Cunningham Muffins Commercial

Not Afraid · 02-08-2008, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pirate Bill

That is what's funny about it. It's nonsensical and stupid to the point of being funny.

I never get from nonsensical and stupid to funny. I go straight to irritated instead.

Yes, comedy is very subjective.

LSPoorEeyorick · 02-08-2008, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

I never get from nonsensical and stupid to funny. I go straight to irritated instead.

Yes, comedy is very subjective.

How do you feel about Ionesco?

Not Afraid · 02-08-2008, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

How do you feel about Ionesco?

I've never seen an entire Ionesco play performed live only scenes from Rhinoceros and Bald Soprano (and I've read Rhinoceros in it's entirety) all many years ago. This limited exposure did not make me seek out more so I can't say it appealed to me then.

3894 · 02-08-2008, 10:29 AM

Full disclosure: I do find his Shoes video funny.

Maybe if the muffin skit material were stronger, it wouldn't come off so much like black-face.

Alex · 02-08-2008, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

I never get from nonsensical and stupid to funny. I go straight to irritated instead.

I'm with you on that. And the long, increasingly awkwardly long hold at the end, followed by another one has been used all over the place for the last five years. It just doesn't feel that funny any more.

But then I've never found drag itself to be inherently funny. I've seen funny people in drag but the fact of a man or women dressed like the opposite sex is not in itself funny to me.

I suspect that is a large part of why Monty Python and Kids in the Hall never really click with me (yes, they're both funny sometimes just not consistently). A lot of it seems to only be funny because it is a man dressed as a woman doing it. If they used an actual woman doing the exact same thing, I don't think many people would find it funny.

As for women as men. Slate recently had an article on the underground drag king scene in D.C. I didn't find that interesting or amusing either.

3894 · 02-08-2008, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

As for women as men. Slate recently had an article on the underground drag king scene in D.C.

I learned something new today. Thanks for the link, Alex.

Gemini Cricket · 02-08-2008, 10:55 AM

Analyzing humor is like taking apart a rose to find out where its beauty button is.

LSPoorEeyorick · 02-08-2008, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

Analyzing humor is like taking apart a rose to find out where its beauty button is.

I disagree. While I don't sit back after every funny movie I watch and deconstruct it, I find it very helpful, as a writer, to understand what makes people laugh. That same film class gave me a basic understanding of what are, to me, the funniest jokes. That humor comes from setting something up so that the audience thinks they know what's coming, and then yanking it out from under them. For a fine example, please refer to just about everything Tref has ever said, particularly his message to Cindy in her birthday podcast from BDBopper.

And while we have little control over the beauty of a rose, humor is man-made. And yes, it's often unexpected, unplanned, unconsciously put out there, and it's wonderful when it is. It isn't, always, so - for instance - Groundlings or Second City or Upright Citizens Brigade classes help people to discover humor kinesthetically... but they're certainly talking about why something is or isn't funny so as to capture and re-capture that firefly.

Gemini Cricket · 02-08-2008, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

I disagree. While I don't sit back after every funny movie I watch and deconstruct it, I find it very helpful, as a writer, to understand what makes people laugh. That same film class gave me a basic understanding of what are, to me, the funniest jokes. That humor comes from setting something up so that the audience thinks they know what's coming, and then yanking it out from under them. For a fine example, please refer to just about everything Tref has ever said, particularly his message to Cindy in her birthday podcast from BDBopper.

And while we have little control over the beauty of a rose, humor is man-made. And yes, it's often unexpected, unplanned, unconsciously put out there, and it's wonderful when it is. It isn't, always, so - for instance - Groundlings or Second City or Upright Citizens Brigade classes help people to discover humor kinesthetically... but they're certainly talking about why something is or isn't funny so as to capture and re-capture that firefly.

As a writer, I could see that. But hearing a joke and then wondering about it and trying to figure out every nuance of it when one is not a writer or comedian or whatever is too Vulcan for me.
I also believe a sense of humor is innate.

LSPoorEeyorick · 02-08-2008, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

As a writer, I could see that. But hearing a joke and then wondering about it and trying to figure out every nuance of it when one is not a writer or comedian or whatever is too Vulcan for me.

Well, yeaaaah, but the person who asked the question about drag (3894) is a writer, and the two who replied were a comedian and another writer.

02-08-2008, 10:29 AM	#4
3894 Next Stop: Funkytown! Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Cheeselandia Posts: 1,907	Full disclosure: I do find his Shoes video funny. Maybe if the muffin skit material were stronger, it wouldn't come off so much like black-face. __________________ "I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder." - Flynn Rider, "Tangled"
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02-08-2008, 10:55 AM	#7
Gemini Cricket ... Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 13,244	Analyzing humor is like taking apart a rose to find out where its beauty button is.
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