Anyone else not appreciate narrative comedy?

Cafe Society
1

Maybe it’s because I’m largely socially clueless, but whatever is supposed to be funny about story-based comedy - the kind based on characters conflicting with social convention - completely passes me by.

I know it’s a valid - and valorized - genre and that it allows fine absurdity, implied irony, pointed satire, and subtle shades of this and that and such. Also it helps TV and movie comedians approach Serious Status through telling a story, and maybe gets them a big fat deal every now and then. But basically, I don’t laugh and I usually don’t find the narrative very rich, either.

There are exceptions. The Jerk might be one of my all-time favorite films. HBO’s Hung is pretty good, though I am more interested in the story and chuckle more than laugh. Classic sitcoms - Bob Newhart, Cheers, Frasier, Taxi. Usually because of the zingers or farce elements (HOLY SHIT NILES IS WEARING A JESUS SUIT! IN THE HALFBATH!!1!), not the narrative as such. The Hitchhikers’ Guide radio series.

Albert Brooks? Bleh. Firesign Theater? I keep waiting for them to stop taking their goofiness so seriously. Curb Your Enthusiasm? Makes my stomach hurt. Not from guffawing, more like when my blueberry cheesecake’s been sitting around a little too long.

Time Bandits might have been the most totally wasted two hours I ever spent.

What makes me laugh? Absurdity. (Not absurdism, which is an intellectual construct and too serious-minded.) Surreality. People not having to take anything seriously. Doing or saying truly off-the-wall batshit stuff. (Maybe more saying than doing…what does that say?) The unexpectedness that comes from not having to be dramatic or literary. Jokes that are clever, but not cosmic.

What am I missing? Why am I missing it? What might I actually like?

2

Office Space? Groundhog’s Day?

3

Liked Groundhog Day a lot. Haven’t seen Office Space.

Enjoyed About Schmidt and Election, but didn’t laugh a whole lot, except at a few of Nicholson’s lines. The Royal Tenenbaums was a little funnier.

Little Miss Sunshine totally underwhelmed me.

4

Think you answered your own question.

5

Not to be confrontational, but why do you care? You like what you like and you don’t like what you don’t like. Nothing wrong with that. You’re entitled to your own tastes.

6

I’m curious about what you think is good comedy. Give some examples.

Total absurdity in comedy is hard to do well, though if that’s what you like, I’d recommend The Shroud of the Thwacker by Chris Elliott, which is completely absurd and quite funny. However, the book grows tiresome as you read it because it is nothing but absurdity without much else.

7

Arrested Development has a good mix of both absurd comedy and narrative comedy, maybe it would help ease you into the genre?

8

Well yeah. But I am always on the lookout for good funny, especially if it’s halfway intelligent. It’s rare.

That’s why it’s disappointing to hear raves (unbought and unpaid for ones) about (say) Firesign, having enjoyed Duck’s Breath and similar such stuff, and then find them* so extravagantly, resoundingly, virtuosically…meh.

Then again, maybe some comedy is too intelligent. If I have to deconstruct shit for laughs, I’ll deconstruct real life.

*Don’t Crush That Dwarf and parts of The Giant Rat of Sumatra.