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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#44 – Father Ted is hilarious! I’ve only seen it a handful of times, but it’s great. I wish they’d show it on US TV.
Favorite authors: Terry Southern, P.G. Wodehouse, P.J. O’Rourke, James Lileks, Evelyn Waugh, John Hughes, Kinky Friedman, and the National Lampoon staff of the mid-70’s.
Favorite song parody: Anything by Rob Bartlett-be it James Brown, Rush Limbaugh, O.J. the Broadway musical, and dozens more. Even if you are not all that wild about Imus, Crazy Mr. Bartlett is reason enough to tune in.
Favorite modern TV comedy: Let’s just say I have a cat named Cartman.
Everybody loves raymond was the last great sitcom,and if your married,it is essential viewing.
opps, forgot. Bless Me Father; a total scream, with the doctor who drinks and smokes at the same time!
As a new yorker, let me say that Seinfeld is just mean and not the spirit of new york, though the one where crammer’s girl moves downtown and he gets lost getting there is right on.
been to the soup nazi and the soup is as good as they say, and he really is like that.
My two favorite shows of all time are MST3K and FUTURAMA. Other great TV shows; CHEAP SEATS, TITUS, SOUTH PARK, THE OFFICE, KIDS IN THE HALL.
On the internet I love Bill Simmons (The Sports Guy) and Spoony’s movie and video game reviews at spoonyexperiment.com. (You have to check out his review of Yor: The Hunter from the Future). CT MUST DO THAT MOVIE!
Love old school movie reviews and comedy from Joe Bob Briggs. His drive-in totals were always hilarious and I miss his commentary and rants on Montervision and Drive-In Theater almost as much as I miss original MST3K.
Movies: OFFICE SPACE never gets old, and classics like CADDYSHACK, BLAZING SADDLES, SLAP SHOT.
Finally, I consider Bruce Campbell to be the greatest comedy/action star of my lifetime.
TV Shows-
Get Smart
Hogan’s Heroes
Three’s Company
Fawlty Towers
SCTV
M*A*S*H
MST3K (Duh!)
Cheers
Brothers
Chappelle’s Show
How I Met Your Mother
Corner Gas
Animated-
Looney Tunes
Anything by Tex Avery
Ant and the Aardvark
Kid Notorious
Duck Dodgers (new)
Simpsons (early years)
South Park (early years)
Family Guy (early years)
Comedians-
George Carlin
Denis Leary
Robert Schimmel
Lewis Black
Dave Chappelle
Eddie Murphy (before he became all self-righteous)
Movies-
Three Stooges (they were short films)
Any Mel Brooks film
Airplane!
Smokey and the Bandit
The Ref
Dumb and Dumber
Comic Strips-
Calvin and Hobbes
Fox Trot
Garfield (when I was young)
Peanuts
I forgot the most underrated animated series ever and my second favorite after FUTURAMA–DUCKMAN with Jason Alexander.
To jjb3k who said fans of Friends don’t overlap as fans of Seinfeld, you are completely wrong. I watched every episode of both shows and have some friends who did too. Good comedy is good comedy period. Also women are Stooges fans too. They were my mother’s favorite comedians, but my father hated them.
Scrubs, Monty Python, Red Dwarf (haven’t seen it in awhile, I need to look it up again). I’m one of those odd ducks that find a little humor in both Friends and Seinfeld, but not enough for me to watch either regularly.
What I don’t find funny are these stupid “”parody”” movies like Meet the Spartans and Epic Movie. They try way too hard to be funny and fail miserably.
Was does The Professor find funny? Well!
Monty Python: Of course.
South Park: Recent seasons have been so awful that I’ve stopped watching but seasons 3-9 are just wonderful.
The Simpsons: Watched from day one as a very, very small child. It killed me when I finally just had to stop watching new episodes.
Ren and Stimpy: Only season 1 and 2, while John K. was still on it. Best cartoons EVER! Space Madness changed my life.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast: Absurdity at it’s best.
John Waters/Russ Meyer: I’m throwing both of these guys in the same category because I love how they write dialogue.
Ali. G/Borat/Bruno: All funny.
The Office: Good up until this last season which, for me, had multiple shark jumping going on.
Frank Zappa/R. Stevie Moore: Only two people to make me laugh while i’m rocking out.
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld: Kicks all sorts of ass. My favorite author and bookseries BY FAR!
Oh, and Mel Brooks, of course. I’m still waiting for Spaceballs 2: The search for more money.
Funniest book/movie ever: THE PRINCESS BRIDE.
Another funny SCI-FI book: THE TECHNICOLOR TIME MACHINE by Harry Harrison, where a hollywood film crew gets access to a time machine and goes back in time to film a Viking epic on the cheap.
Another funny SCI-FI book: AGENT TO THE STARS by John Scalzi, about a hollywood agent recruited by an alien race to represent them as they introduce themselves to mankind-hilarious.
Really funny, smart books are hard to come by: any suggestions? Comedy SCI-FI? (I know Douglas Adams). Comedy mysteries/dectectives (some of the Fletch/Flynn books by Gregory McDonald are good). Comedy westerns?
In no particular order: Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert, Cracked.com, most of Adult Swim (particularly Metalocalypse), Monty Python, Stooges, Marx Brothers, Dr. Strangelove (even though Mike Nelson thinks it’s frequently boring), Spitting Image, The Muppet Show, The Tick, classic Disney/Looney Tunes (particularly old weird shorts) classic Simpsons/Family Guy (although I’ve fallen out of the habit of regularly watching those two shows), Futurama, South Park (although I’ll admit it can be rather uneven), The Young Ones (and this is all excluding all the old corny movies and TV shows I find unintentionally funny).
I’m a 17 year old male.
Arrested Development is the greatest TV show I’ve ever seen, hands down, period.
I love the TV shows I Love Lucy, Amos ‘n’ Andy, The Abbott and Costello Show, Get Smart, Green Acres, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers, Police Squad!, Black Adder, Mr. Bean, Twin Peaks, The Simpsons, Stranges With Candy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Action, Da Ali G Show, Stella, the British version of The Office, Extras, and MXC: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.
I do not like Family Guy most of the time. Sometimes a joke will come along that’s really funny but so much of the time the show falls flat. Too many of the jokes are gratingly unfunny.
I love:
Charlie Chaplin films
Buster Keaton films
Harold Lloyd films
Laurel and Hardy films (especially their talking shorts and early films such as Sons of the Desert, Babes in Toyland, Way Out West, and Block-Heads. Some of the later films are hard to watch.)
The Marx Bros films (some of their later movies are not so great)
The Three Stooges shorts (their later shorts and all of their full-length movies are really bad)
Abbott and Costello films (some of their movies are really funny and some are not really funny)
W.C. Fields films (maybe the funniest person to ever star in movies)
Preston Sturges films
Bob Hope films
Some of Peter Sellers films (especially The Mouse That Roared, The Pink Panther movies, Dr. Strangelove, The Party, I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!, Murder By Death, and Being There)
Alec Guinness comedies (such as Kind Hears and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man in the White Suit, The Captain’s Paradise, and The Ladykillers)
Woody Allen films (especially his early funny ones but I like a lot of his movies)
Mel Brooks films (The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein are three of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. The Twelve Chairs and Silent Movie are great. High Anxiety and History of the World-Part I have their moments. Spaceballs has a few moments that work. Life Stinks, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and Dracula: Dead and Loving It are just bad.)
The Monty Python films (I also love A Fish Called Wanda.)
The Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker films (Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane!, Top Secret!, The Naked Gun movies, the Hot Shots movies, and Brain Donors)
The films Albert Brooks wrote, directed, and starred in.
Christopher Guest films (This is Spinal Tap, Waiting For Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration)
The Coen Bros. (All of their movies except the remake of The Ladykillers. The Dude Abides.)
Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation., Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche, New York)
Some of Will Ferrell’s movies (Anchorman is hilarious; his best movie. Elf, Talladega Nights, and Stranger Than Fiction are funny, too.)
Some of Judd Apatow’s comedies (The 40 Year Old Virgin, The TV Set, Knocked Up, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Walk Hard, Pineapple Express)
I think Borat is one of the funniest movie of the decade. I did not like Bruno.
My favorite film comedies of all time are:
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Airplane!
Anchorman
Annie Hall
The Awful Truth
Bad Santa
Bananas
The Bank Dick
The Big Lebowski
Blazing Saddles
The Blues Brothers
Borat
Bringing Up Baby
City Lights
Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
A Fish Called Wanda
For Heaven’s Sake
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum
The General
Girl Shy
The Gold Rush
The Great Dictator
Groundhog Day
Harvey
His Girl Friday
It’s a Gift
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Love and Death
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
Modern Times
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python’s Life of Brian
The Naked Gun
A Night at the Opera
The Producers
Raising Arizona
Sherlock, Jr.
Sleeper
Sons of the Desert
Superbad
This is Spinal Tap
Way Out West
You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man
Young Frankenstein
You’re Telling Me!
No one listens/listened to THE FIRESIGN THEATRE?!! :shock:
I read all of the above comments with the sole hope of seeing The Venture Bros., and was overjoyed to see it at least twice. It’s currently my favorite show, and probably my wife’s as well (how lucky am I?). I like most of what everyone else has listed, so I won’t repeat everyone except to say that Arrested Development is probably my favorite traditional sitcom of all time, and that, minute for minute, SeaLab 2021 might be the funniest show ever (at its best). I’ve had the ineffable honor of meeting Adam West, the late Douglas Adams, PJ O’Rourke, Dave Barry, Roseanne, and Jim Thirlwell (who does the music for The Venture Bros.), and I wanted to add that they’re all super cool in real life. (Ditto Berke Breathed, Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Neil Gaiman.) Finally, although I’m a destitute writer, I have a new 50″ plasma TV and love the inherent irony of using it to watch crappy shorts and movies made seven decades ago…. lol
#65 I’ve got Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers on good, ol’ dusty vinyl, if that helps.
Mr. Bean is funny to me. I’m referring the old 30-minute episodes, not the two newer movies.
Also, some of television’s funniest moments are add-libbed, such as on the Carol Burnett Show and the Honeymooners.
The 3 Stooges and The Simpsons (seasons 1-6). Southpark is funny too
My favorite comedy fix was/is Firesign Theatre. In high school I could recite the entire “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers” LP AND do the voices too. Joel mentions them in the invention exchange where he introduces the “Mirth Mortar”. I wouldn’t be suprised if Joel got his inspiration from “Hot Shorts”, which can be found on YouTube. They are snipets from B/W serials and such where all the voices/soundtracks are dubed. Titles include The Mounties Catch Herpes, **** Bank Holdup, Nazi Diet Doctors, Revenge Of The Non-smokers, Claws II, Toy Wars, Olympic Confidential (The Undersea Kingdom), Last Handgun On Earth (Comando Cody…) and Heaven Is Hell. See you on the funway #65 Electric Bozo.
oh and anything by the coen brothers!
FUNNY:
Kids in the Hall
Anything involving Garry Shandling
Monty Python
Cheers
SCTV
Arrested Development (season 1 especially)
Steve Martin (especially the movies he’s written and his stand-up)
Woody Allen
Robert Benchley
SJ Perelman
The Marx Brothers (same movies as everyone mentions)
David Letterman (when he was on NBC)
Chris Elliot (when he’s writing his own material)
SNL during the Carvey/Hartman/Lovitz years
Seinfeld
Bugs Bunny/Looney Toons
Bloom County (not his other stuff though)
Mad Magazine (before the recent revamping)
Sorry, I don’t find these funny:
Nearly all stand-up’s (I like Richard Pryor and George Carlin for their observations and manner of style, but even they don’t make me laugh out loud like I expected I would)
DANE COOK
Friends
The State
The Daily Show
Stephen Colbert
Daria
Will Ferrell
Tina Fey
Adam Sandler
Any SNL post Phil Hartman where everyone decided to read off cue cards
The Young Ones is one of my favorites (wish there were more episodes).
Alot of Adult Swim (Tim & Eric, Home Movies).
Writers:
Kurt Vonnegut
Joseph Heller
Mark Twain
Douglas Adamas
Terry Pratchett
TV shows:
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Colbert Report
Red Dwarf
The Venture Bros.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Home Movies
Comedy Teams:
Monty Python
The Marx Bros.
The Mighty Boosh
TELEVISION: I’d come home on Saturday nights and watch Monty Python; it felt very edgy & very much NOT something parents would appreciate. And the sketches were wonderful, old lady gangs and the Spanish Inquisition and sheep in trees…great stuff! Some of the early SNL was okay, but just couldn’t compare, as far as I was concerned.
WKRP in Cincinnati, at least the non-preachy episodes. (I had a thing for Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap in particular.)
Freak & Geeks, for “Chokin’ & Tokin'” if for nothing else, though I loved the whole series.
MOVIES: The Thin Man movies, thanks in large part to the great dialog. Same with movies like We’re No Angels, Ball of Fire, Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, Beat the Devil, The Women…the dialog is everything. For newer movies, Young Frankenstein, Garden State, Fanboys (the latter two a nice surprise, as I wasn’t expecting much and found myself laughing out loud several times).
RECORDS: National Lampoon’s Gold Turkey album is absolute tops, thanks to classics such as “Flash Bazbo, Space Explorer” and “Well-Intentioned Blues.”
PROSE: Woody Allen’s “Mr. Big,” “A Twenties Memory,” and the piece about Hitler’s barber all make me laugh out loud. Shirley Jackson’s potboiler collections, Life Among the Savages & Raising Demons, are among my favorites, along with the very quiet humor of Barbara Pym.
And there are a few other bits & pieces of things I find funny: the Pope from Family Guy, Captain Fantastic from Do Not Adjust Your Set, some sketches from Carol Burnett. Animaniacs & Mr. Bean episodes used to make my son laugh so hard that I couldn’t help laughing as well, so I do think of those fondly as well.
Now I’m going to read the other posts here, and see what I’ve forgotten this time.
Funny:
Shaun of the Dead
Danger 50,000 Volts (with Nick Frost)
Spaced
Top Gear (can you tell I like the British humor?)
Bill Murray (in the ’80s and early ’90s)
John Belushi
George Carlin
John Candy
Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes
David Letterman (when he was on NBC)
Robot Chicken
WKRP
The Simpsons (up to Season 8 then it got old)
Bad Santa
The Tourette’s Guy on Youtube (yes, I know it’s fake)
Young Eddie Murphy
MXC on Spike TV
Un-necessary censorship on Kimmel
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
Greg the Bunny
Calvin & Hobbes
Raising Arizona
Father Ted
Jonesy’s Jukebox (now defunct LA radio show with Sex Pistol Steve Jones)
The Office (both versions)
Office Space
Joey Ramone giving an interview (Love him!)
Chappelle’s Show
Eddie Izzard
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
30 Rock
The Mighty Boosh
Not Funny:
Friends
Carson Daily
Adam Sandler
Dane Cook
Pretty much every generic sitcom for the past 15 years
Woody Allen (annoying to me as an actor, but a good writer/director)
Cedric the Entertainer
Dane Cook
Jim Carrey (used to be funny, now annoying)
Robin Williams (used to be funny, now annoying)
Carrot Top
Sinbad
Eddie Murphy for the last 15 years
Oh, lots I had forgotten, including Jack Benny, That Mitchell & Webb Look, the Dick Van Dyke Show, The Producers, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Bullwinkle, Chuck (YAY, it was renewed!), Kids in the Hall, Big Trouble in Little China, Twin Peaks (great choice!), Bowfinger, & Dave.
And I’ve thought of two others not mentioned yet (at least since I started typing this post): Don Hertzfeldt films, specifically “Billy’s Balloon” and “Genre” – I will never be able to look at a child with a balloon in the same way again. Also, a very short-lived series on the erstwhile TNN (now Spike TV), called “Small Shots,” which involved small-town people remaking abbreviated versions of big movies. I remember the remake of The Matrix in particular.
My favorite comedy TV shows that I own – FREAKS & GEEKS, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN, THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, CLONE HIGH and UNDERGRADS.
Family Guy is OK, and I enjoy most episodes of South Park (though over the years it has a fair amount of stupid episodes). For the most part I don’t watch TV anymore, just DVDs.
Movies – I LOVE classic comedies [BRINGING UP BABY, etc], but at the same time I also love the Ernest movies. I’m selective with what stupid-funny things I find funny. The only newer (last 30 years) comedies that I truly enjoy are the “post F&G crew” films like SUPERBAD, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, etc.
I enjoy Monty Python, the Marx Brothers, and the Three Stooges, but have only dabbled a little bit in each.
What? No Pinky and the Brain?
Individuals and/or Collective Groups I find Funny:
Bruce Campbell
Sam & Ted Raimi
The Kids in the Hall
Danny Kaye
The Three Stooges(who never get enough recognition for their excellent word-play as opposed to the slapstick elements)
The Marx Brothers, too
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
Mel Brooks
Jeff Dunham and his forbearer, Ronn Lucas
Johnny Carson
Conan O’Brien
Demetri Martin
Concepts I Find Funny:
Genderbending
Non Sequitor humor
Anachronistic TV shows such as The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr
Humans
Humorous Authors:
A. Lee Martinez (Gil’s All-Fright Diner)
Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files)
William Mark Simmons (The Half/Life Chronicles)
And finally, perhaps the funniest thing ever…Zombies performing Shakespeare.
I haven’t read many of the previous posts here, so I’ve no idea how unique my list is, but here we go…
I love: Seinfeld. It’s standard viewing in my home during meals. I also enjoy Curb Your Enthusiasm very much so; especially the season finales have a tendency to be amazingly hilarious in my opinion. The new Larry David/Woody Allen flick looks horrible, though. Anyway, moving on…Home Movies. As another poster said, the emotions, and the subtlety in this show just really get you hooked, and you can’t beat the dialog. Father Ted. If you want absurd humor and perfect comedic timing, look no further than Father Ted. Keeping Up Appearances is the polar opposite in terms of a lack of absurd humor, yet it never fails to make me laugh. The Simpsons, naturally, is on my list, and the same goes for Futurama, though I’m less fond of the later seasons where they added the professor’s clone to the cast, and the recent DVD movies they’ve released have been increasingly worse. Looney Toons, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, are all favorites of mine. The only Disney channel show on my list is “Phineas and Ferb.” Very, very good writing and execution for a Disney show. Rocko’s Modern Life is a classic. I love The Office (the American version, haven’t seen the original). I’m probably leaving off tons of stuff, but that’s all that comes to mind right now.
I hate: Family guy, at least since the show’s return. It still manages some laughs here and there, but the shock humor, the occasional stupid attempts at making a political/moral point, and just the smugness that pervades it ruins it for me. It was much funnier in the earlier seasons, and it still has its moments, but it’s not something I can really sit down and enjoy without cringing every couple of minutes, and the constant cut-away jokes do strike me as very, very lazy.
Borat/Bruno: I agree with Sampo’s evaluation of this. I’ve never watched either, but that’s because the previews haven’t made me want to. Totally obnoxious, it’s like a little kid trying to be funny to get attention.
My favorite late-night comedian is Craig Ferguson. He has a real Johnny Carson feel in my opinion. For me, to really want to tune in regularly to a late night talk show host, they have to have talent (which Conan has) but also a down-to-earth quality, a certain easygoing likability. I don’t think Conan nor Letterman really have that the way Ferguson does (and the way Leno does too, but he isn’t on-air at the moment). Jimmy Fallon just doesn’t have talent, and that overshadows any likability that might come through. The writing is terrible too, and he isn’t a good interviewer. His show is wretched. I wish Craig Ferguson got more positive press. I’d like to see him in an 11:00 time-slot.
Some of my favorite comedic books are: the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. “Real Ultimate Power,” the “Ninja Book” based on the website by Robert Hamburger. It’s hilarious in the first few chapters, but it quickly gets really, really sad and depressing as it goes on (but in a good, drawing-the-reader-further-in way). For comic books, nothing beats “The Flaming Carrot.” Absurd humor at its best.
And yes, the Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers are on this list as well! Ditto Buster Keaton.
I find funny: Monty Python, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, King of Queens, Invader Zim (the early stuff), Ren & Stimpy (the early stuff), Curb Your Enthusiasm (although I cringe a lot), Airplane!/Top Secret, Get Smart, Stewart/Colbert, Reno 911!, Home Movies, Weird Al, Naked Gun/Police Squad, Futurama, Conan O’Brien, Office Space/Idiocracy, Hitchhiker’s Guide (the books)
I find ok: Family Guy, South Park, The Office, King of the Hill, Kids in the Hall, Cheap Seats, Duckman, SNL
I do not find funny: Friends, Robot Chicken, Scrubs, blue collar/redneck humor
I hate: Everyone Loves Raymond, any of the recent movie parodies (Scary Movie, Epic Movie, etc.), any attempt at humor in a Transformers movie
Alrighty, in no particular order
British TV:
Are You Being Served?(The first half)
Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Father Ted (Amazingly funny)
Fawlty Towers
Monty Python
The Office
Spaced
American TV:
Arrested Develoment (TV killed it. Lots of jokes you only get on the 20th viewing)
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dr. Katz
Family Guy (Though there’s a fine line between funny and cheap shock value)
Big Bang Theory
Get Smart
Green Acres
Mr. Show
The Office
Seinfeld
Mary Tyler Moore Show
Joe Schmo
Flight of the Conchords
Pushing Daisies
Movies:
Pink Panther Series (From Original to Strikes Again)
Fierce Creatures (IMHO even better than a Fish Called Wanda)
Multiplicity
The Odd Couple
Airplane, Naked Gun and the like
Mel Brooks movies (Most of them anyway)
Anchorman
Austin Powers (Let the flaming begin)
The Lonely Guy
The Jerk
Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead
Office Space
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Stripes
Superbad
Big Lebowski
Blues Brothers
Emporer’s New Groove
When Harry Met Sally
Misc:
Three Stooges (Standard rules apply)
Laurel and Hardy
Jim Gaffigan
Terry Pratchett
Dave Barry
Weird Al
Amazing Johnathan
Bob Newhart
Things I don’t care forthat other people seem to like:
Reba
Friends
Princess Bride (I tried, really)
Ren & Stimpy
Simpsons
SCTV (So many actors I like doing unfunny things)
2.5 Men
Well, let’s give it a whirl since you asked, Sampo.
I love :
Family Guy
The Simpsons
Airplane
Caddyshack
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
South Park (although I haven’t seen it recently)
The Naked Gun 1 and 2
Police Squad the tv series.
Friends
The Office (American Version)
My Name Is Earl
Although politically I’m completeley opposed to most of their views.
I Do Not like
Woody Allen Movies, They’re not even a little funny.
Curb your Enthusiasm
Flight Of the Conchords (sp ?)
Absolutley Fabulous
30 Rock
Bette Midler
Barbara Streisand (comedies !!!???)
I guess you get the drift. :???:
I tend to find animated shows funnier than sitcoms. Like Looney Tunes,Rocky and Bullwinkle,South Park,Aqua Teen Hunger Force,and Metalocalypse because I also LOVE heavy metal wich can also be really funny.
I’m glad people mentioned comics. Calvin and Hobbes,The Far Side,and Mad Magazine. Speaking of wich I used to love to read Groo by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier.
For movies I go for just about anything by Billy Wilder. Funniest movie I’ve seen is still Some Like It Hot.
I forgot to mention King of the Hill as funny. Poopie!
Love:
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (DUH!)
3 Stooges w/Curley
Marx Bros.
Old Cartoons from 30’s to 60’s
Duckman
Several cancelled Nick Toons
(Ren & Stimpy, Invader Zim, Rocko’s Modern Life, Angry Beavers)
Fawlty Towers
Monty Python
Black Books
Kids In The Hall
Venture Brothers
Home Movies
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (NOT the movie)
Old Electric Company from the 1970s
Old SNL 1975-1980
Cracked.com
Cinema Snob (on Youtube)
Angry Video Game Nerd
Too much minutia to mention
Hate:
Family Guy…with a passion!
Everything Seth McFarlane does
Adult Swim (excepting the above mentioned shows)
Sacha Baron Cohen (why hasn’t someone killed this guy?)
Carlos Mencia
Mad TV
Indifferent to:
Simpsons (they’re just so blah now)
Stewart/Colbert (I just don’t care much for political humor)
Oh, this is easy:
puppets reaching for something without looking, their arms flailing wildly as they knock stuff over.
What’s Funny to Me, in no particular order:
– Monty Python
– Black Adder
– Red Dwarf
– Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane, Naked Gun, Hot Shots
– The Producers (the original, my favorite comedy movie of all time)
– Start The Revolution Without Me (a lost comedy classic with Donald Sutherland and Gene Wilder)
– Dr. Strangelove
– Fawlty Towers
– SCTV
– Cinematic Titanic (especially live)
– The Daily Show
– The Colbert Report
– Sealab 2021 (first 30 shows)
– Harvey Birdman
– Venture Bros.
– South Park (about a third of them)
– The Simpsons (first 10-11 seasons)
– Futurama
Good Humor (not the ice cream) always has a seed or thread of truth, otherwise not funny, nothing to relate to. MST3K is cultural, they pull threads and seeds from the past and drop them into perfect places; I was hooked after seeing SAMSON VS VAMPIRE WOMEN when Joel spots a couple walking away and says ‘there goes the entire mexican middle class’.
MST3K works because, unlike too many so called comedians, they stayed out of the toilet bowl.
Humor is irony, the ability to laugh at life’s hand played to you, and very good humor is intellectual; but remember we are very lucky to do this at all; we don’t live in North Korea or Iran or other truly horrible places; we are blessed in ways you may not imagine (Torgo or no Torgo – that is the question).
My list of non-MST3K funny, starting in the early 20th century, though I don’t go back that far :wink: :
The films of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
The Marx Brothers.
Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Donald Duck and Goofy cartoons.
Abbott and Costello.
Red Skelton.
Danny Kaye.
The Goon Show.
Martin and Lewis.
Laugh-in.
Bill Cosby’s standup.
Richard Pryor’s standup.
George Carlin’s standup.
Spike Milligan’s war memoirs.
Mel Brooks’ films prior to 1992.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
Fawlty Towers.
Ripping Yarns.
SNL (the early years, including Eddie Murphy’s tenure)
Steve Martin’s standup.
Billy Connolly’s standup.
WKRP in Cincinnati.
Police Squad! (the TV series)
SCTV
The Frantics (Canadian radio sketch comedians)
Red Dwarf
Blackadder.
CodCo.
Bloom County (1980s)
Calvin and Hobbes.
Kids in the Hall.
Mr. Bean
Red Green.
Jeff Foxworthy’s standup (except for the “You might be a redneck” shtick).
The Simpsons (the first 12 seasons)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
South Park (the first five seasons)
Eddie Izzard’s standup.
Arrested Development.
Trailer Park Boys.
The Rick Mercer Report.
The Office (both versions)
The Colbert Report.
Robot Chicken.
RiffTrax.
Cinematic Titanic.
#84 – Some Like It Hot is one of the funniest movies ever. One of the best. Jack Lemmon is just marvelous. Another comedic actor I like is Judy Holliday; Born Yesterday is hilarious.
Wow, what a great topic!!
First off I don’t like British Humor..I really tried to because sooo many people talk about it but I just can’t get it…Some Monty Python is ok…John Cleese is a funny fellow.
Grossout humor isn’t funny to me at all.
I don’t like Family Guy that much either but Blue Harvest was down right hilarious.
TV:
Golden Girls (I Love Betty White one of the funniest ladies ever!!)
Family Ties
MASH
Mary Tyler Moore Show
Dick Van Dyke Show
I Love Lucy
Chuck
Monk
Psych rules (I grew up in the 80’s and the references are great)
Titus
Carol Burnett and Friends (Tim Conway and Harvey Korman and awesome together)
Cheers (Didn’t care for Shelley Long)
Frasier
Big Bang Theory
MXC
WKRP
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
The Brak Show
Looney Tunes
Scooby Doo (Don’t Know why)
Some Tom and Jerry (Early ones)
Abbott and Costello
Comedians:
Bill Cosby (Chicken Heart Rules!!!)
Bob Marley (You have to live or have lived in New England to really get it)
Rodney Carrington
Stephen Lynch (Beelz and D & D)
Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling (Gross but I don’t know why I like him)
Jeff Dunham
Lewis Black
Frank Calliendo
Dave Chappelle
Richard Pryor (When he did a white person’s voice…I rolled everytime. He and Dave Chappelle are the best at it)
Richard Jeni
Robert Schimmel
Movies:
A Christmas Story
Spaceballs
Airplane
Most Abbott and Costello
Most Marx Brothers
Big Trouble in Little China
I like the 1st and 3rd Austin Powers movies
If you do a parody right its funny…gross is not it!!!
There are others but I’m having a forgetful day
Many have hit on much of what I like. Would be great if someone could take what everyone has written and find the most common points of interest! For me, the following has always been, and will always be, funny. Guaranteed I’ll forget something.
MST3K
Father Ted
Monty Python
Terry Pratchett, particulary the Discworld novels
Blackadder
Mr. Bean
Seinfeld
Calvin and Hobbes
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Strange Brew
Napoleon Dynamite
Jeeves and Wooster
First 2 seasons of Ren and Stimpy
Red Dwarf (all of it!)
The Soup
Pearls Before Swine
Bloom County
Marx Brothers
Old Time Radio, particularly Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Abbott and Costello, and The Bickersons
Spinal Tap and Best in Show
Looney Tunes
Fawlty Towers
Better off Dead
Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy
WKRP in Cincinnati (surprised at how many have listed this show!)
Steven Wright
Rocketman
The Young Ones
Kevin Smith
Adventures of Ford Fairlane (sad but true)
The Jerk
The 3 Stooges
Our Gang/Little Rascals
Caddyshack
Funny TV:
MST3K
The Mighty Boosh
Flight of the Conchords
The Venture Bros
Office (GB)
Office (US)
30 Rock
Cheap Seats
Greatest American Hero
King of the Hill
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
The IT Crowd
My Name is Earl
Freaks & Geeks
A lot of great stuff mentioned here already. Lately on my iPod I’ve been listening to the collected works of Bill Hicks and George Carlin. Their misanthropic social satire helps me cope during long commutes to and from work.
Thanks to MST3K, I was introduced to The Firesign Theatre, an acknowledged influence on the show’s creators. Beyond the multi-layered style of humor and some direct references (“Don’t crush that dwarf…”, “He’s not your son,” and “Shoes for industry!”), side two of their 1971 album “I Think We’re All Bozos on This Bus” features the words “crow”, “servo” and “gypsy” in the “Robot Rules of Order” sequence. This cannot be mere coincidence.
Two of the Firesigns also created the film “J-Men Forever” which compiles scenes from old B&W serials and adds new dialog, much like what MST did with their shorts. J-Men was a staple of the old USA Night Flight show from the 80’s (anyone here remember that?) and was certainly the first time I caught a glimpse of Commander Cody.
Oh, and since no one’s mentioned it yet, I’ve always loved Spielberg’s “1941” and never understood the general hatred towards it.
Let’s see: Monty Python, Tom Lehrer, Weird Al, Mel Brooks, the Marx Brothers, and Zucker Abrams Zucker films. I really like off-the-wall screwball stuff, with a healthy dose of the cerebral.
I’ve only ever seen one good Woody Allen film: Bananas. His other stuff leaves me cold; it’s intellectual as anything, it’s just not funny.
For sit-coms I love Scrubs, M*A*S*H, and News Radio. I’d probably love Spin City if I saw more of it. I know people who swear by Friends and The Office, but I just can’t stand them. I could write an episode of either in my sleep and the jokes have been used and reused in the exact same wording for decades.
But my all time favorite form of comedy: improv. Any version of Whose Line is it Anyway and my own college troupes always leave me in stitches. It is no surprise that my faves: MST3K, Marxes, Scrubs, and ZAZ have a lot of improvisation.
The Beatles of Humor:
MST3K…nothing touches it.
Within the world of MST3K:
Favorite era:
Comedy Central, post-Josh, pre-Pearl
5 Favorite episodes that will always make it into my top 10:
Master Ninja I and II, Mitchell, Santa Claus, The Lost Continent
Non-MST3K:
TV shows:
-The Simpsons: the classic era, but, I always can find something to enjoy in an episode
-Curb Your Enthusiasm
-Seinfeld: the classic era which I define as after the first few seasons and before the last few
-The Office, US version
Films:
The unscripted Christopher Guest films
Office Space
Anchorman
Elf
Sampo —
All I can say is “Ditto!” to everything that you listed in your essay. The only thing that I think I would add would be “The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy” series of books. I think those were the only ones that could make me laugh out loud reading (with the exception of “A Confederacy of Dunces.” :lol:
Besides the widely-admired stuff like Monty Python, Fawtly Towers, Seinfeld, etc. here’s my list of comedy favorites:
– Father Ted
– Brendon Small’s “Home Movies”
– Dr. Katz
– Woody Allen
– the TV cartoon of “Baby Blues”
– Blackadder
– Chris Rock & Lewis Black