# Ever cry at a “funny” show or movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643 "2008-11-14T01:34:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ProudlyDefiant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@ProudlyDefiant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ProudlyDefiant)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/41 "2008-11-16T06:32:50Z")
> [@Linty\_Fresh](#): > > The ending of **Shaun of the Dead** when > > Shaun winds up sparing Zombie Ed and even plays with him to the tune of **You’re My Best Friend** (which can make me tear up all on its own, btw). > > Shaun is a _good_ friend! Shaun of the Dead did it for me too, but not that scene. It was when Shaun finally realizes that his now zombiefied stepdad really was a father to him ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/42 "2008-11-16T07:02:01Z")
For awhile now, on Letterman, they’ve been playing a snippet of some old song, “…come home…come home…it’s suppertime.” It makes Dave and everyone else laugh. For some reason, it’s just so wistful to me…it makes me a little teary. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/43 "2008-11-16T08:14:54Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Didn’t cry, but back in the 80s, Penn & Teller made me upset on one or two of their TV appearances. I remember there was one card trick where I really thought Teller was drowning. If you mean their first appearance on SNL, in 1985, he **did** come within a hair of drowning. The story behind that is in one of their books; I think “How to Play With Your Food.” The way he tells it, Lorne Michaels had asked them not to have Teller “die” in the tank, as he usually did, but surface at the end of the sketch and wave to the audience. Penn grumbled but agreed. Then, very shortly before the show started, Teller noticed a potentially fatal flaw in the equipment. Didn’t say anything, because they had a failsafe. If Teller signaled to their tech guy, he would open the tank, spewing thousands of gallons of water wherever it might go. Much more impressive than calling off their first big TV appearance at the last minute. And he made it through the sketch, but he says it was **very** close. Like five seconds away from having to signal. And providentially, the revised ending bought him some time he wouldn’t otherwise have had. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/44 "2008-11-16T09:29:14Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Didn’t cry, but back in the 80s, Penn & Teller made me upset on one or two of their TV appearances. I remember there was one card trick where I really thought Teller was drowning. When I saw them live they put this right before intermission. Everyone filed out into the lobby with Teller floating dead in the tank. Penn was at the bar with everyone and when asked where Teller was he would answer, :He’s dead. Weren’t you watching the show?" After intermission Teller was back on stage like nothing happened. I thought it was genius. > [@](#): > > If you mean their first appearance on SNL, in 1985, he did come within a hair of drowning. They must have modified it because he was in the tank for at least 15 minutes. Floating lifeless for most of it. They probably got the idea from the earlier trick. ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/45 "2008-11-16T13:06:06Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > _eyebrows raised_. Honestly - why? Pretty much the same reason as mobo85 stated. The sheer absurdity of the whole article. I also laughed just reading about the radioactive christmas tree sketch too, but can’t stand “stuart” from mad tv, wondering how people aren’t incessantly annoyed by a whining man-child who needs the have the crap knocked out of him by his overprotective mother. Thjat one makes me sad because i have relatives that were doted on like that and they all grew up to be trash. (ones a drug dealer and ones a trailer dwellling single mom dropout that rolled right out of a jerry springer episode) ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/46 "2008-11-16T16:16:13Z")
> [@ProudlyDefiant](#): > > Shaun of the Dead did it for me too, but not that scene. It was when > > Shaun finally realizes that his now zombiefied stepdad really was a father to him To continue the _Shaun of the Dead_ theme, I literally cried when he had to shoot his mother. How is that funny? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/47 "2008-11-16T16:22:18Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I think a deep rage at how fucked-up the world is lies buried under a lot of [the writing in The Onion](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28151). > > It isn’t always funny. You’re right. [Here’s](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38675) a similar article that starts off amusing and ends with my head in my hands. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/48 "2008-11-16T16:38:51Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > My sister, who graduated from high school in 1973, told me about a poster that was popular when she was in teenager. It was a photo of an Indian or African refugee with a crate of relief supplies that contained nothing but Baby Ruth candy bars. It was supposed to be funny, in an ironic way. My sister told me that image upset her monumentally. > > I’m three years younger than my sister, and I kind of vaguely remember this image. [hijack]Flipped on PBS today and saw something about the Korean war, and one of the vets relates a story about how one of the weapons they used was called a “Tootsie Roll” in slang, and they radioed for an airdrop of more tootsie rolls, only to get boxes and boxes of the real thing. Which was also good because they were running out of food also. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/49 "2008-11-17T03:32:57Z")
> [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](#): > > To continue the _Shaun of the Dead_ theme, I literally cried when he had to shoot his mother. How is that funny? All by itself, that scene isn’t funny. It’s not supposed to be. That’s why the whole movie isn’t people having to shoot their reanimated parents’ corpses. Poignant makes funny funnier the same way quiet makes loud louder. ---
**Author:** ![trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trapezoidal_jellyfish)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/50 "2008-11-17T08:05:19Z")
well, not a movie, and I didn’t cry, but- > **[Dark Flow](https://xkcd.com/502/)** > > The Pioneer anomaly is due to the force of my love. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/51 "2008-11-17T08:36:38Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > All by itself, that scene isn’t funny. It’s not supposed to be. That’s why the whole movie isn’t people having to shoot their reanimated parents’ corpses. Poignant makes funny funnier the same way quiet makes loud louder. Besides that, SotD is still a horror zombie movie. It might also be a romantic comedy and a story about a guy growing up, but they never lost sight of the fact that they were making a horror movie, too. Which means that there are going to be scenes that are just, well, horrifying. I cried when he left Ed in the basement. ---
**Author:** ![DarRRva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@DarRRva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarRRva)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/52 "2008-11-17T08:50:44Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Two scenes in _Old School_, both having to do with Blue, the extremely senior citizen who dies during hazing: the first is when Frank says “I see Blue!” and the second is in the closing credits when they sing “Dust in the Wind.” The first time I saw the movie, both misted me up just a little bit. This whole movie made me sad. i couldn’t see what was supposed to be funny about a relapsed alcoholic whose wife ends up leaving him. Almost everyone I know finds this movie hillarious, and I just find it deeply depressing. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/53 "2008-11-17T12:56:04Z")
_ **Absolutely Fabulous** _ is one of the funniest shows ever to be run on TV, in my not at all humble opinion; it’s also the only comedy that ever made me cry. – and not just once, either, but _twice_. The first time, I forget what had actually been going on in the story, but it really brought home the point that Patsy and Edina, while they’re two of the most appalling wretched useless broads on the face of the Earth, really do love each other dearly and depend on each other; they’re best friends through everything and totally loyal to each other in their own fucked-up way. That choked me up but good. The other one was when it was made clear that Edina’s son, who she dotes on so much and wants so badly to see again, is never gonna show up or even let her know where he is – because he’s embarrassed and ashamed of her, and thinks he’s so much better than she is. And just in case that’s not sappy enough for ya…there’s a Warner Brothers cartoon called _ **Feed The Kitty** _ which made me cry like my heart was gonna break the first time I ever saw it (I was nine or ten at the time) and still gets to me every time I see it. It’s the one about the bulldog named Marc Anthony who finds a kitten – and I know damned well that some of you know _exactly_ what cartoon I’m talking about, and that I ain’t the _only_ one on this board that it makes cry. Especially the part where he walks off with the cookie on his back. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/54 "2008-11-17T15:52:04Z")
> [@DarRRva](#): > > This whole movie made me sad. i couldn’t see what was supposed to be funny about a relapsed alcoholic whose wife ends up leaving him. Almost everyone I know finds this movie hillarious, and I just find it deeply depressing. It’s graveyard humor. I’m not an alcoholic, but I’ve had plenty of friends who are, both recovering and totally-not-recovering (What can I say? I’m Irish.) There comes a point for these guys where their alternatives come down to laugh or kill themselves, and I think Frank the Tank’s character taps into that. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643/55 "2008-11-17T16:56:09Z")
While watching a stage production of ‘The Nerd’, I became overwhelmingly sympathetic to the title character, and what it feels like to be a social outcast because you’re ‘different’. Everyone in the theater was laughing at him, and it was all I could do not to cry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-funny-show-or-movie/472643.md?page=2)