I can re watch any number of comedy movies/routines over and over again Always kill me. (Caddyshack, Monty Python etc)
But there are some that, even if they had me rolling on the floor the first time, do nothing for me the second time.
The Taxi TV show had that “what does a yellow light mean” bit. Killed me the first time i saw it. It is on a lot of those funniest TV show moments. Now i don’t get it.
“A Shot in the Dark” had a scene where Peter Sellers is preparing to interview Elke Sommer, but she shows up as he is preparing. Practically stopped breathing watching that the first time. Totally doesn’t get a chuckle out of me now.
But, Germans bombing Pearl harbor is still is funny.
With some older stuff, I think there’s a “Bosom Buddies” effect. The first time around, I loved that show. It was a different time—we were more invested in TV. There were no VCRs yet, so you had to plan around seeing it, choosing it over whatever else might be on at that time. If the phone rang (no answering machine) while it’s on, would you pick up? Reruns weren’t plentiful, nothing was available on demand, and certainly there was no binge-watching option. You couldn’t even pause it to use the restroom.
I think that we liked the premise of the program and wanted it to be good, kind of rooting for it and overlooking some flaws. But tune it in now and…nah.
I remember seeing “Mother, Jugs, and Speed” on TV the first time and we laughed till we cried. Second time, a couple years later, there was nary a chuckle.
I could swear there was a Mary Tyler Moore episode where Mr. Grant is telling her about a time when he, as a reporter, had to decide if he should go to press with a big story. He could wait and corroborate it—or publish it and get the scoop of a lifetime. He trusted his gut and did it. That story was the bombing of Pearl Harbor…by the Germans.
I can’t find it via Google. I must be hallucinating again.
Two movies come to mind for me: Clerks and Stripes.
When I rewatched it, I thought some of the writing in Clerks was still pretty sharp (although less fresh the second time around), but the quality of the acting was not so hot.
Rewatching Stripes recently, it felt like they forgot to put any actual jokes in after the first 10 minutes. It’s mostly just Bill Murray acting like Bill Murray – except he’s in the army now! Hilarious! (Note: I fully expect to get piled onto for expressing this view, because that’s what happened the last time I did it.)
There are many Monty Python sketches that used to make me with laughter that don’t do much for me nowadays. But I think that’s more because my taste in comedy has changed somewhat over time.
Literally the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title, for the reasons cited. There are some great individual performances in Stripes but the jokes just aren’t really there.
ETA: Although it did give us the “Lighten up, Francis” meme.
Exactly. I don’t mean watching reruns is less funny. I mean hearing people and seeing Dopers repeatedly quoting those lines in conversation is less funny and makes those lines less funnier with each repeat.
Yes, “It’s only a flesh wound” was funny the first couple of times, and the occasions where I find myself wounded in front of other people are good for quoting that line. But hearing it OVER and OVER and OVER makes it anti-funny and soul-suckingly miserable.
