I agree about shows like the Simpson and Futurama, et al that more often than it is the one-liners or just the stupid comment that a character makes. One episode of Futurama when Bender sells his body, he has a dream similar to The Matrix with the numbers streaming down. He wakes up screaming and Fry walks in. Bender says “I saw zeros and ones, and I think I saw a two.” Fry just says “It was only a dream, there is no such thing as two.” I know it’s stupid but I laugh every time.
It seems that people want to test society’s shock level if you will. They want to know how far comedians or TV writers will go and sometimes the vulgar things you see are funny to most.
I agree that humor is whatever makes you laugh, but what if you laugh at some little thing and no one else knows what you are talking about and you end up looking like an ass, hey at least it was funny to you, huh?
“The idea of a walk-in closet sounds frightening. If I’m ever sittin’ at home and a closet walks in, I’m gettin’ outta there.” ~George Carlin