Weekend Discussion Thread: What’s Funny to You?

If you are reading this Web site, we can assume that you think Mystery Science Theater 3000 is funny.

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.