I saw the animated short featuring Wallace and Gromit last weekend and I laughed once in thirty minutes. I just don't find their routines funny although some British humour, I find very funny indeed (Absolutely Fabulous, The Office) etc. I can even laugh along with Mr. Bean on a generous day. British humour got funnier after I lived there and could get some of the references and understand some of the regional accents.
As discussed elsewhere this week though, humor is very subjective. Do you find Wallace and Gromit funny? The audience I was with did and I felt like I had missed something.
Whose humor puzzles you and whose do you immediately get? In books, Charles Willeford's Hoke Mosley books knock me out. No one was funnier to me than Richard Pryor in the seventies; Bob Newhart and Bill Cosby in the sixties, Jean Shephard anytime. What about you?
38 comments:
Bad Jokes
I saw this movie on TV and thought this bit though sophomoric was funny.
British humor is different from the American variety. I seem to get most of it, though not all. I like Monty Python, Benny Hill, Fawlty Towers, and Paul Hogan(Australian really, but sort of cousins). The kind of things I don't get are your favorites(Absolutely Fabulous and The Office). I don't care much for the American version of The Office either. I guess I'm just a low brow humor guy.
Ensemble series I do like. Cheers, M*A*S*H, Frasier, Barney Miller, that sort of thing.
I loved Fawlty Towers. Only the British would stop after--what was it nine of them. I don't think it's a question of low or high brow. I think it's familiarity or rapport with the characters. I know the people in the office, for instance. \
I've seen that routines somewhere, Mark. Was it in the movie a few years back?
I'm not a Wallace fan either, Patti. Big fan of The Office, and loved Fawlty Towers. Seem to remember reading they stopped while they were ahead, rather than go on and outstay their welcome.
Have you seen The Thick Of It tv series, and the In The Loop film? Not everyone's cup of tea, but my wife and I love them. She still can't believe they allow that sort of language on the BBC, though.
I think I must be British, I love their humor, with the exception of The Office. Lumbering, laboring, I can't watch it, or the US version either. My favorite Britcom lasted a mere dozen or so episodes but if you can get your hands on it, it's the funniest, most surreal thing ever: Nightingales, about three night watchmen. Well, there is a fourth watchman but he's dead. They keep him around so they can collect his paycheck.
Loved in IN THE LOOP. There also a British series about rubbish collectors we liked. I will look for Nightingales and Thick of It.
On tv, it has to be Better off Ted.
My wife broke out into loud howls once when we in a video and store and Fawlty Towers was playing -- the German episode.
In movies, Rat Race. I loved the "Barbie Museum" scene.
In books, Parnell Hall's Stanley Hastings mysteries. Stanley's confusion when he has to buy a personal item for his wife has to resonate with every husband in America.
On stage, it's a toss-up between The Nerd and Noises Off.
In music, another toss-up: Austin Lounge Lizards' Old Blevins and anything by P.D.Q. Bach.
In real-life, another tie between Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, the epitomes of funny in a scary and sad way.
Better Off Ted is hysterical. Don't know why nobody seems to know about it. I watch it on HULU sometimes since ABC doesn't have ON DEMAND on our system. NOISES OFF-was a real treat. Never thought about humourous music till now.
FRASIER holds up very well and I liked all of those shows. But never got Beverly Hillbillies, Hogan's Heroes, that sort.
I always thought SEINFELD was funny. Loved A FISH CALLED WANDA. I find only about a third of the MONTY PYTHON routines strike my funny bone. Robin Williams can occasionally be very funny (or very dull).
I have always liked Wallace and Gromit. More amusing than laugh out loud funny. Big fan of Fawlty Towers also. Most U.S. sitcoms do little for me except Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Never found Robn Williams funny. Just manic. Have recently watched some old Red Skelton which I loved as a child but now find them extremely bad.
I have now exhausted my Seinfeld years, having watched some of them a dozen times. I like CURB but he may have jumped the shark for me.
Humor does seem to be tied to the times. A lot of those old comedians seem to rely on maudlin in their routines.
I wanted to find Conan funny, but he always made me nervous. Most of Saturday Night Live isn't funny to me anymore. I also love "A Fish Called Wanda." The Stooges crack me up every time. Marshall Karp's book are hilarious to me.
All the late night guys make me nervous. Maybe I'm nervous late at night. A FISH CALLED WANDA was terrific. Kevin Kline was so good a playing ridiculous-like Peter Sellers.
Pryor, Cosby, Newhart still break me up. George Carlin. I also love Steven Wright, Lewis Black, Jim Gaffigan.
As for movies, Monty Python, of course. Wanda is a classic. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. The Marx Brothers. Who's on First? Hot Fuzz is a seriously funny movie. Fifty more I'll think of ten minutes after I'm done here.
I like Wallace and Gromit, much as Steve does. Not pee my pants funny, but amusing in a feel-good way. Clever and fun.
Has anyone seen Fierce Creatures? Same cast as A Fish Called Wanda and nearly as funny.
Shelly Burman. Hoagy Carmichael. Steve Allen. Jackie Gleason. Victor Borge. "Are You Being Served?". M*A*S*H. P.G. Wodehouse. "Keeping Up Appearances". Jack Benny.
Always have this vague sense with Wallace and Grommit-of a master and servant. And the servant is brighter but a servant. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.
I don't think I ever did see Fierce Creatures. MASH, the movie and series were good-the early years were funnier but the late years had their charm too.
I enjoy Wallace and Grommit, but don't find it so much funny as entertaining.
Maybe I need to see it more as social commentary and less as humor. It maybe be the sort of thing that grows on you.
Well, some W&G is better than others...THE WRONG TROUSERS is my favorite of their films so far, but I've enjoyed all of the productions. Yes, it's very much in the mode of Jeeves and Wooster.
British humor doesn't really strike me as very different from US humor as a whole...the ranges are similar, and the interchange, of couse, is greater than ever. Likewise I love comedy of all stripes...my favorite night of television in the '70s was certainly the CBS lineup of ALL IN THE FAMILY/M*A*S*H/MARY TYLER MOORE/BOB NEWHART/CAROL BURNETT...and by 1875, when ALL and M*A*S*H were moved, the local runs of MONTY PYTHON on PBS and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (and WEEKEND) on NBC.
In comedians, quite a range, cetainly from Jack Benny and Fred Allen and the Marxes and Mae West and Tallulah Bankhead (and a little I've heard of their ancestor Bert Williams and some of his peers--and seen from Buster Keaton and his), up through Lenny Bruce and most his peers mentioned here (and Mort Sahl and Dick Gregory and Nichols and May and the other early Second City folks), and on up to many of today's folks...much as my prose joy stretches back to at least Swift and up through Twain and Bierce and Benchely and Thurber and Parker and, of course, Avram Davidson...
Among the funniest of the currently-active comedians, if not the funniest, is Maria Bamford (Jake Johanssen is right up there, too, as is Stephen Colbert, and so many others). The link on my name brings one to her rather low key, and no doubt very weird to most of the assembled here, "Christmas Special"...
Maria Bamford? Off to check.
Yes, though her standup act is more energized than the Special, such as what she did on the COMEDIANS OF COMEDY tour or on her three albums or JOHN OLIVER'S NEW YORK STAND UP SHOW (which Comedy Central now runs on Fridays in the 11-12 spot occupied M-F by THE DAILY SHOW and COLBERT REPORT).
But she reminds me in all the good ways of Lenny Bruce more than any other standup working right now.
Further input:
Last night's HBO comedy lineup:
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER--fitfully funny and usually otherwise intereting, though rarely deep
FUNNY OR DIE--mostly funny
RICKY GERVAIS PODCAST--mostly unfunny and dull, much below my expectations (I hadn't even listened to it before this animation-added version)
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF TIM--continuing to be only sparsely funny or interesting.
Oops. Still using Alice's computer, forgot to change the login.
Get out the handcuffs! Call the paddy wagon! Prepare to lead me away, because...
I've never, and I mean NEVER, understood the humor of Chevy Chase. He has never made me so much as crack a smile. I've sat with people watching old SNL reruns as he says, "I'm Chevy Chase...and you're not," causing the people I'm with to double over in hysterical fits, clutching their stomachs.
Okay, I'm ready to be taken away now.
Mr. Bean - not funny
Black Adder - very funny
One of my favorite British comedies is ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE.
Love that Victor Meldrew!
And no, I never laugh at Wallace & Gromit.
Jeff M.
There were 12 episodes (6 and 6) of Fawlty Towers. At it's best, it was the best.
Don't watch The Office, or any current American sitcoms.
Other British comedies we like: The Good Life (called Good Neighbors when shown here)and Gavin and Stacey.
We just watched "The Mango" episode of Seinfeld; at it's best also still funny.
Jeff M.
Humor -- or humour. I agree with your assessment! Edgy stuff works if it gets something wise and deep out of the "forbidden" and the "tabboo," I suppose ;->
If someone "has a sense of humor" I usually get them better. If they don't, bye-bye'
Oh...as you probably know, BETTER OFF TED, along with its lead-in SCRUBS (THE NEXT GEN), have been cancelled.
Sorry (all around).
I do like THE BOOK GROUP, on Ovation (and uncensored on Hulu), a Britcom featuring Anne Dudek (late of HOUSE...it's a cultural exchange, clearly) and BLACK BOOKS, also viewable on Hulu...and a few of COMIC STRIP PRESENTS: likewise on Hulu. Otherwise, most of my Hulu comedy tends to be the Thursday NBC shows I'd missed while working Thursday nights: 30 ROCK, PARKS & RECREATION, THE OFFICE and COMMUNITY. And THE DAILY SHOW and COLBERT. And BOB NEWHART SHOWs at times (never NEWHART).
Does anyone listen to BBC Radio 4 comedy, or NPR's WAIT, WAIT...DON'T TELL ME or PRI's WHADDYA KNOW? or THE SOUND OF YOURG AMERICA or Harry Shearer's LE SHOW? Aside from me...also Marc Maron's WTF and NEVER NOT FUNNY podcasts...caught the BOB AND RAY bug early on, too...
Darn, I thought Alice was communicating with me.
I adored ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE.
I never like(d) Chevy Chase either and that includes the current sitcom.
no never Newhart-it really stinks and I've seen some episodes recently on some station.
I think Parks and Recreations has gotten much better in a year.
And Seinfeld was great the first dozen times I saw each episode.
I think the post-PYTHON tv projects I liked the most were RUTLAND WEEKEND TELEVISION/THE RUTLES and RIPPING YARNS.
While I can appreciate the overly smug Chevy Chase at times, the comedians who tend to leave me cold run to the intentional lunkheads..."Larry the Cable Guy," Jim Breuer, and such, and such tedious folks as Howard Stern.
Alas, I can't quite persuade Alice to comment on My blog...but I'll run yours by her...
Steve Langton--It's the US that is unusual in pretending that people of all ages don't curse. Canada, the UK, Australia, etc., don't have nearly as much restriction on broadcast standards.
Patti..2006 I think "The Prairie Home Companion" Garrison Keeler, Merl Streep, Lilly Tomlin, Woody Harrelson and a bunch of others.
The gist of it was the last Prairie Home Companion day on the air.
I love W&G -- I hurt myself laughing at The Wrong Trousers. I agree that Mr Bean is not funny but Black Adder is. Random list of tv comedy I love:
Not Only But Also
Peter Cook & Co
Q
Morecambe & Wise
Monty Python
French & Saunders
AbFab
A Bit of Fry & Laurie
Vic Reeves Big Night Out
The Smell of Reeves & Mortimer
Bang Bang, It's Reeves & Mortimer
Nighty Night
Blackbooks
Black Adder
Father Ted
IT Crowd
The Mighty Boosh
Happiness
Ideal
As the above attests, I veer toward the surreal; I haven't seen very many of Hancock's Half Hour but I love what I have been able to see and of course the Goons, but that's radio (and a whole 'nother kettle of fish).
As available here, I'd recommend people try Nighty Night if they like dark humor and Mighty Boosh if they like it lighter (although, thinking about it, plenty dark but with ebullient moments).
Great list. I am going to check out what I haven't seen on netflix. I wonder what I am missing in W & G. Maybe I need to rent them and try to get it. Maybe it's an acquired taste.
Patti -- it's kind of Northern humour, too, which I lean toward as well despite spending most of my time in the south of England. Reeves & Mortimer, Morecambe & Wise -- also Northerners. The North of England is looked at kind of like the South in the States, so it's not always something that translates well.
I spent a year in Manchester in 94-95 and a lot of it still eludes me. They are both bawdy and sentimental at the same time. I did like a show about bin men, however. And I thought their dramas were superior to what we had here then. And the dart games will never quite fade from my memory. Or the sheep-herding.
Oh, and I can't believe I left off:
The League of Gentlemen (macabre, gothic and very very dark)
The Fast Show (just the punchlines, although by far the best is the Ted & Ralph bits)
and
Spaced (perhaps the finest of the po-mo shows, so chock full of pop culture references that there's a separate pop cult pop up track on the DVD box set. You've got to love a show that makes references to things as disparate as Evil Dead and Leigh Bowery).
Manchester, eh? Did you become a fan of The Fall? LOL -- if not, there is an unbridgeable gulf between us, I fear.
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