But for alert reader Patricia, this raises a question:
I find myself wondering what other MST fans find funny, beyond MST itself. What do they immediately think of as “funny”: Monty Python or Saturday Night Live, Carol Burnett or Jerry Lewis, Keeping up Appearances or South Park?
I find myself wondering that too!
Ever since I was little, one of the primary obsessions of my life was the study of comedy, comedians, humorists, what’s funny. I’ve read and enjoyed everything from Mark Twain (and he wrote some short essays that are laugh-out-loud funny) to John Kennedy Toole, Woody Allen to Chris Miller. I’ve seen funny movies of all kinds. Some seemed funny at the time but don’t age well (as a teenager I remember LOVING “The End”; I rented it again recently and it left me cold and a little pissed off); some (“Bringing Up Baby” and “Office Space” come to mind immediately) get funnier every time I see them.
There are some comedy franchises that people insist that I MUST see because they are brilliant and…meh. Two examples of that would be “Red Dwarf” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” I watched them both with great expectations of hilarity and I just wasn’t laughing. All I can say is “sorry.”
Monty Python (and their forebearers, Cooke and Moore) are the kind of British comedy I love (btw, check out Shout Factory’s wonderful “Secret Policeman’s Balls” collection for more stuff like that). “Are You Being Served” and Benny Hill not so much (though when Benny rattles off a classic bawdy music hall tune, you may find me smiling).
I am male, so the Three Stooges are funny to me (it’s a biological imperative), but really we’re talking Curly and early Shemp; the rest is just dreck. Similarly, I am a huge Marx Brothers fan, but really we’re talking about their last three films for Paramount (“Monkey Business,” “Horsefeathers” and “Duck Soup”) and their first two for MGM (“A Night at the Opera” and “A Day at the Races”). The rest are a little thin on the laughs.
Let’s see: Musically there’s Spike Jones, Alan Sherman, Stan Freeberg and Tom Lehrer and Weird Al, a list that that I think represents a continuum of funny songs.
On TV I STILL enjoy “The Simpsons” after all these years, I find Family Guy a subversive delight (though I have to admit that the shock value wears off on repeat viewings) and I should tell you my story about South Park. When I first encountered it I instinctively HATED it. I agreed with Kevin Murphy who, at that time, called them “profane Colorforms.” It just seemed like they were trading on the immediate laughter that comes from a little kid yelling profanities.
But I came around, and what did it for me was the South Park movie. I took a shot at the video store one day and rented it and found myself doubled over with laughter. I then went back and checked out the show, and discovered that it had grown over the seasons, and that there were more funny episodes than not.
I am plagued by guilty pleasures: When BBI would mock “Friends” I would cringe: I giggled at it more than it probably deserves. I am ashamed to admit that currently that spot is occupied by the low-brow “Two and a Half Men.” 
I am not a fan of comedy that tries to get its laughs by making its audience cringe in embarrassment or laugh at somebody’s humiliation (so “Borat” and “Bruno” leave me cold). That said, “The Office,” which trades largely in embarrassment humor, cracks me up. I’m complicated.
I like a lot of the Adult Swim stuff, especially “Robot Chicken.” I don’t watch Saturday Night Live, but that’s mostly because I’m usually doing something else at that hour on a Saturday and I never think to Tivo it. But back in the day (the Eddie Murphy-Billy Crystal-Chris Guest era) I loved it.
Speaking of Chris Guest, I love all his unscripted movies, from “Waiting for Guffman,” to “Spinal Tap” to “Best in Show.”
I could go on all day, but that’s probably enough. Off we go.
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I’m not really sure there’s any logic to my sense of humor. Sampo, we have in common a lot of what you itemized. It’s funny when it’s funny. I will say, though, to relate my sense of humor to the “MST3K” continuum, that “Mitchell” is my favorite episode followed closely by “Prince of Space” and “The Sidehackers”. And I rarely laugh out loud at riffs; usually, I just smile and enjoy.
What I find most funny with MST3K is when J/M&TB would giggle or compliment each others riffs. This was most prevalent during the Joel era, especially the J. Elvis days. I grew up in the 50s & 60s Brooklyn, NY and watched most of the older films on the small, rabbit eared B&W TV hosted by Zachery the ghoul who did some funny skits during commercial breaks. My brothers and cousins would all get together and make wisecracks throughout the so-called horror movies. When the Godzilla movies started to hit the TV I actually stole some lab coats out of a hospital, got some black horned rimmed glasses & we would reenact some of the scenes from these movies such as “King Kongs brain is this big (hold up a grapefruit) and Godzilla’s brain is this big! (hold up a walnut)” We would all collapse in laughter at this point. Since our parents were immigrants we realized that the translation (and voices)were what made the scenes more idiotic, not where the movie originated.
Although I have no beef with the last three seasons of the series, there were virtually no kibitzing between any of the characters. Besides reminding me of my own amatuer riffing, when they did kibitze and laugh I think it brought them closer to the audience. You felt, as a viewer, you were more involved.
Thanks for listening, time take Old Billy meds.
I like “The Simpsons” a whole lot – primarily the first eight seasons, but Seasons 9 through 12 can get a few laughs out of me too. (It’s Season 13 to the present that make me just sit there in stony silence, waiting for it to end.) I’m a big “Futurama” fan too, though unlike Fox, I prefer the original voice cast.
I hate “Friends”, but I love “Seinfeld”. That’s one thing I’ve noticed about most people – you either like one show or the other. There’s very little overlap between these two shows’ fans.
I read a lot of comic strips too, and Bill Watterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes” is probably my all-time favorite. (I also enjoy its spiritual descendant, Richard Thompson’s “Cul De Sac”.) Bill Amend’s “FoxTrot” is good too, though I think it was better from 1988 to 1997 than it is now.
Satire is right up my alley, no matter what the subject. I have Jon Stewart’s “America: The Book” and Stephen Colbert’s “I Am America (And So Can You!)”, which both got me interested in political satire. So did Berke Breathed’s cartoons; I own all the “Bloom County” books.
And you know, when it comes right down to it, nothing beats the good old classic Looney Tunes for the most basic and effective form of humor. They’re great cartoons, because the people who made them understood the importance of timing and gag structure and everything that makes animation great. I own all six Looney Tunes Golden Collections, and they never get old for me.
This IS a complicated question. Much of what makes me laugh depends on my mood. But..
I love the classic Python, Airplane!, Black Adder, the early episodes of M*A*S*H, the early SNL, Kevin Smith movies and Robin Williams stand-up (when he’s not political) and Douglas Adams’ writing.
I refuse to call anything I enjoy a guilty pleasure, so, yep, there’s Friends, the early seasons of Two and a Half Men, Alf, Andrew “Dice” Clay.
I hate, HATE Bhorat/Bruno. If I met him in person, I’d hit him in the face as hard as I could on behalf of every well-meaning moron he’s embarrassed and then sue him. I don’t care for The Office or Family Guy.
I could go on also… love South Park most of the time.. the first Austin Powers nearly made me pee myself laughing…
Oh yeah, jjb3k reminded me… comic strips. I loved Bloom County.
My father started me out early on Monty Python and ‘The Goodies’, so I have a soft spot for British humor. Also like the more subtle comedies, ‘To the Manor Born’, ‘The Good Neighbors’ and ‘Waiting for God’
Usually I do not watch shows with a lot of foul language but I make an exception for Penn & Teller’s BS. (Don’t want to get blocked).
I’m a big fan of the original ‘Get Smart’ tv show, not so much the new movie.
My favorite comedy movies are ‘Blazing Saddles’, ‘Young Frankenstein’ and ‘Galaxy Quest’.
For books, I like the first five of Piers Anthony’s Xanth books, the early ‘Myth’ books by Robert Asprin. IMHO they start to become repetitive after that. My guilty pleasure is the ‘Lord of the Rings’ parody book ‘Bored of the Rings’.
I will listen to ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ radio show any time.
I do enjoy most of ‘Robot Chicken’ although occasionally I think they go too far. I lost interest in Saturday Night Live in the early 80s.
First of all, I hate Family Guy. I’m leaving it at that, because I don’t want to get into some big discussion, but needless to say, I find it lazy.
In terms of comedians, I’m a big fan of absurdity. My personal favorite right now is Louis CK, while my favorite of all time is probably Steve Martin back when he was on stage. If you haven’t, read Born Standing Up. Its simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking.
As for television, I’m still a fan of The Office. One of the only comedy shows that has gotten its hooks in me as strong as MST3K was Home Movies, which is a show that Adult Swim seems to have a strange sort of love/hate relationship with. Metalocalypse is good too, but Home Movies has an emotional aspect that is usually what sucks me in the hardest.
Also, anyone who is an MST3K fan needs to see The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. I will not say more on the subject. Just watch it.
My humor sways to the smart and the just plain absurd, like MST3K. Besides silhouettes getting irritated at a movie, I enjoy the following television shows: Mr. Show, SNL from the mid 80’s to mid 90’s, Dr. Katz, Simpsons seasons 2-9, monty python’s stuff.
Literature: John Swartzwelder books and Douglas Adams.
“Comedy” that annoys me: disney and nickelodeon kid shows with overused laugh tracks my nephews watch, new SNL, south park, comedy movies where the punch line is the character screaming into the camera. ugh
I loved Bloom County too. But his later stuff did nothing for me.
I love dry Canadian humor. Long live the Red Green Show!
If you didn’t like Red Dwarf before, you clearly didn’t try hard enough, you comedy dead beat.
My absolute favorite literary comedy would be the works of P.G. Wodehouse, especially the Bertie and Jeeves stories. And despite the Adaptation Decay which sometimes occurred (especially during the fourth season) the TV series Jeeves and Wooster is also a favorite. Stephen Fry nails the mannerisms of Jeeves perfectly and Hugh Laurie (yes, THAT Hugh Laurie) just IS Bertie Wooster.
My top favorite TV comedy would be The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Without that show, The Simpsons probably wouldn’t exist. I find that The Red Green Show does guy ineptitude humor far better than the likes of Home Improvement and Men Behaving Badly. The secret I think is that there aren’t any female killjoys to ruin the fun (unless you count Harold, which I don’t).
Movies I find funny are for the most part vintage, like Arsenic and Old Lace and Kind Hearts and Coronets (the latter had Alec Guinness in eight roles). At some point in the Nineties, comedy in movies went down the toilet.
I also have a fondness for Old Time Radio comedies, most notably Jack Benny and Fibber McGee and Molly.
“Stella” (Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter & David Wain comedy show) their shorts dvd through their site is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, and their show Stella used to be on comedy central it is on dvd now it is the best. #1 always the funniest stuff I’ve ever seen.
Also The State, Kids in the Hall, Home Movies, Dr. Katz, Arrested Development is funny constantly, every second is hilarious.
Trailer Park Boys a canadian tv show, that is really great too.
Those are my top faves.
This is what I would define funny as. ;)
Let’s see:
I LOVE — Three Stooges, Monty Python, early MASH, Barney Miller, character-driven humor, silliness, Steven Wright, Emo Phillips, and most of Christopher Guest. Surreal humor works in bits and pieces. South Park got better after its first year or so, and the Simpsons is best remembered for its first 10 years, not that last 7 or so. The movie was great, tho. King of the Hill is hilarious, and I’ve only caught two episodes of The Goode Family. The second episode was a lot better. Weird Al. Red Green. Let’s Bowl. Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brian, and other cartoons that know their heritage yet bring something new.
I’M NOT A FAN OF — Generic sitcoms where everything takes place in a coastal city and people in their 30s and 40s are afraid of commitment and act like college students. So sorry, Seinfeld and a slew of other 90s and 00s sitcoms. Much of political humor. Stewart can be funny but since he can’t decide if he wants to be a comedian or journalist (and likes to put the clown nose on when someone criticizes the show) he comes off as disingenuous when forced on the issue. Humor mostly derived from irony wears me out, mostly because its overplayed.
I CANNOT STAND – Family Guy, specifically after its rebirth. It’s lazy, smug, and self-amused. The animation sucks, and the humor is simply random gags and stupid bits repeated until the commercial break starts. It’s become a spiteful little show. Any of the “[genre] Movie” flicks that came out, most of Adult Swim and its live-action shows, and most Internet Memes.
Brian Regan
As Time Goes By (yes, I am female)(I love Judi Dench)
Fawlty Towers
Monty Python
Red Green Show
Hard Day’s Night
Chuck
Pushing Daisies (I remind you that I am female)
Dr. Rodney McKay on Stargate Atlantis
Pixar movies
Simpsons
third season of Black Adder
A Bit of Fry and Laurie
Jeeves and Wooster (yes, I love Hugh Laurie)
Most Rifftrax that I’ve listened to, although Jurassic Park is probably my favorite
WEIRD AL!
Stranger than Fiction
The Princess Bride (book and movie)
Muppets in Space
all three of my sons
two of my brothers
OMG, LOVE this topic!
TV: I am a huge fan of Python (which supposedly is rare for a girl), SNL up to about 1993, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Seinfeld, South Park, Cheers, Sanford & Son
The written word: I too love Jon Stewart’s “America”, plus his collection of essays, “Naked Pictures of Famous People”.
Dave Barry is a huge favorite – God, I miss his columns in the Miami Herald. And, oddly enough, Stephen King! He has some hilarious stuff in his books, especially “The Body”, the novella that the film “Stand By Me” was based upon. When Teddy Duchamp yells “Your mother blows dead rats!” in that story I sincerely thought I would DIE!
Audio recordings: The king, of course, is Richard Pryor, closely followed by George Carlin. Current faves are Christopher Titus, Louis CK, Lewis Black, Kathleen Madigan (the only chick comic who doesn’t ACT like a chick comic) AND, number one on my dark little hit parade…Patton Oswalt! Oh god, if you haven’t heard his act, get it! His 2 albums are “Feelin’ Kinda Patton” and “Werewolves and Lollipops”. LOVED it when he did the reunion at ComiCon last year. He is pretty dark, BTW.
Comic strips: Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side, and Bloom County. And the first two are gone. What a bunch of BS.
Film: I too HATE Borat. HATE it. Cohen is super-talented, but I just hate humiliation/embarrassment. I love Judd Apatow’s stuff and stuff like it – “Pineapple Express”, “Knocked Up”, “Zack & Miri Make A Porno”, etc. LOVED the South Park Movie. LOVE Mel Brooks, esp. “Young Frankenstein” and “Blazing Saddles”. Of course the Python films – my fave is “Grail”. “Airplane” is awesome. And a great James Garner film from the late ’60s, “Support Your Local Sherriff”. Mr. Garner was quite easy on the eyes, a lovely bonus!:) And the “Naked Gun” films.
Oh God, almost forgot – MAD Magazine!!!!! I KNOW I was the only girl in my school who read it. Actually I still have a subscription at the ripe old age of 40. It’s nothing like it was in the ’70s, but it still has its moments. And still has the fold-ins! MAD influenced SO much of my comedic outlook. Is that good or bad? :lol:
Oh, I forgot:
The Tick (the Patrick Warburton canceled-too-soon TV series)
NewsRadio before Phil Hartman died
Hmm…
I started with Brit-coms when I was about nine (decades before I’d get some of the jokes) and have stayed with them. I prefer Python, “Fawlty Towers”, and the Blackadders. (My Mom prefers ones like “Last of the Summer Wine” and “Keeping Up Appearances”.)
I spent my childhood listening endlessly to our Bob Newhart collection, plus Allan Sharman, Stan Freberg and Bill Cosby. I still get a kick out of the SOL crew mentioning Mrs. Webb during a reckless driving scene.
I listen to a lot of old radio and think “The Jack Benny Program” is still tremendously funny, especially during the Lucky Strike period. It helps that I have some knowledge of that era.
Other than that, my tastes range from the surreal “Green Acres”, to the sophisticated “Jeeves & Wooster”, to the absurd “Police Squad!” and to the early days (1975-1979) of SNL. I can laugh at the Marx Brothers and Abbott & Costello, but also at “Blazing Saddles” and Kevin Smith talking about the insane Jon Peters.
I guess I’m saying I laugh at whatever I find funny. There’s no unified theory for me.
Oh, and I think the greatest stand-up comedian in history was and remains…Henny Youngman. Sure, the jokes were old when the Earth was Created, but they still make laugh more than anyone else. Richard Pryor is way up on the list, though.
Yeah, there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to my sense of humor either. I like silly stuff but then again I like stuff that’s smart too. If it’s smart and silly at the same time, you’ve got me hooked.
Brian Regan
Jim Gaffigan
Ron White (not ANY of the other “redneck comedy” guys, just Ron White. “Git R Done”? Echhh.)
The State/Michael & Michael/Stella
Strangers With Candy
Red Dwarf (I think I know the problem here: the first two seasons of Red Dwarf sucked in comparison to later seasons. If you didn’t like it, try watching season 3 and on)
Family Guy/American Dad
Scrubs
Better Off Ted
South Park
Krod Mandoon & The Flaming Sword Of Fire
Graham Norton
Little Britain
The films of John Waters and Kevin Smith
Some Mel Brooks (He’s very hit or miss but you can’t go wrong with “The Producers”, “Young Frankenstein”, “High Anxiety” or “Dracula, Dead And Loving It”)
Harold And Maude (EVERYONE should see this movie)
Better Off Dead (smart, silly AND Christmassy)
Oops! Forgot “Robot Chicken”!
I respectfully disagree with Kenotic about Family Guy sucking after it started again. Yes, it’s gotten a bit meaner but I can’t remember ever laughing harder at the show than the recent “Surfin’ Bird” episode which is making me giggle even now just thinking about it.
I love the Office! And I don’t see how anyone could not like “Friends’! :o
Ever since I was little I liked Whose Line is it Anyway. Just funny. I like ‘Monk’ a lot.
Also, things that aren’t really comedys, but still hilarious, and political humor. Loooove the Simpson’s, too!
As for movies, Mel Brooks stuff, Airplane, and Benny and Joon come to mind.
I love the Get Fuzzy comic strip.
I HATE stuff like Borat. I just hate seeing people humiliated on TV/movies. It seems very cruel to me. I hate prank shows. HATE THEM.
Aw jeez, how could I forget “Looney Tunes” and “Rocky and Bullwinkle”? I would literally arrange my social schedule on Saturday nights around “Looney Tunes”, which was on from 7-7:30 on 10TV out of Columbus OH. My friends knew I could not leave until 7:30. GOD, what a nerd I was.
And I really like “American Dad” – it has gotten SO much better.
Oh yeah. I’m not at all into British comedy. Yes, the Office was British, but it’s different now. That type of humor is just boring to me. Keeping up Appearances for example. Just….blah.
I gotta say: Mike Nelson pretty much cemented himself as my bona fide comedic hero when it came out that he loved PG Wodehouse. I do, too. I have loved him since I was a dumb little girl and giggled maniacally over his goofy and repetitive plots, and then I grew up (a little) and appreciated just how precise and delicious his writing is. So PG is king in my book.
A lot of the stuff already mentioned (Jim Gaffigan, The Simpsons, Mark Twain, Monty Python, Scrubs, The Office, etc.) goes deep into my funny column. A lot of other stuff already mentioned (South Park, Sasha Baron Cohen, Family Guy) goes into my “Please go away, you’re actively hurting me,” column. Some stuff not mentioned yet that I do like very much: Jane Austen (damn it, she is funny), Dorothy Parker, and a neat little British television series called Black Books.
Why do I find funny? Sometimes it’s gentle humor, sometimes it’s character based, sometimes it’s parody/cultural references, sometimes it’s just absurdist.
I got into old-time radio in my youth, so I love Jack Benny, Burns & Allen, and Fibber McGee & Molly, and find their stuff as fresh and funny as it was back then.
Marx Brothers, especially their Paramount pictures, are flat out funny (when they weren’t trying to stop the plot with musical numbers or an appended romance).
My first love was the gentle humor of Peanuts, and I find Bill Holbrook’s three strips to be a close relation. Related to that, cartoons are another source; classic Warner Bros. and Tex Avery are part of my vocabulary growing up. Animaniacs and Freakazoid! managed to recapture that and add the dizzy whirl of pop culture references that I love about MST3k. Homestar Runner continues that tradition.
In terms of anime, Excel Saga and Dragon Half are delightfully silly (also filled with numerous references) and Azumanga Daioh also has a gentle humor. However, a lot of my favorites deftly combined comedy and action, such as Slayers, Ranma 1/2, Tenchi Muyo, Martian Successor Nadesico, and Ah! My Goddess.
Wallace & Grommit, Creature Comforts, the Sam & Max video games, Douglas Adams, Bill Cosby (especially his early stuff), first 4 seasons of Red Dwarf, and George Carlin round out my list.
My comedy hero is Charlie Chaplin. I’m obsessed with silent comedy more than anything (Mabel Normand, Buster Keaton, Snub Pollard, Fatty Arbuckle, etc.) ! I love old radio comedies too. Classic comedians like the Marx Brothers, Luarel and Hardy, W C Fields are wonderful too. And I love 30’s screwball comedies, like It Happened One Night of The Philidelphia Story. And I love foreign comedies such as Mon Oncle (ok, anything by Jacques Tati) and The Italian Straw Hat.
I also love British humor: Spike Milligan and the Goons, Monty Python, Dad’s Army, Fawlty Towers, Jeeves and Wooster, Little Britain, stuff like that.
Speaking of Jeeves and Wooster, one of my favorite comedic writers is PG Wodehouse, as is Mark Twain, and the books Catch 22 and A Confederacy of Dunces make me laugh out loud. I like comedic essays like what Robert Benchly, and yes, Mike Nelson writes.
Current TV shows I love would be The Simpsons (forever and for always), King of the Hill, and 30 Rock (possibly the best show on at the moment). I always watch repeats of MASH, Futurama, The Cosby Show, Dr Katz and Arrested Development.
Some stand ups that I like are Steven Wright, Jeff Dunham, Jim Gaffigan, and going back a ways, Lenny Bruce.
I’m probably leaving a something important out, but I suppose that about covers it!
I tend to dislike the countless sitcoms that follow what I call the “Template”:
1. Dad – A coward and an idiot, but he means well.
2. Mom – Bright and witty. She does all the real work.
3. Boy – Idiot except when needed to make Dad look even more foolish.
4. Girl – Misunderstood genius.
ACK!
Reading all the other entries brings even more things to mind:
Barney Miller – It took a couple of seasons for the show to catch its stride, but once it did, it was hilarious.
Perhaps one reason I like Time Chasers and the Black Adders is the incorporation of history themes/allusions in them. integral to the stories/humor. Consider Black Adder’s encounters with William Pitt the very Young and Doctor Johnson’s great dictionary (and the pathos of the ending of the World War I Black Adder series).
And of course when I see political obstructionism (like the Republican knee jerk reaction to any Obama initiative) I think of Groucho Marx singing “Whatever it is, I’m against it!”
David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, and John Hodgman have written some funny, funny essays.
The Far Side, The Perry Bible Fellowship, and Dilbert remain some of my favorite comic strips (I work in a Dilbert-esque environment).
Airplane!, The Naked Gun, Animal House, Grosse Point Blank, A Fish Called Wanda, Coming to America, Superbad, Serial Mom, and Dave are a few of my favorite comedies that I can watch repeatedly and still enjoy.
The Big Bang Theory, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Newsradio, 3rd Rock from the Sun, 30 Rock, Two and a Half Men, Arrested Development, Family Guy, Chuck, The Venture Bros, Futurama, Family Guy, The Office, Cheers, Wings, Robot Chicken, Entourage, and Psyche provide some great laughs.
The one MST3K episode that I can watch over and over and over and laugh every single time that never gets old is Space Mutiny, followed by The Final Sacrifice.
Freaks and Geeks
The State
Oh geez, I knew I forget something. Somehow I forgot to mention The Big Bang Theory, Seinfeld, Freaks and Geeks, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Cheers and Frasier as some of my favorite comedy shows.
the naked trucker; hard to find but a hoot
Dennis Miller, funny just sitting there, sharp as a razor and acerbic as hell
Harold Lloyd, no kidding give him a try, especially the one with the turkey on the trolley
now tell me, is there any recent comedy without crap and fart jokes?
TV: Futurama, Simpsons (seasons 1-11), South Park, The Office, Parks and Recreation.
On the other hand, I kinda liked Scrubs at first, but after a couple seasons it got way too melodramatic and a dramedy, which are usually pretty stupid. I never liked Family Guy, thought it was entirely to juvenile and I can’t stand Alec Baldwin enough to watch 30 Rock for more than a few minutes.
Comics: The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert and User Friendly.
Talk Shows: Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Colbert Report and Daily Show. Can’t stand Letterman.
Books: The Complete Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Websites: Fire Joe Morgan.com and TheOnion.com
Movies: Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 40 Year Old Virgin, Super Bad, Bull Durham, Bowfinger, Tootsie, probably some more I’m forgetting right now. Hate Borat and will probably hate Bruno too.
I agree with Sampo mostly except about Red Dwarf, Seasons 1 and 2 are very good, I think it really went downhill after that.
Funniest book to me is Good Omens. And the Harry Potter books have a good amount of humor in them also.
I only saw 2 posters say Big Bang Theory, if you are a nerd like me you will love this show.
after looking at my DVD collection: American Dad, Animaniacs, Arrested Development, Benny Hill, Blue Collar Comedians, Count Duckula, Family Guy, Futurama, Garfield, George Carlin, Grounded For Life, Home Improvement, Jeff Dunham, Jim Gaffigan, Johnny Carson, Kids In The Hall, Looney Tunes, Mad Tv, Man Show, Married With Children, Marx Brothers, Mel Brooks, Monty Python, Muppets, Newsradio, Peanuts, Red Green, Ren & Stimpy, Robin Williams, Robot Chicken, Saturday Night Live, Scrubs, Simpsons, South Park, Steve Martin, Three Stooges, The Tick, Tiny Toons, Tom & Jerry, Weird Al, Whose Line Is It Anyway, Wings, WKRP
Then the other things that come to mind: Bob & Tom, the KQRS morning show, local comics John Deboer, Mary Mack, Joe Lovitt, John Bush
And finally, in a dark, demented way, I find imagining people and coworkers I don’t like being horribly hurt or killed incredibly funny.
My recent favorite comedy work was Home Movies, with its soft, semi-improv style and the Venture Bros., a great homage/satire of almost all 20th century boy’s fiction. Maybe i should get cable after all.
@dafs #7–good to mention Cadavra! a favorite movie of mine as well.
I never got into British humor. I tried to watch Red Dwarf, and I almost convinced myself that it was good. Eventually, I had to admit that as an American, I guess I just have different sensibilities.
People are being way too hard on Borat. Bruno wasn’t that great, but Borat was a great movie. Of course, I have found through the discussion of this topic that I more into the subversive humor than most. The Office and 30 Rock are both great, and South Park can still bring the funny sometimes.
What makes MST3K funny to me was the fact that I didn’t get it all. I got most of it, but I liked a show that challenged me with references I might not understand. Or sometimes I get something that I just know most people might not get. That discovery of the layers in MST3K is what ultimately got me into this show more than any other on TV.
Jack Benny is the only comedy I enjoy at the same level as MST. But I’m also in favour of Monty Python, Black Books, Black Adder, IT Crowd, Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright jams, Ali G, Cary Grant, the Marx Brothers, Undergrads, the Critic, Corner Gas, the early years of Simpsons, Stan Freberg, Charlie Chaplin, the Chronicles of Riddick and lately Big Bang Theory.
I cannot overestimate just how much of an impact MST3K has had on my sense of humor. Most of the time it’s the unintentionally funny things that really get me going. 80’s hair metal videos are typically funny. William Shatner is VERY funny when he’s not trying to be. Shatner doing Rocket Man is funnier than any one video clip should EVER be. TV commercials for things like Hoveround scooters, ChiaPet, or ANYTHING Billy Mayes pitched(RIP) are great too. That part in Steel Magnolias where Sally Field is screaming and crying is pretty good (she’s acting the HELL out of that scene!). Kung Fu movies usually have a lot of good humor in them. There’s an action movie called THE STABILIZER from the 80’s that is just about the most hilarious film ever. Also LADY TERMINATOR. I could go on…
In my personal experience I’ve seen a lot of overlap between MST3K and SGC2C fans. However, given I’m post 39 and nobody else has mentioned Space Ghost, that could be a fluke.
Some sketch comedy usually does it for me as do sketch comedy movies. Upright Citizens Brigade, SCTV, Saturday Night Live early years, and Monty Python’s Flying Circus being my favorites.
Earlier-era comedy movies by Saturday Night Live and SCTV alumni are usually my favorite in terms of funny on film. Steve Martin. John Candy. Bill Murray. Chevy Chase. Martin Short. Dan Aykroyd. John Belushi. And even Eddie Murphy. Just think of movies like Blues Brothers (not the sequel). Ghostbusters, The Tree Amigos, Beverly Hills Cop 1, and you’ll get what I like. And I also like some of Mel Brooks’s stuff like Spaceballs.
As for sitcoms, the only one I ever liked was Chris Elliott’s Get a Life. A show which has even less of itself on DVD than MST3K an likely will stay that way. A shame.
Futurama is about the only animated comedy I’ve ever liked. Glad to see it keeps on getting ressurected over the years.
Now for stand up comedy. I like some of the greats. Bill Hicks. Sam Kinnison. Lenny Bruce. George Carlin. Richard Pryor. Its kinda sad that they’re all gone already.
I’m not so much a fan of prop comics. Sorry Joel. But I do like when they produce and star in shows like MST3K.
Funny: Airplane!
Not Funny: Scary Movie I-XIII
Funny: Early SNL
Not Funny: Recent SNL
Funny: Seinfeld
Not Funny: Friends
Funny: Spinal Tap
Not Funny: Borat
Funny: Black Books
Not Funny: Red Dwarf
Funny: Kids In The Hall
Not Funny: Mr. Show
Funny: Kentucky Fried Movie
Not Funny: Amazon Women on the Moon
Funny: Most British Sitcoms
Not Funny: Most American Sitcoms
Funny: Fletch & Fletch Lives
Not Funny: Nothing But Trouble
Funny: Judd Apatow
Not Funny: Farrelley Bros.
Funny: Big Trbl in Ltl China
Not Funny: Showdown in Little Tokyo
Funny: Neil Simon
Not Funny: Simon & Simon
Funny: Clue
Not Funny: Clueless
Funny: Eddie Izzard
Not Funny: Dane Cook
Funny: Marx Bros.
Not Funny: Three Stooges (sorry Sampo)
Funny: Calvin & Hobbes
Not Funny: Garfield
….well….I could go on and on, but I’ll stop. :mrgreen:
It’s so hard to remember everything, but here are some thoughts:
TV: The Simpsons first came on the air when I was in college, and it remains my favorite, especially the first 7 or 8 seasons. I love the Andy Griffith Show, still very funny after all of these years. The first 3 seasons of MASH are also about as good as it gets to me. I love both the British and U.S. versions of The Office. Arrested Development is also great. I never thought Friends was very funny (probably the way over the top acting), and like many others here I cannot stand Family Guy.
Movies: Spinal Tap came out when I was in junior high, and it’s probably still my favorite. Funny, a friend of mine who teaches junior high showed it to his class (with permission from the parents), and he said the kids uniformly hated it. Generational? I also love Airplane, Nat’l Lampoon’s Vacation, Caddyshack, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Revenge of the Nerds (not hard to tell when I grew up, is it?), and a Hard Days Night.
The web: I read the Onion almost daily, and I enjoy Bill Simmons (aka The Sports Guy) for sports-related humor, although his obsession with the NBA has forced me to rarely check his site anymore.
The Three Stooges (like you say, Curly and early Shemp, before the remakes kicked in). It’s not for everybody.
Laurel and Hardy. Again, not for everyone. You have to really LIKE their personalities in order to enjoy their humor.
Marx Brothers. Same five films Sampo likes, though I’ll throw in “A Night in Casablanca” and bits of “At the Circus”.
Monty Python. It never grows old. “Holy Grail” has been ruined by excess nerdism, though it’s still funny to a certain degree.
Blackadder. Rowan Atkinson/Tony Robinson/Hugh Laurie/Stephen Fry/Tim McInnerney all have excellent comic chemistry and the series is witty to the extreme.
Fawlty Towers. Never gets old.
I Love Lucy. A classic in American sitcoms. Lucille Ball is an acknowledge comic genius in her prime, but I’ll add that Desi Arnaz and Vivian Vance had their moments as well.
Father Ted. Brilliant comedy that’s made me appreciate Ireland so much more. I just love their light and yet pointed jabs at religion.
The IT Crowd. Sensational Britcom from the creator of “Father Ted.” Richard Ayoade is a comic find.
Second string:
Airplane/Top Secret. Great stuff with tons of classic lines and scenes.
Pre-Season Eight Simpsons/Futurama. Both of these had to grow on me, but they’re definitely decent.
Eddie Izzard’s standup. The best standup comedian ever.
The Venture Brothers needs to be made a state religion.
Noone here has named That Mitchell and Webb Look, my favorite recent sketch show.
Harold Lloyd WAS the greatest genius of silent comedy.
Films I can watch infinitely, laughing harder every time.
A Fish Called Wanda, and the best Python film, Meaning of Life. The Lady Eve. Bringing Up Baby. The Ruling Class. All About Eve, (yes, it’s as much funny as it is perfect in every other way), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Topsy-Turvy, ALL Ealing Comedies, Animal Crackers
TV has some too, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Fry and Laurie, Arrested Development, QI, (Let me repeat that, QI, NOONE in the US has heard of it, and it’s better than most things), League of Gentlemen, Coupling and Joking Apart, Slings and Arrows, Soap, SCTV and most of the British classics. Fawlty, Yes Minister, One Foot in the Grave, Blackadder, etc.
Literary terms… Prior to his death last New Years Eve, Donald Westlake was the funniest writer in the English language. He inherited it at some point, Wodehouse HAD been in the job, but it now it’s Terry Pratchett, let’s hope he’s well enough to keep the title a while. I do know Ben Jonson held it at some point in the early 17th century. Otherwise, up for grabs to me.
Hatred. Oooh, lots. Hate The Office, (original version), hate South Park, (the voices are annoying), hate Adam Sandler, Sex and the City, Seinfeld, Borat, Little Britain, most Canadian sitcoms with any success behind them, Family Guy, which hates my attention span… and the worst comedy program I ever saw, “The Ross Abbot Show”. Which was the worst comedy program I’ve ever seen. It was to comedy what the first World War was to the 1916 Olympic Dream.
A nice topic, and a great discussion, though not easy depths to plumb. I have a feeling that this topic gets to the heart of “Sampo’s theorem” because humor is one of the most individualized personality traits.
I personally love bookish humor, involving wordplay, sarcasm, satire, etc and well-written, character-driven humor. For me humor is verbal; visual gags only work for me when coupled with a witty remark. Sight gags and slapstick leave me looking at my watch. As an example, I love Monty Python, and pay rapt attention to the sketches, while fast-forwarding through the cartoons. My favorite humor is the John Cleese / Graham Chapman “thesaurus humor” as they called it.
No offense to Sampo, but I vehemently disagree that the Y chromosome contains a Three-Stooges gene. I am certain that there are plenty of other men like myself who cannot stand them. I remember watching an episode of Dr. Katz once, where a male comedian said “Doc, I figured out why women hate the Three Stooges…they’re not funny. That’s why women don’t like them.” Agreed.
As for cartoons, I loved the Simpsons, until recent years, due to it’s unique characters and clever lines; ditto with Futurama and a lot of the Adult Swim stuff. However, classic cartoons like Looney Tunes bore me to tears; there are no spoken words, only an endless string of tedious sight gags. I recognize that there is a certain cleverness at work, but it does nothing for me personally.
I think the British equivalent of Sampo’s Friends/Seinfield dischord is Rowan Atkinson’s Mr.Bean/BlackAdder. I could be wrong, but generally people (who’ve heard of them) like one or the other. Put me in the BlackAdder camp; I’ll take historical, verbal, Oxford-like humor over silent-film style slapstick any day of the week. Incidentally, Hugh Laurie fans (ie, ‘House’ addicts) should give BlackAdder a watch (only watch seasons 2-4, since Season 1 is basically Mr. Bean and lacks Laurie).
I hated humor that felt so labored, thus Seinfeld was out for me (never got what people saw in it). Frasier was my favorite modern sitcom, with The Dick Van Dyke Show possibly being the gold standard. To me these represent the classic grown-up, professional, non-family-oriented comedy shows. Most of the humor takes place in offices, penthouse apartments, etc.
A long post, but necessary for such a very involving topic. Good choice Sampo!
I will close with a quote from BlackAdder. When asked if he likes Charlie Chaplin, BlackAdder responds “No, I’m afraid I find his films about as funny as getting an arrow through the neck….only to find there’s a gas bill attached to it.”
MST3K–of course
The Kids in the Hall–they were silly, outrageous and beyond brilliant.
Eddie Izzard–the man tackles everything from the Bible to the European Union to Steve McQueen films to wizards, sometimes in the same monologue, and has it all make sense. All hail the Emporer of Fabulous!
Jake Johannsen–a stand-up comic who deserves much more recognition. Look up his HBO special “This’ll Take About an Hour” on YouTube. Hilarious!
A Bit of Fry and Laurie–Nuff said.
Whose Line Is It, Anyway?–both the British and American versions.
Sorry, that was #3 jj3bk who made the Friends/Seinfield postulate, not Sampo. Need to give credit where credit is due!
TV: The Brits do it best.
Steve Coogan may be the funniest English speaking person alive. Nearly all of his incarnations are great (Paul Calf, Gareth Cheeseman/Alan Partridge and even Tommy Saxondale). And I liked Spaced more than any of the recent Pegg/Wright films. The first few episodes of Mighty Boosh are great too.
Recently, the only good TV we produce in America takes some form of animation(South Park, The Simpsons, Tom Goes to the Mayor). I’m not sure what that says for the health of our society.
Sketch comedy: Begins with Python and ends with Kids in the Hall. SNL has had their moments, but I’m still waiting for someone to take the baton from KITH.
Movies: We Yanks do it best (Coogan’s films are crap). The Guest mocumentaries are great, but Spinal Tap is easily his best work. Fletch is brilliant. Fletch 2, not so much.
Has anyone mentioned Second City TV? John Candy as a jockey? Rick Moranis in one of the first music videos (Jerry Todd’s show) in a satin jumpsuit walking down a run down city street singing “Downtown”? That’s funny stuff! If you haven’t seen it, track down some of the DVD sets.
And – does anyone remember The National Lampoon Radio Hour (or Half-Hour, depending). I haven’t heard anything from it since it was first broadcast in the mid-70’s, and maybe I wouldn’t think it was funny now, but I loved it as a teenager. I think someone from MST3K must have listened to it. If I’m not mistaken, when Tom would say “ah, hellooo?” in a weird voice, it was from a running character on National Lampoon called Flash Bizmal (not sure on spelling).
Love The Onion is all it’s permutations, really liked the TV show Soap back in the 70’s-80’s. Bill Maher and George Carlin make me laugh out loud…