I did my usual around-town average, which is usually 27-28, but highway I can hypermile it if need be up over 33 (the official highway number is 31, 2013 Honda Civic Si, which did NOT blow its engine this afternoon, just a bad set of spark plugs, likely corroded from the cold and ice and salt).
Laurel and Horror:
There should be an option for “I’ve never seen Laurel and Hardy.”
I’ve never seen Laurel and Hardy.
I’ve only seen a couple of short clips, which I didn’t find funny; but I suppose there might be something in their work someplace which I might find funny. Not going to spend time investigating that possibility, though.
Several years ago I moderated the Straight Dope for a short time. Overall it was an enjoyable experience. I just wasn’t in a very good place mentally, so I stepped down.
There were definitely annoying people who made daily reports of little substance, and people who would just go off on you without good reason. But it didn’t bother me as much as I would have guessed. Most people were kind and reasonable. There were also an impressive, almost overwhelming number of trolls to manage. People who trolled this board like it was a full time job. I don’t know if it’s still like that.
The old comedian funny/not funny poll didn’t quite cover all possible perspectives. Absent was “I have viewed them here and there but haven’t really formed a full opinion”, which was the case for everyone other than the Marx Bros., Stooges, and A & C. I used to think Jerry Lewis was hilarious–as a preschooler (I actually met him after a play but he turned to be an asshole and I left said play feeling rather disillusioned), but since then I haven’t seen anything by him since then for the most part (aside from his telethons), I didn’t choose anything there either.
Conspicuous by their absence is Laurel and Hardy (whose TV Tropes page I was on earlier today).
[Yes yes I know as a poll-maker I am usually on the receiving end of people saying all bases have not been covered, so this is likely my karmic comeuppance…]
Turns out am I a mod at long last-on Discord for a group of wargamers testing a scenario I have concocted.
L&H were already polled, two posts earlier than mine, so I didn’t think it was necessary to repeat them.
And, yes, when I was about 10 years old I thought Jerry Lewis was hysterical. Not so much as an adult.
Sorry yes I forgot I had voted in it earlier (a provisional yes, tho their humor was more smile quietly than laugh uproariously).
Lewis could be funny to me in the old Martin & Lewis comedies. But not by himself. I have not seen enough Lloyd to vote.
L&H can be funny, but not always.
I have never seen them either. Heard about them is about it.
There is a slight different in wording between the L&H poll and the follow-ups.
As opposed to the later polls:
“Do you find [XYZ] funny?”
Sure, I’m probably putting too much emphasis on “ever” but individual bits land with me, even if most do not. So if “ever” was added to the later polls, I’d probably have said “yes” to all (except the one I hadn’t seen) because I’ve seen some good bits from all of them, even if the majority of their work didn’t land for me.
Possibly an unpopular decision, but I didn’t like the Three Stooges much, because so much of the comedy was about the “in character” mean spiritedness. Just doesn’t work well for me.
The only reason I worded it that way was to avoid having it taken the opposite way, that Yes means you ALWAYS find them funny.
Clips of Stan & Ollie have been popping up in my feed lately, and I still get a laugh out of them, more often than not.
The Marx Brothers? Funny!
The Three Stooges? Funny, at least at their best. (And if you don’t personally find them funny, you have to admire their craftsmanship.)
Abbot and Costello? Funny. “Who’s On First” deserves its reputation as a classic.
Laurel and Hardy? Too slow to be funny, I thought, when I watched them, but I may not have given them a fair trial.
The others? Not familiar enough to render a verdict.
I have not watched a single comedian on that list.
This; for most of them. Chaplin and the Marx Brothers I’ve seen multiple things by and do find funny.
Last year I went to a showing of The Gold Rush with a live orchestra playing the score throughout. Even though movie storytelling has changed significantly over the years, Chaplin remains hilarious. Likewise Buster Keaton - The General still holds up very well indeed as do most of his films.
I was a huge Abbott and Costello fan in my teens (no, I’m not that old - I just liked them). I don’t think I’ve seen any of their material since then so I don’t know if I’d still find them as funny. The Marx Brothers at their best are brilliant - A Night At The Opera still kills, but I found A Day At The Races a bit tedious.
Apart from that one clock scene, I haven’t seen any Harold Lloyd so can’t judge.
Meet Frankenstein still holds up quite nicely. I still watch it, giggling incessantly, every Halloween.
Bob Hope can be funny, but also quite lame.
Bob Hope is the only comedian in the poll to get a “No” from me.
I admit that most of my negative impression of Bob Hope is based on the TV specials he regularly hosted when I was a kid and a younger adult, and his appearances on The Tonight Show, which largely amounted to him doing standup, and delivering a series of tired one-liners. I only watched a few of his movies, and that was decades ago.
Well, I do think that Bob Hope survives the test of time less successfully than any of the others, assuming you can approach them with an attitude of taking the material on its own terms and a willingness to find a way to relate to it–that is to say, with an open mind.