# Humor that doesn’t age well **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [August 29, 2021, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723 "2021-08-29T13:07:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/101 "2021-08-31T22:09:25Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > I must have led a sheltered experience back in the day—rarely saw N bombs on TV. The Sanford and Son episodes aired on network TV substituted “brothers” for the N word. Only with their reissue on DVD did I first hear the N word there. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/102 "2021-08-31T22:14:00Z")
Well, surely there’s a difference between a heterosexual man retching at the thought of having kissed a trans-woman (who we nowadays understand to properly treat like a woman in all ways) than at the thought of having kissed a man. We understand to treat homosexuals with respect, but since when does that mean that heterosexuals have to be mentally OK with having been duped into some degree of homosexual experience? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/103 "2021-08-31T22:37:46Z")
Sure. Why not? It’s not as if they made any binding commitments to each other. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/104 "2021-08-31T22:37:56Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Finkel/Einhorn wasn’t transgender, though. Finkel was just a man using “Einhorn” as a disguise to drop out of sight and execute his convoluted revenge plot against Dan Marino. I don’t think such subtle distinctions makes much of a difference to modern audiences. It still plays into some pretty negative stereotypes regarding transgender women such as a propensity for “tricking” men, that they’re actually men, and that they’re mentally deranged. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/105 "2021-08-31T22:38:20Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Not all of it, but yeah, so much of it was just crossing his eyes, sticking out his front teeth, and acting like a moron. I watched _Ace Ventura_ with my kids, along with _The Mask_ , and regretted both of them. And yet Jim Carrey is a _really good_ actor, as seen in his few straight roles. If only his skills could have been used for good instead of evil … ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/106 "2021-08-31T22:39:01Z")
I think you’re excluding a remarkable amount of middle ground between “being mentally okay” and “uncontrollable retching.” Also, the scene I specifically referenced didn’t have anything to do with any sort of “homosexual experience.” Jim Carrey’s character stripped a woman (against her will) in front of a SWAT team, who were so revolted by the sight of someone female-presenting who also had a penis, that they were all violently ill. There’s not really a way to justify that that doesn’t make it hugely transphobic. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/107 "2021-08-31T22:41:38Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > The Sanford and Son episodes aired on network TV substituted “brothers” for the N word. Only with their reissue on DVD did I first hear the N word there. The thing is, in the 1970s it was was not quite yet considered an unutterable near-obscenity, that even in reference _ **must** _ be referred to as “n-word” or “n-bomb” – just very very rude and inappropriate and only useable in certain context. So, Red Foxx as Fred Sanford? Yeah, that worked. White guy on SNL after 11:30 pm? In a very special case, with Richard Pryor’s blessing (and part of the SNL skit impact comes when the audience begins to anticipate if it’s going to escalate _there_). ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/108 "2021-08-31T22:48:25Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > You know whose humor hasn’t aged well? That of mine and my cohort. I’m reading this thread and wondering if it’s the audience that has just grown up. And, who watches humour now? Teenage boys? They are at home making stupid offensive jokes in their massively social on-line games. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/109 "2021-08-31T23:18:55Z")
The only acceptable humor now apparently is finding just how many ways you can say Donald Trump’s name and not actually say it “So the Orange Cheeto today claimed that he, the Tan God, was responsible for the peace deal with the Taliban that Binden bungled. Rump the other day also said he WASN’T responsible for the peace deal. So what is it President Crybaby?” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/110 "2021-08-31T23:34:32Z")
Yeah. His work in the Truman Show was very good. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/111 "2021-08-31T23:40:42Z")
There are at least 2 types of not aging well. The first being that general trends in humor have change. The second being that what we know about a person has changed. I remember reading an article at some point about people that did rape jokes well. One example was Louis CK: “there’s no reason to rape someone, ever. Unless you have a good reason, like you want to have sex with them and they won’t let you.” Where the article explained that he’s mocking the minimization of sexual assault, which is how I felt at the time too. Subsequent revelations about how Louis didn’t understand why that joke was ok and about his personal behavior sure put all his sexual gross out jokes in new light. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/112 "2021-08-31T23:57:41Z")
That brings up the question of whether humor in general ages faster than it did in the past. Entertainment Weekly in the 90s published a debate about whether a comedy generation gap had developed between age groups. The argument in favor contended that what people thought was hysterical 30 or more years prior would be met with stone silence by their children later. Now, not only does it seem there is a comedy generation gap but the average shelf life for most humor has decreased to 20 years. Between shifting social sensibilities and once-funny jokes being done to death online, it seems comedy has become increasingly ephemeral. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/113 "2021-09-01T00:30:48Z")
That humor is more ephemeral these days is an example of the survivors fallacy. The Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges are rare examples of 30s comedians being remembered. And the Stooges got famous totally by the accident that their shorts were good for television. The vast majority of 30s comedians are totally forgotten. Wheeler and Woolsey anyone? S. J. Perelman wrote for them. Who? He was once the premiere prose humorist in the country. Charlie Chaplin was once possibly the most famous person in the world. His humor was forgotten in his lifetime. Try reading the _Harvard Lampoon_ from that era. Humor has always been ephemeral. Mark Twain complained about it. A few tiny examples last, but its normal shelf life is somewhere between a carton of milk and a mayfly. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/114 "2021-09-01T00:40:25Z")
I gotta disagree about Carson: he was dry funny. It’s not necessarily the stuff that’s going to make you clutch your stomach, but he was funny. My local shows reruns of the Tonight Show and I still laugh at Carson. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/115 "2021-09-01T00:43:56Z")
Eddie did a LOT of pretty nasty stuff on gays, which got a free pass back in the 80s. I think Delirious was even worse. It was my first adult-themed comedy tape that I ever listened to, which acculturated me to think that homophobia was normal. I cringe when I think of that. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2021, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/116 "2021-09-01T01:47:18Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > The second being that what we know about a person has changed. A lot of Bill Cosby’s comedy still holds up—well, it _would_, if what we know about Bill Cosby hadn’t changed. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/117 "2021-09-01T10:58:45Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I gotta disagree about Carson: he was dry funny. It’s not necessarily the stuff that’s going to make you clutch your stomach, but he was funny. My local shows reruns of the Tonight Show and I still laugh at Carson. I lost interest in Carson in the 1970s, thinking his schtick was irrelevant, but then saw him in a rare “live” performance in Las Vegas around 1977. He did 90 minutes and he was hilarious. He was never thought of as one of the greats but I gained a whole new respect for him after that. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/118 "2021-09-01T11:15:43Z")
I think what put off some people was that some of his jokes seemed a little canned, and maybe they were, but he had a way of being funny in the moment as well. He wasn’t brilliantly witty, but he was funny ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/119 "2021-09-01T12:56:37Z")
Ah, ok. I watched S&S sometimes and didn’t remember the N bomb at all. Other African American programs of that era (Jeffersons, What’s Happening!, Good Times) didn’t appeal to us. True there’s a cultural element, but there were others we didn’t watch: One Day at a Time, Maude, Barney Miller. I later went on to never watch a single episode of Friends. David Schwimmer especially turned me off. There’s also the question of who controls the channels. I can’t read the stuff about the Festrunks without remembering how they incensed and offended Mama L (RIP). ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723/120 "2021-09-01T12:58:52Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I think you’re excluding a remarkable amount of middle ground between “being mentally okay” and “uncontrollable retching.” Of course, but it’s an over-the-top comedy. Reactions are going to be very exaggerated by the nature of the film. > [@](#): > > Also, the scene I specifically referenced didn’t have anything to do with any sort of “homosexual experience.” Jim Carrey’s character stripped a woman (against her will) in front of a SWAT team, who were so revolted by the sight of someone female-presenting who also had a penis, that they were all violently ill. I could have sworn it had been implied that Finkel/Einhorn had been very affectionate with the men under “her” command. Certainly Ventura’s own, similar reaction in the earlier scene when he realized the truth was (it seemed to me) more over the fact that he had been french-kissed and fondled by someone whose “gun sticking into his hip” was not, in fact, a gun and not merely over the fact that Einhorn was a man in disguise absent that encounter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humor-that-doesn-t-age-well/949723.md?page=7)