# Holy crap, that guy's unfunny - but everyone else loves him! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659 "2008-12-18T00:20:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/81 "2008-12-18T17:30:37Z")
George Lopez, Carlos Mencia (_shudder, /support the Stop Carlos Mencia cause_), Margaret Cho, anyone British, and Dave Chapelle (sorry Dave, I loved _Half-Baked_ but The _Chapelle Show_ phenomenon just didn’t sweep me away like it seems to have done to so many) ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/82 "2008-12-18T17:40:45Z")
> [@drm](#): > > She’s awful, but I don’t know anyone who really likes her. I do, and it’s Kathy Griffi **n**. Most of my friends do as well. Her shtick is talking shit about celebrities; the bodily function stuff makes up a tiny percentage of her act, one that I agree isn’t that great. I wish she’d drop it. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/83 "2008-12-18T20:00:08Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Check out the recent standup special that Ricky Gervais did. > > [Try this bit](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJU86d_0Bgg) which is part of a larger routine where he talks about how when he was a kid they used to tell stories to his class to teach moral lessons. Thank you for this! I loved it. I don’t think that it displays ignorance any more than any number of comedians who point out things that become funny when idioms or fables are taken literally and/or out of their original context. Knowing the original meaning doesn’t make the story as it is told to and understood by kids today any less bizarre. I am drinking a latte right now and I had just taken a sip when he got to the part about it not mattering that they were the king’s horses, and then he says “certainly don’t send all of them! That’s going to be chaos!” I actually choked on my coffee and had a coughing fit for the next minute. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/84 "2008-12-18T20:04:08Z")
Sarah Silverman, and whoever that comedian is that uses 4 or 5 puppets in every one of his acts. He’s not even funny, they’re just the most stereotypical characters (a jalapeno with a Spanish accent, there’s cutting edge!) and his jokes are so typical you can see them coming a mile away. I take more delight in switching the channel then watching an hour of his act. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/85 "2008-12-18T20:12:42Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > I feel like I should defend Amy Sedaris. Jeri Blank (on Strangers with Candy) is supposed to be strange and off-putting. She’s supposed to be unattractive and ugly. I mean, Jeri is an alcoholic, addicted to amphetamines, main line narcotics, heroin, and gambling. She spent years in jail. I think Amy’s performance as a drug-addled, 40+ year old woman with no moral compass, no empathy, and no idea how to operate in polite society was pretty impressive! I’m not saying you should necessarily find that sort of thing funny, but sometimes criticism of that show makes it sound like Amy was too successful in what she was trying to do. Except that I’ve known drug addicts who have spent lots of time in prison and none of them acted like her. That retarded face she made all the time and all of her mannerisms were just made-up, unrealistic stuff that stretched my ability to suspend belief past its breaking point. I thought she was a terrible actress. She looked more like a clown than anything, and generally speaking I don’t like clowns. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/86 "2008-12-18T20:34:10Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Except that I’ve known drug addicts who have spent lots of time in prison and none of them acted like her. That retarded face she made all the time and all of her mannerisms were just made-up, unrealistic stuff that stretched my ability to suspend belief past its breaking point. I thought she was a terrible actress. She looked more like a clown than anything, and generally speaking I don’t like clowns. I rewrote my post so many times that I changed the meaning from the point I was initially trying to make. I didn’t mean that she’s going to be a great example of drug addicts who spent time in in prison. I meant that she and Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert wanted to create a strange, off-putting, and ugly character and perhaps they succeeded a little too well. FWIW, Jeri is based on [Florri Fisher](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florrie_Fisher). [After seeing footage of Florri Fisher](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1te8DbKaNnY), I’m even more impressed with Amy (and more amused). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/87 "2008-12-18T20:36:03Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I think Jack Black is a funny guy (as evidenced by his early Tenacious D stuff) who has never done a funny movie. Writers just don’t know how to write for his sense of humor and it doesn’t really fit in most movies anyway. His best moment on screen IMO was his very small part in the Bruce Willis movie The Jackal. I don’t know for sure but I bet they let him improvise his lines. Frankly I am surprised he keeps getting roles and seemingly growing in Hollywood credibility. I liked him a lot in High Fidelity myself. Outrageous, over-reacting musical snob ? Fits him to a T. His act was really close to the kind of person I imagined from reading the book. Forgot one (well, two) egregious offenders before : David Letterman isn’t funny. He’s never been. Why the fuck is that guy still on air, let alone having a major primetime show ? Also : Dennis Leary. Granted, he rips off Bill Hicks better than David Cross can. Still, can’t hack it. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/88 "2008-12-18T21:09:06Z")
South Park. Just a waste of space. Never watched Seinfeld after trying it once (and it sucks cause all my friends can quote it all the time.) If we’re counting cartoons, Mallard Fillmore. All those “Wedding Crasher ha ha must have sex” movies never grabbed me. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/89 "2008-12-18T21:09:26Z")
I feel like I need to defend Bill Engvall and Ron White. Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy both suck, but Engvall and White are worth watching. The difference, I think, is that they’re actually somewhat intelligent rednecks, not dumb ones. They’re just outside of the stereotype. I’m going to suggest something that’s going to get me flamed by damn near everyone. I really, really try to like **The Colbert Report** , but I just can’t get into it. About the only funny segment is The Word. Colbert is also a TERRIBLE interviewer. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/90 "2008-12-18T21:17:20Z")
Pretty much anybody before the '60s - Bob Hope, Henny Youngman, Jack Benny, etc. - even as a kid I found those lame one-liners hacky. Even the non-stand-up “comedians” of the time were unfunny. I’m unmoved by slapstick - Lucille Ball was just a mugging clown who seemed more concerned with getting praise than being funny. The Three Stooges were a one-joke premise that got stretched out to infinity. Bill Hicks was not funny. I agreed with him on most things, but he was more a ranter than a comedian. Rosie O’Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg were never funny. In fact, I’ll say anybody who’s ever co-hosted _The View_ is the death of comedy. Billy Crystal is like some Borscht Belt/vaudeville moron, except 50 years too late. Kristen Wiig is like an updated Lucy - constantly hamming it up, trying way too hard, and armed with a repertoire of “characters” that aren’t even funny the first 30 seconds they’re on the screen, much less stretched out over multiple episodes and seasons. I don’t think I’ve ever so much as chuckled at Eddie Izzard, though many of my friends enjoy him. George Carlin? Kind of stupid. The type of stuff most of us think up when we’re high, but have the good sense not to share with complete strangers. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/91 "2008-12-18T22:08:41Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > I find George Carlin to not be very funny. Angry, yes. Funny, no. He stopped being funny sometime around 1983. I also never got the love for Sam Kinneson. In a similar vein, I sought out Bill Hicks because I like most of the people either compared to him or accused of ripping him off. But I didn’t like Hicks at all. It was all ranting, with very little insight or even humor. Dennis Miller and Bill Maher kinda fit that same mold but neither they nor anyone else calls them comedians any more, and that’s fine. As for other angry ranting comedians like Carlin or Leary or Kineson or Lewis Black, at least those guys tend to be at least creative in the delivery or presentation (as well as funny, IMO). I don’t really hate Will Farrell but I hate the character he plays in almost everything. Maybe they’re one and the same. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/92 "2008-12-18T22:09:01Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > I’m going to suggest something that’s going to get me flamed by damn near everyone. I really, really try to like **The Colbert Report** , but I just can’t get into it. About the only funny segment is The Word. Colbert is also a TERRIBLE interviewer. I think he’s a bore. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/93 "2008-12-18T22:32:56Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > I’m going to suggest something that’s going to get me flamed by damn near everyone. I really, really try to like **The Colbert Report** , but I just can’t get into it. About the only funny segment is The Word. Colbert is also a TERRIBLE interviewer. I feel the same way. I like the idea of the show, and I liked him when he was on the Daily Show, but his show just doesn’t grab me. I have a hard time sitting all the way through it. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/94 "2008-12-18T22:47:05Z")
I think the supporting cast of The Daily Show are funnier than Jon Stewart, whose schtick tends to consist of bringing up a topic and doing double takes. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/95 "2008-12-18T22:56:31Z")
I am a pretty cheap date but Bill Hicks and George Carlin were not funny. I understand that people who disagree with you are idiots, now tell a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/96 "2008-12-18T23:04:24Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > I am a pretty cheap date but Bill Hicks and George Carlin were not funny. I understand that people who disagree with you are idiots, now tell a joke. The only true laugh Carlin ever got from me was his “Chickens are decent people!” bit. I’ve listened to his early stuff and his late stuff…and Lewis Black just kicks his ass in the ranting _and_ humor categories. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/97 "2008-12-18T23:04:51Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > My main two are: > > - David Sedaris. After hearing from friends how hilarious he was and reading Amazon reviews that said stuff like, “whatever you do, don’t read this in public because you’ll be weeping with laughter,” I read all of _Naked_ and _Barrel Fever_ and I’m not exaggerating when I say that I didn’t laugh or chuckle even once. As far as I’m concerned, the guy simply isn’t a humorist. > > - . I have to disagree with you and agree with your friends. I cracked open Holiday’s on Ice at Borders and was laughing so hard I was crying. Would that happen again if I re-read it. I don’t know. Maybe it was the right story at the right time, but I had people looking at me like I was crying hysterically over something bad. ( just the first story about working as an elf over the holidays. Holy crap, that was some funny stuff.) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/98 "2008-12-18T23:05:47Z")
Two pages and nobody for **Tim and Eric**? God, I hate that shit. Every single guy I know is a knob-slobbering fan and just don’t see that it IS NOT FUNNY. STUPID IS NOT THE SAME THING AS FUNNY. Thank you. Okay, that one skit about the ATM was funny. But that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/99 "2008-12-18T23:20:50Z")
Humor is very different for people. What one person finds hysterical, the guy next to him is aghast at the vulgarity. The offended guy laughs at the high brow jokes, and the Vulgar Guy proclaims it “Stupid.” or they " Don’t Get It." I have friends who I love dearly and would practically die for them, but if in our early blossoming of friendship it was revealed that their favoritist funny movie evar was (X) I would have pretty much mentally put them on my acquaintence list forever. I am a movie snob, not of the highest form, but it is a deciding factor in Will You Be A Friend or Nodding Aquaintence. ( I probably fail every persons own test out there about Music, as I am retarded in that department.) They don’t get my movies and I tolerate their , what I call, Walmart Comedies. Low Brow humor (jackass, Adam Sandler Though, he is growing on me. anything with Will Farrell or just about any SNL alumni in awhile.) Dumb ass comedies or stupid humor appeals to the general masses and we all need some form of escapism at one time or another. I’ve lowered my snobbery considerably over the years and found bits and peices of various movies that I have liked. I do enjoy watching stand up and studying all different forms of it. The problem I have is most of it I cannot watch with kids around. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659/100 "2008-12-18T23:26:34Z")
Oh, here’s another: Judd Apatow. Hate those fucking faux edgy piece of shit movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-that-guys-unfunny-but-everyone-else-loves-him/477659.md?page=6)