Alright, I may be one of the very few but I can laugh at just about anything. To me, funny is funny. I don’t care if it’s racist, sexist, slap stick, topical, high brow, low brow whatever… If the joke works then I’ll laugh. Heck, I still laugh at fart jokes if they’re done right.
The problem I’m seeing around here is a lot of people seem to be snobs when it comes to what’s funny. Like in the “Family Guy vs Futurama” thread. Almost everyone was bashing Family Guy. To me they’re both really excellent shows. While Family Guy has gone down in quality the past couple of seasons, it still has its high points. Then there was the most recent “30 Rock” discussion. Some people were saying it was too adolescent, too stupid, or the worst episode of the season. While I thought it was almost reaching Arrested Development territory.
I don’t know what’s up with some of you, but if I wake up one day and I can’t laugh at robot Tracy Morgan trying to stab Conan O’Brien then please just shoot me. So I guess that’s my question. Am I going to one day find myself no longer laughing at this type of stuff? (I’m a 27 year old guy if that puts anything into perspective).
I think your humour matures with age. I don’t necessarily find slapstick funny, but the quirkiness of My Name is Earl and Scrubs can make me laugh so hard it hurts…literally.
I think having kids, though, can make you appreciate the unintentional silliness of life. I was going over my daughter’s Xmas list, and beside each item she had listed a category, so we had
Dreamlife (game)
Notorious (book)
Reckless (book)
and by the time I got to
Scented candles (home decor)
Terra cotta ring (home decor)
Throw Pillow (merchandise)
and
Wet to Straight Hair Straightener (Health and Beauty)
I thought my ribs were going to crack, I was laughing so hard.
People that compare shows and pit one against the other aren’t regular people. They are the same types of dorks that argue the finer comparisons between Star Wars and Star Trek. Those types of displays (and they appear in lots of forms) aren’t representative of much and the participants may secretly like both of them too but not for the purposes of that thread or whatever it is.
My sense of humor has gotten darker and sometimes overly dry over time (I am 33) but it is still present almost all of the time. The only problem I find is that I feel like I have seen and heard so much stuff over time that it is getting harder to find something original. It is harder to find a stand-up comedian I think is hilarious these days because I have seen hundreds of them over the years. It is the same with movies and books. However, people still come up with great, original stuff so it can be done.
I like the Family Guy better than Futurama but I think that both of them are funny. South Park is one of my guilty pleasures as well.
I’ve always taken great pride in my total lack of a sense of humor. Being funny is just one of those traits, like being smart or having a pleasant personality, that pathetic people develop in order compensate for being physically unattractive. In my woman rustling days, I made sure to always advertise myself to prospective mates as being unintelligent, stoic and decidedly unfunny—that way, they were assured that their yet-to-be-seen date was a hunk (truth in advertising, says I). Unlike many of you hunkiness-challenged funny boys, I hooked, landed and got hitched to a bodacious babe in short shrift. And, as it turns out, she loved me for more than just my exceedingly good looks. She loved my money so much she took it with her when she left me for the cabana boy. To top it off, my porcelain veneers cracked and I’m getting love handles—guess I’m going to have to work on my humor after all.
I suspect that maturity comes early to some people, and never to others.
I never thought fart jokes were funny, as a kid or now, but my idiot cousin thinks they are the height of humor. He also fond of “original” puns about Uranus, and will sulk if I don’t even moan but just ignore them.
Just this past weekend, my dad was telling a story about how some guy with the last name “Penix” was running for city council or something, so there were signs all over town, “Another Family for Penix” and “Penix For City Council.” My dad, all 66 years of him, thinks that’s the funniest name of all (he pronounces it to rhyme with penis), and told joke after joke about poor Mr. Penix. What school must have been like for Mr. Penix, what if Mr. Penix joined the army, etc., etc.
So, no, your sense of humor doesn’t necessarily change with age. And, yes, there will always be humor snobs. But just be like my dad, and tell your Penix jokes anyway.
