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Areas of comedy/ comedy genres you just don't find funny

Started by 23 Daves, April 27, 2005, 01:10:48 PM

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MojoJojo

I have real issues with "embarrassment" comedy, such as Frasier. It really puts me off, although often if I actually watch it, I find it funny. I suspect this is mainly due to exposure; it's pretty hard to find comedy which doesn't rely on embarrassment some of the time.

Morrisfan82

I wouldn't say Frasier was heavy on embarrassment so much as farce. I too am usually averse to farce, but Frasier was usually adept enough (and wary enough of the many pitfalls of bad farce) to pull it off in a really enjoyable way, for me.

Quote from: "Detective John Kimble"I don't like it when I start feeling that a comedian is just saying and doing all the right things politically.  Probably the main reason why I've really, really gone off David Cross - half/over half his act is about George Bush/The Republican Party.  It's an absolutely guaranteed cheap pop, even if it doesn't leave much room for actual jokes.  And the other half of his act is about how stupid Americans are.

Ah, that hacks me off to, as does Anti-Americanism in general.  British people are especially guilty of this, guffawing smugly into their microphones at those stupid Americans.  Not even anti-administration, just anti-American, with no reason, either, they occasionally discuss their consumer culture, which Britain is just as guilty of.  It's fair enough to slam culture, but at least be well-informed and witty about it instead of just relying on self-congratulatory backslapping.  Our government and people aren't so great either.

Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

Funny euphemisms for sexual/scatological words. Especially when the joke centres on an obscure/strange slang term being uttered casually as if it's in common usage.

Quote from: "Emergency Lalla Ward Ten"Funny euphemisms for sexual/scatological words. Especially when the joke centres on an obscure/strange slang term being uttered casually as if it's in common usage.

Hmm, examples?  Like regional sexual euphenisms?

Quote from: "Emergency Lalla Ward Ten"Funny euphemisms for sexual/scatological words. Especially when the joke centres on an obscure/strange slang term being uttered casually as if it's in common usage.

I find this annoying when it's some nob in the pub or at work just spewing Profanisaurus entries from Viz as though they are his own gags, and lapping up the laughter when he explains the meaning.  Having said that, if I ever pick up the Profanisaurus for a quick read I can't put it down, as 1 in every 10 or so entries are fucking hilarious.

DuncanC

It's too broad and probably not even really "comedy", but I have a massive aversion to mocking things by changing their name. Anything. "Dumbocrats", "Micro$oft", "I Am Not An Animation", "Tony Bliar".. can't actually think of that many examples now but I see them all the time and have grown a pretty seething hatred for it.

Harfyyn Teuport

Quote from: "DuncanC"It's too broad and probably not even really "comedy", but I have a massive aversion to mocking things by changing their name..."Tony Bliar"..

Richard Herring had a great comment in his blog about that, something along the lines of  "I always refer to Tony Blair as Tony Bliar, because he's a liar. And also a bee."

Wyn

QuoteLike it or not, a lot of women see her (Dawn French) as a role model

Ahh, that'll be why I don't like her then. Back to the kitchen, says I.

EDIT: Actually, to clarify, before I get crucified, I may well be injust in slagging off Frenchie, but that is because I am male. Perhaps I was a little harsh, but, without denying women their jokes, her humour comes across to me as unfunny and irritating, probably because I am a big ball-sack with legs and arms. So that's why I am not fond of her comedy stylin's.

Quote from: "Wyn"
QuoteLike it or not, a lot of women see her (Dawn French) as a role model

Ahh, that'll be why I don't like her then. Back to the kitchen, says I.

EDIT: Actually, to clarify, before I get crucified, I may well be injust in slagging off Frenchie, but that is because I am male. Perhaps I was a little harsh, but, without denying women their jokes, her humour comes across to me as unfunny and irritating, probably because I am a big ball-sack with legs and arms. So that's why I am not fond of her comedy stylin's.

I'm a woman but I get seriously pissed off with "woman" humour.  I don't think she's particulary guilty of it, certainly French and Saunders weren't, I'm talking more about the likes of Jo Caulfield and Jenny Eclair, who adorn those depressing, "Funny Women" posters, flicking through their copies of Elle and wearing tampons as earrings.

The Mumbler

New Jenny Eclair novel out.  Run etc.  How does she find time, with all those advertising voiceovers to do?

slim

Quote from: "Muteki"I wouldn't say Frasier was heavy on embarrassment so much as farce.
Spot on. I find the episodes often remind of plays. I presume they were written that way, but I don't know for sure.

davbak

I hate "gentle comedy". Basically anything with Anton Rogers or Jeffrey Palmer in it.

The Mumbler

Quote from: "davbak"I hate "gentle comedy". Basically anything with Anton Rogers or Jeffrey Palmer in it.

So The Prisoner or The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin, then???

Darrell

Or Whoops Apocalypse for that matter. Or 'The Kipper And The Corpse'.

"I'm a doctor and I want my sausages!"

Hoogstraten'sSmilingUlcer

Jemble Fred wrote:

QuoteHoax phonecalls. Even when it's Morris

The one to the paper when he was trying to sell the Kinnock Drunk tape on On the Hour was extremely great, but most are ghastly. Charlie Brooker's were embarrassing to the point of screaming, 'Fuck off and stop pissing around with this lame reality comedy!'

I can't stand the kind of comedy Peter Kay in his stand-up of comparisons between biscuits and tales of uncles dancing stupidly at weddings. Indeed, so-called 'Northern humour' (ie. Kay, and the Old Skoolers like Manning, Chubby Brown) leaves me cold. When the comedian starts a routine by going 'Now on a Sunday afternoon after tea, me and me nan...' I groan.

Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

Does 'women's comedy' (in the 'men are crap, ha ha tampons eh girls' sense) still exist? I can't really think of any current examples. Most female comedians tend to do self-deprecating, sub-laddette stuff these days don't they?

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: "Mister Cairo"Stand-up`s who allege that something they`ve made up for comedic purposes is "Absolutely True!". Half the joke is made up of them repeating how true this is.
Yes, and then it turns out it isn't.  I really hate that - when someone starts with "Look, this is absolutely true right..." and then the punchline reveals that it couldn't POSSIBLY be true.  You see a lot of those on "Live at Jongleurs".  Wankers.

Quote from: "Mister Cairo"Comedians who pick on some poor fucker in the audience and riducle them.
Can be funny if done well and without excess cruelty.  However sometimes they really do go for it, and I've found (twice) that the best response is simply to very very calmly get up and slowly walk out.  No words, no fuss.  It really fucks them up.

skibz

Quote from: "Ambient Sheep"
Quote from: "Mister Cairo"Comedians who pick on some poor fucker in the audience and riducle them.
Can be funny if done well and without excess cruelty.  However sometimes they really do go for it, and I've found (twice) that the best response is simply to very very calmly get up and slowly walk out.  No words, no fuss.  It really fucks them up.

Bill Hicks very famously went absolutely ballistic at a drunken heckler on The Chicago Show, and ended up shouting "OH LOOK AT ME, I'VE GOT A CUNT SO I CAN SHOUT AT THE COMEDIAN! CUNT! CUNT!" (or something similar) and absolutely laying into her at every opportunity. However, she was constantly interrupting his set shouting "you suck" so it came across as entirely justified - if a little over-the-top.

Most times, though, it leaves me cold - gentle ribbing is funny enough if done well, but there's no need for unwarranted abuse.

davbak

Quote from: "The Mumbler"
Quote from: "davbak"I hate "gentle comedy". Basically anything with Anton Rogers or Jeffrey Palmer in it.

So The Prisoner or The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin, then???

As we talking about 'comedy', The Prisoner doesn't count, unless you want to be really pedantic about my choice of words. You know the sort of nice, middle-class "May To December" "Fresh Fields" sort of bollocks I'm talking about.

And I'd forgotton about Palmer's "Perrin".

Oh and Butterflies. Though I didn't like that either.

The Mumbler

What about Ever Decreasing Circles?  And as for "nice, middle-class comedy", surely Fawlty Towers is a superior example of that?

I've never seen As Time Goes By, so cannot comment, but it's written by Bob Larbey (The Good Life, EDC, Please Sir!) so it can't be *that* bad?  Can it?

Can't help but agree with Fresh Fields and May To December, though.  I didn't even like FF as a kid (and I even thought Terry & June was alright back then).

Oscar

i dislike comedians that try to be tough and obnoxious because they think that is a substitute for being funny - and if anyone disagrees they can accuse them of being weak.  i think presenters are probably the most guilty of it - they sound like a cross between moody teenagers and yuppies who collect mobile phones.

father ted is quite gentle. but good, i think.

davbak

Quote from: "The Mumbler"What about Ever Decreasing Circles?  And as for "nice, middle-class comedy", surely Fawlty Towers is a superior example of that?

I've never seen As Time Goes By, so cannot comment, but it's written by Bob Larbey (The Good Life, EDC, Please Sir!) so it can't be *that* bad?  Can it?

Can't help but agree with Fresh Fields and May To December, though.  I didn't even like FF as a kid (and I even thought Terry & June was alright back then).

Fawlty Towers may be 'middle class', but I wouldn't really consider it "gentle comedy", which is what my original post was all about. I'm sure we can pick the odd exceptions, or disagree about additions all night long.  I mean, both Fawlty and "Keeping Up Appearances" could both be considered farce, but are worlds apart in actual style and substance.

I could of course make a comprehensive list of the ones *I* meant, -'One Up, Two Down'  for example, so as not to cause confusion, but that would probably bore both The Mumbler, myself and anybody else watching this thread.

I mean what genre would the likes of "In Loving Memory", "Never the Twain", and the aforementioned "Keeping Up Appearances" come under. Cos I hate them too.

I did actually like Ever Decreasing circles though. Loved the couple who lived next door, because a friend of a friend of mine was so much like the bloke it was untrue.

Hoogstraten'sSmilingUlcer

Fawlty Towers is a perfect example of how to deal with taboos and 'dark' subject matter without resorting to veeerrrry long takes, cutting the laughter track, and swearing; and also how to satirise institutions without putting a big banner of SATIRE over it all. They cover a surprising number of taboo subjects: disability (Mrs. Richards); death (dead guest); abusing old women (Polly hits that old woman); homosexuality (the chef's crush on Manuel); xenophobia and racism; snobbery and class; marital dysfunction; with a callous bastard at the centre. OK, so it's not little girls with cocks, but it's not gentle by any means.

I don't find drug humour funny.  Not humour about drugs but- I don't know to explain it.  For example, in Tomkinson's Schooldays, there was the schoolmaster's smoking dope during the rubgy game and Tomkinson on cocaine during the hop, and I felt disappointed.

dan dirty ape

Quote from: "Banana Woofwoof"I don't find drug humour funny.  Not humour about drugs but- I don't know to explain it.  For example, in Tomkinson's Schooldays, there was the schoolmaster's smoking dope during the rubgy game and Tomkinson on cocaine during the hop, and I felt disappointed.

Yeah, the idea that someone being in an altered state, usually by accident, is inherently funny. Whatever the writers' intentions, to me it always smacks of a slightly childish 'i know what being on drugs is like' wink . I quite liked the 'Starsky and Hutch' movie, but when Ben Stiller started spooning cocaine into his coffee I just thought 'seen this before'.

Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

Quote from: "The Mumbler"

I've never seen As Time Goes By, so cannot comment, but it's written by Bob Larbey (The Good Life, EDC, Please Sir!) so it can't be *that* bad?  Can it?


No. Better than your average Monkey Dust fan would ever admit, but still not as good as it should be considering Larbey wrote it. The odd nice line here and there. And Palmer is great generally.

A lot of 'gentle' stuff from the 80s (After Henry, Me and My Girl, etc) is incredibly watchable nowadays - probably because shows like that were so well-constructed, an art that's sort of disappeared. Shows like that shouldn't be lumped in with Fresh Fields, which was depressingly feeble and badly put together. I think gentle sitcoms have pretty much disappeared anyway - stuff like My Family is very knowing, to the point where I really don't know who it appeals to.

I sometimes watch stuff like According to Bex or The Crouches and think 'That could be a great mainstream sitcom - just stop trying to do American mult-strand bollocks, don't be embarrassed to have scenes which go on for seven or eight minutes, get rid of all the stings...'

Catchphrase humour : most of the fast show, most of little britain etc

It just strikes me as lazy, and the contrived set ups for delivering the line everyone's waiting for ruin it for me.

Besides, I'm a school teacher so I have to put up with knobheads in every class spouting inane shite from the latest show when all I wanna do is do my job with the least amount of stress possible.

(currently "yeah, I know")

Maybe that's another reason why I dislike hecklers so much... empathy.

PeachSmints

Another vote for women's issues humour. Periods, leg shaving, love of chocolate etc.
When flipping channels, if I see a woman stand-up I end up inadvertendly carrying on to the next channel without even hearing what she has to say.  Not fair, I know, but I'd rather not risk having to hear the old  "Hey, what if men had periods?" joke one more time.

Quote from: "PeachSmints"Another vote for women's issues humour. Periods, leg shaving, love of chocolate etc.
When flipping channels, if I see a woman stand-up I end up inadvertendly carrying on to the next channel without even hearing what she has to say.  Not fair, I know, but I'd rather not risk having to hear the old  "Hey, what if men had periods?" joke one more time.

And then lots of women shout, "the comedy world is unequal".  Well, stop forging the distinction, then.  Stop being a "woman comedian" and start being a comedian.