What Do You Find Funny?
Here’s a discussion that began on Facebook but really belongs here where the comments can keep running for longer. It began with me posting a song from Youtube: Spike Jones and his City Slickers performing Cocktails for two. This link should bring you to it quite easily - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvt4b_qwC_Q
I asked, “Is it humanly possible to watch this and not laugh out loud?” – to which Brenda Woodford replied “No” whereas Tony said it hadn’t even raised a smile with him, although the hiccoughing sequence had been quite clever and the timing was excellent.
My reply was: “Well, you can't analyse humour - but let's do it anyway. Surprise, contrast, invention, variation, slickness - all, of course, with straight faces. To a large extent humour is the forcing together of opposites - conformity and subversion, anarchy and control - speed often the crucial factor (although timing can depend on slowness too). I think that's why I find I find Spike Jones and his City Slickers hilarious - I may have missed out some factors, but I think that's most of them. None of which, of course, proves that anyone else should find it funny. But it proves I should.”
John Taylor (ex Onceupon) then chipped in by giving examples of surreal musical humour, including Victor Borge, the Marx Brothers, the Bonzos, George Melly and, of course, Spike Jones himself.
Tony then came back by agreeing about the surprise element in humour, acknowledging its effectiveness with Victor Borge but reckoning there was little of it with Spike Jones. (He said a lot more but I don’t feel entitled to quote people at length.)
After that I felt the debate had grown sufficiently to be transplanted to The Word Cloud. So here it is. Do you find surreal musical humour a delight? Do you feel Spike Jones succeeds in that way? And, for that matter, do you have any general thoughts on humour you’d like to share?
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Is it like asking 'What do you find tearful?' It's so big a range, from an ill-treated animal, to a WW1 poem, to unrequited love, to building a playing field in 'Field of Dreams'.
But back to comedy. What we find funny changes throughout our lives as well, doesn't it? I can remember laughing for weeks over those old Morecambe & Wise Christmas sketches - but now? They raise the corners of my mouth, but little more; and part of that is nostalgia.
While I used to laugh at slapstick humour (banana skin stuff; Laurel & Hardy), now I'm more drawn to wit. Clever word play, that sort of thing. Then there's cringe-comedy - like 'The Office' - which for me, was toe-curlingly funny - and all in the timing, and in the gaps where things were left unsaid (so you fill them in yourself).
Who knows, another few years and I'll be back to banana skins. I can remember my father chortling over 'Tom & Jerry' cartoons.
Had a bent over double moment about half an hour ago. My other half started to sing'
'Jesus Christ Super Star,' and I finished off with what we used to sing in school ( don't know if you had the same version over here)
'He walks like a woman and he wears a bra.'
with that, my husband dropped his saw and started rolling about on the floor laughing - of course I ended up doing the same - well not the rolling about bit. Turns out he'd never heard that version.
John Cleese kills me, especially when he bangs his head on a wall repeatedly as Basiiiiiil Fawlty. I also have this terrible habit of wanting to laugh when people hurt themselves, well mainly my husband who is forever stubbing his toe or banging his head.
About thirty seconds ago my daughter (4) said,
'Shut-up bum head.'
to my son (7) - had to surpress that one then she continued to eat her pasta like a piglet. It's a laugh a minute here ;-)
We were talking about music. A friend of a young friend of mine announced: "I'm into drum and bass."
Me: "Drum and bass is gay, dude."
Him: "No it's not!"
Me: "Dude, that shit is special olympics gay."
Him: "What, just because you don't like it, that makes it gay?"
Me: "No, drum and bass is gay cos lame-os who want to go around punching people in the head don't, cos people would punch them back. So they mount a bunch of fuck-off speakers in their gay car and drive around giving people headaches, and they know nobody can hit back at them cos they're all safe and gay in their car. That's why drum and bass is gay."
Him: "Well, what would you say if I said that Death Metal is gay?"
Me: "Obvisly, I wouldn't have to say anything, cos you couldn't listen to 'Graveyard Slut' by Darkthrone and say that shit doesn't rock ass. Drum and bass, on the other hand, is as gay as a children's TV presenter. In fact, drum and bass is so gay it should be called cock and arse."
Him: *throws hands up* "OK, OK, drum and bass is gay then . . ."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ9_Jba_PcY
I also liked Victor Borge when I was a child.
Humour is a lot to do with timing and personality – some people are just funny. The timing of the music in this sketch is spot on. It’s like a ‘fart sound’ just as someone sits down. It appeals to my soh!
As for music! I love Psychosticks and Richard Cheese as they always make me laugh... I’ll download ‘Down with the Sickness’ by Disturbed, and the same song by Richard Cheese and you can decide for yourself? Maybe it’s just me?
Then there's other sorts of laughs. Noodle's "Shut up bumhead" would be funnier because it had to be suppressed - like laughing in church (as me and my mum did decades ago when a parishioner's fart coincided with the priest in the pulpit discussing a 'Mighty wind from Heaven' - yup, even Catholicism had its moments, folks).
And how about Minxie and her brass bands fetish - anyone with her on that one?
I'd agree with surprise, yes, but not just surprise; humour comes from the absurdly unexpected - whether visual or verbal. I loved Victor Borge; his act relied on the unexpected - suddenly playing wrong notes for example. In fact, when I saw him, he got his first laugh almost before he came on stage. The spot light came on and lit up the wings, stage left and we waited for his entrance. After a few moments he entered - stage right and the spot had to swing across. The absurdly unexpected. I didn't find any of the Slickers' tomfoolery particulary unexpected (except the first time he pumped the other chap's nose to coincide with the blast on the tuba - I thought that was absurdly unexpected, but on its own it wasn't enough to raise a smile let alone a laugh). But, as you say, you can't really analyse humour. I've been saying what humpour is for me. It must be a two-way thing - given and received. These guys obviously make some people laugh, including your good self. So their antics are humerous - to those who find them so. Would it be right to say that 'humour' is only ever humourous when it is perceived to be so by an observer? Like the tree falling soundlessly(?) in the deserted forrest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY
and this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f72CTDe4-0&feature=related
So can we really say something is humourous or not humourous? Some of us didn't find Gerry's clip funny. But others did. So if I say it's not funny and Minxie says it is, am I wrong? Or is Minxie wrong? I don't think either of us are, are we?
There was a very funny incident on BBC's 'Breakfast' this morning. A guest told Charlie, one of the presenters, a joke and Charlie just didn't get it at all. He even came back to it after the next video clip and asked the guest to explain it. I suppose because I got the joke it made Charlie's predicament quite funny, but to someone else who didn't get the joke, Charlie's discomfort probably wasn't amusing at all.
The joke? A skeliton walked into a bar and asked for a beer, and a mop.
(Oh, and I love Tom Lehrer. Thanks for he links, John.)
Ah, now I do -it's when he drinks the beer..doh...
The discomfiture of the BBC presenter reminds me of an exactly opposite incident I witnessed years ago. Billy Connolly was on some chat show or other and one of his fellow guests was an American actress (I can't remember who) who obviously found his brand of humour distasteful: you could see it in her face. Well, Billy delivered himself, quite casually, of the line; 'It's about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit,' and it cracked her up. This lady absolutely did not want to be seen to be amused by anything so vulgar, and watching her desperate efforts to stop herself laughing had me in stitches.
I also find 'things people say' rather than 'things people do' funny - although even I admit that there is something timeless about old women trying to get in or out of boats and falling into water. You've Been Framed - my secret shame... XD
Humour is very personal, and is, I feel, shaped just as much by people around us as by ourselves. I know exactly why I find cruel and sarcastic humour funny - because my father was a fireman for 32 years, and the way he dealt with tragedy was to joke about it (a lot of people in the services do). Although, saying that, I do not have his propensity for practical jokes (another age-old tradition in the fire service). I am also ashamed to say that I do indulge in a little schadenfreude on occasion, and my husband is the king of the deadpan put-down, which I find far funnier than I should do.
Out of interest - does anyone remember the Chris Morris show BrassEye? That divides people like no other comedy show I have ever seen...
A sudden absurdity; the look of bewilderment or shock it produces on folks' faces is guaranteed to have me falling about laughing. Wrath's assertion that drums 'n bass are gay is just the ticket but Wrath is a master of quirky humour isn't he? And while I have a genetic fondness for brass bands, the image of Minxie struggling to contain her giggles before bursting out laughing had me laughing too.
Other peoples' discomforture is always funny provided it doesn't end in tragedy. One of the funniest sights I ever saw was when a guy who made a habit of hopping off the moving bus every morning as it slowed down approaching a corner got a surprise when the driver suddenly accelerated before braking, catapulting him forward at such a lick he almost had to hop back on the bus as it turned. Wicked, wicked driver!
We all agree that humour really is a very personal thing. Often cruel. What influences our taste I have no idea but it's an interesting discussion.
This is probably why Spike Jones and his City Slickers don’t work for some people now. Their black and white world of suits, cocktails and big band music is no longer much of a norm, so there’s less fun in subverting it.
On the other hand, the release of tension may be why firemen need the sort of humour Elysia reports – the amount of strain in their jobs requires a correspondingly emphatic release.
Re Chris Morris (‘Brass Eye’) by the way: a recent film I found hilarious was Four Lions – about some inept British jihadists (a subject worthy of anxiety and subsequent release of tension). The director was Chris Morris. Anyone see it? Anyone laugh out loud?
Here's another element to add into the discussion - the cultural differences in regards to what is funny and what isn't. I remember watching a programme where Marcus Brigstock (who's cynical humour has me laughing out loud frequently) had to do a stand-up routine in french to a french audience. At first, he just translated his own humour into french. No one laughed. He then had to learn what it is that french people find funny and write an entirely new script (in french) for his french audience. Obviously there will be exceptions but why is it that we don't always 'get' another culture's humour and vice versa?
I also have to admit that what has made me laugh most today is Wrathy's blog and the responses to it. Slightly (but not much) ashamed that something so crude can have me laughing so hard. Oh dear.
I was reading Terry Pratchett's 'Carpe Jugulum.' And though I know that explaining a joke is the surest way to kill it stone dead, without a little background my outbreak of mirth will be totally incomprehensible to those who don't know Pratchett.
Well then, among the many recurring characters that populate Pratchett's books is a race of people called the Igors. These are a typical Pratchett construct: a simultaneous parody of the movie Frankenstein (not Mary Shelley's original) and his grotesque assistant. These people come from Uberwald (Pratchett's parody of Transylvania), they are all called Igor, they all limp, they all lisp, and they are all incredibly skilled at surgery and swap bits of their bodies the way other people change their clothes. Adds a whole new meaning to phrases like 'You've got your father's eyes.'
Thus the line that reduced me to helpless laughter: 'This is Igor. He's a man of many parts.'
Okay, it's not *that* funny. I'm still not sure why I laughed so much, but I did.
Well Wrath shaving his eyebrows off is right up there!
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