with beginnings, middles and finales. I may not find everything or anything funny but I can tell whether the audience reaction is real or not. I can tell when the formula is stronger than the material or the comic’s ability to make people laugh. Maybe 75%+ have not been worthy of airtime. There are very few original genuinely funny people around and there is only one host who I find real enough to genuinely laugh at someone’s jokes during an interview.

 

Someone mentioned The Pink Panther films. The Trail of the Pink Panther which contained unreleased footage of Peter Sellers after he passed away showed that he had evolved. He really only needed a platform, the plot did not have to carry him, not that any were particularly weak.  The weakest link in that film was not having Sellers available to complete another film. At least they found a way to package those scenes by having characters talk about his Inspector Clouseau.

 

[ElmerJFudd]

I think like Music, Art, Fashion, etc. that what we find funny changes.  There’s plenty that today’s young people find funny that is lost on me - memes, tik toks, etc. that for my brain come off as just stupid minus funny. And that’s ok. I don’t think kids today would find Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder movies funny. But I tell you what, I watch I Love Lucy with my daughter and she laughs and laughs. So some humor crosses the great divide.  

[Docbop]

I lost interest in comedies a long time ago, but friends were still into them so I watch with them.  I'll go to comedy movie if I hear it's really good and sometimes I like them.    I just saw the new movie M3GAN it is a Horror/Dark Comedy and  that I liked and some of the scenes had me laughing out loud.    A movie that still makes me laugh is Undercover Brother Funny, lots of Funky music, and Fine women all the F's I want. 

 

 

[Joe Muscara]

My favorite dramas will make me laugh, too. I generally don't like ones that are always moody, dark, and/or serious. Some wise-assing is necessary.

 

[stillearning]

16 minutes ago, Joe Muscara said:

My favorite dramas will make me laugh, too. I generally don't like ones that are always moody, dark, and/or serious. Some wise-assing is necessary.

 

My personal favorite serious movie with great light comic moments is Being There, with Peter Sellers. He absolutely sells the lead character for me. Just the right comic touches.

 

For pure unadulterated laugh out loud comedy, most anything Monty Python is it for me. The Cheese Shop sketch always gets me when I need a pick-me-up.

[Konnector]

Plant doesn't want to sing that song anymore.

[Stokely]

I forgot to mention that as far as comedic live action movies go, a few of the Coen Brothers movies are tops for me.  These are not typical slapstick comedies pretty obviously.  The Big Lebowski, which I thought was just ok the first time I saw it, is probably tops for me along with O Brother Where Art Thou.   I find some of Tarantino's movies pretty darn funny although that probably isn't their main focus (Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction etc).

I haven't seen any recent comedies other than animated ones, mostly from Pixar and Dreamworks.  I do NOT subscribe to the idea that "cartoons" are for kids  

[stillearning]

13 minutes ago, Stokely said:

…I do NOT subscribe to the idea that "cartoons" are for kids  

Family Guy is exhibit A.

[ksoper]

We watch a variety of things depending on our mood. Pluto streaming channel is usually on and if you can't find anything to watch on Pluto there's something amiss.  Ed Sullivan's company has posthumously repackaged episodes to feature musical acts, comedians, specialty acts, etc. One special hosted by Mary Tyler Moore showcased the comedians. We were rolling.  My wife is younger than I and never got to see Ed Sullivan or many of the comedians. She was fascinated by Alan King so we went down the YouTube rabbit hole and watched about 3 hours of King.  I remember him being very funny as a kid and his schtick mostly holds up today.  We fell out over his "Survived by his wife" bit.  Not a joke teller but a fantastic story teller. 

[Bill H.]

I laughed pretty hard last night (karaoke night) when a guy tried his hand with A Thousand Miles, and not to be outdone a couple of guys gave Party In The USA a shot. Alcohol may have been involved in these trainwrecks  All in fun, with great response from the room. 

[GRollins]

When people say, "Humor is out there, you just have to look for it," my response is always...look for how long? It's not worth my time to sift through endless quantities of crap in order to find one tiny little thing that's actually funny. A lot of the shit that's supposed to be funny these days is just plain offensive. I don't mean that in a puritanical way, I mean it in a way analogous to the way horror movies are no longer about fear and suspense, they're about grossing you out with blood and entrails. That's not horror. That needs to be in a different category, with its own label. Same with "humor." Take out "mind-deadeningly stupid" and put it in its own category. Take out what is currently called "edgy." To me it's rarely funny; it's generally just meant to offend. Take out "endless, pointless insults to anyone and everyone." Take out "this isn't funny, this is just someone telling a boring story." Take out...never mind, you get the idea...or if you don't, I think it's safe to say that we're on very different pages as to what constitutes humor.

 

George Carlin and Robin Williams knew how to be funny. Triumph the Insult Dog (to name just one example) is not, was not, and will never be.

 

If you take out the categories I mentioned above (plus more), it would be a lot easier to find truly funny material. But that's not going to happen, is it? We're just going in deeper and deeper. I, for one, think it would be nice if we turned around and quit trying to hurt other people and calling it "humor." Don't we have enough rancor in the world today?

 

Sorry...what was I thinking? Of course not. The evidence is against me. People want to dive to the very uttermost bottom of tastelessness and wallow in it.

 

Phooey. I avoid today's soi disant "humor" at all costs. It's negative input and I don't need it. I'd rather keep my head clear.

 

Rant over. Feel free to laugh if you found this post funny. I'll be here through Thursday. Be sure to tip your waitress well.

 

Grey

[ProfD]

Laughter is not something I have to seek. Not a day goes by that I don't find humor in it.

 

If I need a laugh, I can generate it and I also know where to find it. 

 

Music and humor have always been my opiates.😎

[KuruPrionz]

 

[Outkaster]

I used to have all this memorized.  It's till funny and the scene was mostly improvised. I saw this at the theater in Toronto while I visiting there:

 

 

[TommyRude]

 

[o0Ampy0o]

22 hours ago, Konnector said:

Plant doesn't want to sing that song anymore.

But you can play that when trying out keyboards in a Guitar Center without someone asking you to stop.

 

[Anderton]

Some actors/producers think being dark and gritty lends a veneer of being a "serious" artist. But IMHO, great humor is actually more difficult to pull off.

[RABid]

On 1/14/2023 at 2:45 PM, ksoper said:

My wife is younger than I and never got to see Ed Sullivan or many of the comedians.

I have "Best of Ed Sullivan Show" 1 and 2, each a double DVD. My sister borrowed them and made her grandchildren watch. They were fascinated with the comedy, music and acrobatic acts. Every time they would come back they asked to watch the next DVD.

 

I miss movies like "Young Dr. Frankenstein." My favorite comedy. Sometimes you have to create your own comedic spots in otherwise dark movies. I remember going to watch Halloween in the theater with two musician buddies. I saw it the week before. It was new to them. So when the main character was searching for someone in a spooky house, right when they opened the closet door and the dead body swung down from above I grabbed one of my friends and growled. He jumped up so fast this bowl of popcorn went flying. He turned around to me and shouted "You scared the hell out of me." People in the theater started cracking up and when he realized that everyone was looking at him, well, that may be my favorite movie moment. We were still laughing at him when the movie was over.

[David Emm]

If you scratch the surface of most humor long enough, you'll usually find someone at the center who took a few whacks with a 2 x 4 to achieve it. Real wit has mostly taken a back seat to pratfalls, sometimes R-rated. I can still find it in places such as Dan Savage columns and The New Yorker magazine. Its dry but still chewy.

 

I still enjoy "The Simpsons," even in its declining years. I'm an adherent of Moe-ism: "I ain't done much I'm proud of and what I am proud of is disgusting."   

 

The best recent humor to me has been the escapist fare, such as "Thor: Ragnarok." I sat in the theater and chortled through that whole goofy thing like an old Buick starting on a cold morning.

 

Also this one: I just finished watching "Sprung" on FreeVee. It stars Garret Dillahunt and Margaret Plimpton of "Raising Hope." Its cut from similar cloth, with its own amusing dialogue and malapropisms. Just 10 episodes total. Trashy fun and full of things you don't want to explain to the kids. I warned you.  

[Joe Muscara]

On 1/14/2023 at 1:44 PM, stillearning said:

Family Guy is exhibit A.

Cartoons were done for adults long before prime time shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy. The original Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies were for adults. I used to watch that as a kid, and while I knew the gags were funny, I didn't know why they were funny. As I got older and understood more of those references, I realized just how funny that stuff was. There's no way they expected kids to get those jokes back then.