# Ever watched a comedy that had no laughs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [December 6, 2022, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094 "2022-12-06T14:56:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 8
**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 30, 2022, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/141 "2022-12-30T05:02:12Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Home Alone, etc. (what I call teen exploitation movies) Yeah, were there any teens in _Home Alone_? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/142 "2022-12-30T05:14:27Z")
In that one (which I didn’t see) I’ll assume no and that it was focussed on that kid, but would still lump that flick in with the teen demographic audience consuming that fare, which also falls under my teen exploitation film definition. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/143 "2022-12-30T15:43:29Z")
If there were any laughs in “Grumpy Old Men” they went right over my head. In the GOM universe, Sophia Loren shows up and, for some reason, it’s inevitable that she must choose between Lemmon and Matthau. I hope the stars had fun making the movie; I don’t blame them. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/144 "2023-01-01T03:09:41Z")
I thought it was hysterical. But I was eleven. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/145 "2023-01-08T08:31:43Z")
_Home Alone, etc. (what I call teen exploitation movies)_ _Yeah, were there any teens in Home Alone?_ It’s possible to consider all John Hughes movies as some kind of genre unto itself, and about half of them (_Ferris Bueller, Sixteen Candles, Some Kind of Wonderful,_ maybe _Uncle Buck_) were teen exploitation, though **Home Alone** was in the other half, along with **Curly Sue** and **Dennis the Menace**. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/146 "2023-01-09T14:20:54Z")
This was exactly my reaction. I don’t like a lot of things other people do—I hate the Big Bang Theory, but I understand that it’s attempting to be funny and it’s just not my taste. But I couldn’t for the life of me see what was supposed to be funny about this show. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/147 "2023-01-09T15:33:47Z")
Sounds exactly like what I was talking about when I started the thread! I’m NOT talking about shows that are clearly attempting to be funny, but maybe not landing because of poor execution, poor writing, or impaired viewer senses of humor, but rather ones that are billed and described as “comedies”, but seem to have nothing funny or amusing about them whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/148 "2023-01-09T16:03:44Z")
I’ve never heard of _White Lotus_ before this thread, but watching the trailer makes it seem like a comedy to me, for sure. An understated, dark one, but the little snippets I saw were very amusing in a somewhat absurdist sort of way – which is completely up my alley, comedy-wise. I’ll have to find a way to check it out (I don’t have HBO). To me, there’s really nothing funnier than strange situations and interactions being treated completely as normal, and the comedy of realizing the absurdity of what you’re watching, vs HAHA LAUGH AT THIS! type of comedy. Stuff like Man Bites Dog and Delicatessen are among my favorite comedies. Then again, so is The Blues Brothers, so I do like a range. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/149 "2023-01-09T22:30:27Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve never heard of _White Lotus_ before this thread, but watching the trailer makes it seem like a comedy to me, for sure. That’s the problem. Someone decided to market it as a light-hearted, sunny comedy. Anyone approaching it from that perspective is going to think “This is a failure as comedy. Not one laugh.” And give up on it after one episode. That’s what my wife did. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/150 "2023-01-09T22:37:08Z")
> [@digs](#): > > That’s the problem. Someone decided to market it as a light-hearted, sunny comedy. I’m not sure I would call the trailer light-hearted and sunny, but it’s not overtly dark, either. It comes across as quirky and weird to me. I’m even more curious now, especially if it is much darker. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/151 "2023-01-09T22:48:22Z")
Call Me Kat. Took about 15 seconds of the first show to decide that this was about the worst show ever made. An elementary school would be ashamed of such a poor performance in a school play. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/152 "2023-01-09T23:06:04Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@pulykamell](#): > > > > I’ve never heard of _White Lotus_ before this thread, but watching the trailer makes it seem like a comedy to me, for sure. > > That’s the problem. Someone decided to market it as a light-hearted, sunny comedy. I don’t think any of the marketing materials I saw for The White Lotus sold it as a “light-hearted, sunny comedy.” Can you link to something that did, in your opinion? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/153 "2023-01-09T23:32:31Z")
Oh man, I never heard of it, but I just watched the first two minutes of the “Kat’s Blind Date” episode and … oof. That’s pretty terrible. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2023, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/154 "2023-01-10T08:11:53Z")
_ **Call Me Kat** _ is (or was) the American version of _ **Miranda** _, which I never found funny either. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094/155 "2023-01-13T04:39:22Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > An elementary school would be ashamed of such a poor performance in a school play. For something so terrible, it keeps getting renewed so clearly some large group of people are finding it funny. I had it pegged as a sure fire one season disaster too but De gustibus and all that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watched-a-comedy-that-had-no-laughs/976094.md?page=7)