# Are Crotch Shots Really Funny? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 3, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118 "2020-12-03T15:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/1 "2020-12-03T15:28:47Z")
Are crotch shots really funny? I mean you see them on _America’s Funniest Videos_ all the time. Some awkward kid tries to hit a baseball. And instead he hits a nearby man in crotch. Yikes! As I understand it, since a man’s reproductive gear is on the outside, this often leads to birth defects. And plus should we be encouraging people to upload videos like this, making light of a actually quite serious matter? Thoughts? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/2 "2020-12-03T15:33:09Z")
It is predicted that, in the future, the #1 TV show in America will consist entirely of crotch shots. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1hj_7U40z5I/hqdefault.jpg "Ow My Balls !") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hj_7U40z5I) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/3 "2020-12-03T15:35:08Z")
It works at so many levels. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/PTCEPBDekH4/hqdefault.jpg "The Simpsons - Football In The Groin (Hans Moleman)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTCEPBDekH4) ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/4 "2020-12-03T15:53:13Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It is predicted that, in the future, the #1 TV show in America will consist entirely of crotch shots. I know this is a reference, but really, I think the crotch shot as a go-to joke has really gone away for the most part. America’s Funniest Home Videos isn’t a top ten show any more. Jackass and it’s various spin-offs are all gone. I can’t remember “ow my groin” jokes in any recent prime time show. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/5 "2020-12-03T15:57:29Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > As I understand it, since a man’s reproductive gear is on the outside, this often leads to birth defects. Please tell me this was a weird attempt at a joke? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/6 "2020-12-03T16:00:52Z")
I never understood the humor in it, but then I don’t generally find another person’s pain to be funny. AFHV shows so many of people falling or having things fall on them - it’s just not entertainment for me. Let me clarify - accidents or unintentional mishaps aren’t funny. Someone who starts out with “Hey, watch this!” or “Hold my beer!” then crashes due to their own idiocy isn’t nearly as cringeworthy. But it’s still not something I want to watch. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/7 "2020-12-03T16:06:23Z")
Like most things, it’s context dependent. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/8 "2020-12-03T16:09:07Z")
I cringed whenever I see those. Thankfully that’s too often as I never cared for America’s Funniest Videos. My brother-in law and his friends thought that shit was funny and would always be punching each other’s in the nuts when the other guy wasn’t paying attention. Taught his three-year-old daughter to do that and she started doing it to complete strangers! Thankfully my sister stopped that nonsense and also divorced him (for other reasons). ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/9 "2020-12-03T16:09:49Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > Are crotch shots really funny? I’ve never thought so. When I was a kid in the 90’s the classic rock station in Eugene, OR had the requisite two-hippies-hosting-the-morning-show format. I listened to it religiously. The two guys had a long-running faux feud with their producer or sound engineer or someone, and whenever they would get mad at him they would threaten – on air – to take him out in the parking lot and kink him repeatedly in the junk. The whole thing was a joke, of course, but apparently it got enough laughs that they kept it for months. When I was 15 I thought it was juvenile and now I still think it’s juvenile. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/10 "2020-12-03T16:13:45Z")
Whoa! Hold on there. It’s known that testicular trauma can have an adverse affect on fertility… but birth defects!? ETA: Yes, they’re usually hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/11 "2020-12-03T16:13:56Z")
It’s about as funny as slipping on a banana peel. Remember: Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/12 "2020-12-03T16:33:18Z")
It’s been a long time since I’ve watched America’s Funniest Home Videos—when they showed crotch shots, were they sweetened with sound effects? Because that seems to make a big difference in how funny cartoonish violence is. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/13 "2020-12-03T16:41:57Z")
As someone else said, I think it’s context-dependent. It’s easier to laugh at something injurious when you know the pain or damage is transient and the person will be fine after a few minutes. I’ve been the subject of a few accidental shots myself (as I suspect most men have) and those around me did snicker a bit but there always seemed to be a sense of empathy too, since the males in my vicinity could probably imagine how I was feeling in that moment. In one of the more recent James Bond movies, the main character was strapped naked to a chair with a hole in the seat while a villain swung some sort of weighted rope underneath it. Those crotch shots were definitely _not_ funny, nor were they intended to be. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/14 "2020-12-03T17:21:44Z")
Robot Chicken’s “Ode to the Nut Shot” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Qli7ex3fuxg/maxresdefault.jpg "Robot Chicken's Ode to Nut Shots | adult swim") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qli7ex3fuxg) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/15 "2020-12-03T17:34:09Z")
The boxing scene from _Bad Santa_ never fails to crack me up. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1LxDWSYgiUc/maxresdefault.jpg "Bad Santa (10/12) Movie CLIP - Nutcracker (2003) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LxDWSYgiUc) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/16 "2020-12-03T17:47:30Z")
Like others said, it depends on the context. That said, I think the _King of the Hill_ episode “[Bobby Goes Nuts](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0764014/)” is hilarious. Although much of the humor comes from Hank and Principal Moss’s reactions when they learn how Bobby has been defending himself. That and Bobby’s non-sequitur “That’s my purse! I don’t know you!” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/17 "2020-12-03T18:17:00Z")
I’ve never considered crotch shots funny. But I’ve also never equated crotch shots with ‘shot to the groin’ shots either. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/18 "2020-12-03T19:26:49Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > That said, I think the _King of the Hill_ episode “[Bobby Goes Nuts](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0764014/)” is hilarious. That was the second one I thought of after the Simpsons one upthread. Bill as Hank regains consciousness: “You. Have. Been. Kicked. In. The. Testicles!” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/19 "2020-12-03T19:55:48Z")
It occurs to me that I don’t remember seeing crotch shots in old slapstick (e.g. The Three Stooges, Looney Tunes, etc.). I suspect that, like fart jokes or dirty words, they were once considered too indecent or taboo. Then at some point, as standards relaxed, they evolved into something that was no longer taboo but was still naughty or risque or impolite enough to have some shock value that helped make them funny. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118/20 "2020-12-03T20:19:34Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It is predicted that, in the future, the #1 TV show in America will consist entirely of crotch shots. Speaking of Idiocracy’s hit TV show, I got a big laugh when watching the bar scene from _Paul_ the other day–not only is the band playing the the Star Wars Cantina song, but when Ruth (Kristen Wiig) punches Jesse Plemmons’ character in the crotch, what does he say? “Ow, my balls!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-crotch-shots-really-funny/927118.md?page=2)