# What Makes You Laugh **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 14, 2021, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885 "2021-03-14T16:03:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/1 "2021-03-14T16:03:12Z")
It used to be stand-up comedy… I haven’t seen anything great in a long time, and you can only laugh at your favorite stuff for so long until it’s memorized - no element of surprise. In the last few years, it’s been reading NBA Game Threads on reddit (of my team, of course). ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/2 "2021-03-14T23:37:31Z")
I always thought my dad laughed at Bob Hope because he could see the jokes coming from miles away. It made him feel like he was in the know on things. He could not fathom why we laughed and laughed at Steve Martin. My sense of humor certainly has changed. First, it quit laughing at pain. Then, it quit laughing at put downs. I’m growing up. But I still love puns, sarcasm, clever phrasing, and the element of surprise. There’s an Irish comedian who makes me laugh, but I’ve forgotten her name. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/3 "2021-03-15T00:27:48Z")
Fart jokes. Yup. I am a 59-year-old woman who has a 13-year-old boy hiding in my brain. I will laugh myself silly at fart jokes (and I dearly miss **lieu** for that very reason!). Sue me. On the other hand, I also enjoy comedy that involves wordplay and out-of-box thinking (George Carlin is one of my favorite comedians, may he RIP, though his later stuff became too bitter and mean). _[Damn You AutoCorrect!](https://www.instagram.com/damnyouautocorrect/?hl=en)_ in all its previous and current forms on the Internet is pretty much guaranteed to reduce me to tears of laughter. Good puns are awesome. Unfortunately that’s one of those things where you have to wade through a sea of groaners to find the one gem. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2021, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/4 "2021-03-15T02:45:01Z")
John Finnemore. British writer who’s responsible for _Cabin Pressure._ A BBC radio comedy set in a small (one plane) airline. With Benedict Cumberbatch as the so-anal-he-screws-up pilot and Roger Allam as his co-pilot (with the perfect voice for radio). [Here are some short clips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=840xOjZW0Ws&list=PLA90116E29C423164), but I found full episodes on [archive.com](http://archive.com), where I also found his next gig, a sketch comedy BBC show called _John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme!_ Again, [here are some clips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seYVm9BfIys&list=PL-dGkJkflhnSEnuR5OLUIRQ_vR0yvU-ZG&index=2), but the whole thing is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/5 "2021-03-15T06:21:21Z")
Currently, [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-earth-the-1-planet/919032) does! ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/6 "2021-03-15T12:56:18Z")
I saw Carlin twice towards the end. It was bitter, but that’s not what bothered me. His last two specials started out exactly the same. I like angry humor, but it needs to be funny. Bill Hicks is probably my 2nd favorite (after Mort Sahl), but there’s only so much material, and I know it by heart. Back to old NBA game threads to start the day with a few laughs (now which seems like a job) Slapstick is one thing that never did “it” for me. Most people laugh at the things I don’t find funny (in a theater or stand-up show), and vice-versa. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/7 "2021-03-15T13:30:01Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > Slapstick is one thing that never did “it” for me. Me either. My husband loves The Three Stooges and the _Pink Panther_ movies. They don’t do anything for me at all. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/8 "2021-03-15T14:08:24Z")
Jokes that trigger some long forgotten piece of trivia that’s still lodged somewhere in my brain. Last year, there was a Steve Carell series called _Space Force_ which was largely forgettable except for the episode with a mutinous, dog-eating space chimp which made me laugh until I could barely breathe. I think it was triggered by a fascination I had with test animals in the early years of space flight and a particular chimp named Enos that everybody in NASA agreed was a complete asshole for not being elated that humans were stuffing him into a tin can and shooting him into orbit. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/9 "2021-03-15T22:56:05Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > Slapstick is one thing that never did “it” for me. Sometimes, I find slapstick very irritating, but in the right mood, I find it hilarious. I loved Airplane!, but Jerry Lewis was just frustrating to watch. I think maybe it’s because the first one did fabulous plays on words. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/10 "2021-03-16T11:53:24Z")
For want of a better description, I like cerebral humor - stuff I need to think about a bit before it hits me. I like clever and subtle, but not too obscure. But I also like some things that are totally outrageous, crazy, and ludicrous. Sometimes it just depends on my mood. I dislike anything I can see coming from a mile away, which is why I dislike many sitcoms. I also mostly dislike so called humor that’s heavy on stereotypes - _“Am I right, ladies??”_ um, no. I don’t mind “issue” comedians until their acts start to sound like lectures - I hate being lectured!! Gabriel Iglesias’ early stuff cracked me up, especially when he did various voices, but his later stuff when he was talking about his son - that just got boring. Inside jokes - as long as I’m on the inside. Spousal Unit and I often look at each other and say the same thing at the same time in certain situations. That is pure hilarity! Simple pleasures for simple minds, I guess. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/11 "2021-03-16T12:12:17Z")
I agree. Do you like stand-up? You might wanna check out Mort Sahl. His interviews are just as great. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2021, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/12 "2021-03-16T12:18:01Z")
Rodney Dangerfield. Buddy and Sally on the Dick Van Dyke Show. W.C. Fields Ed Sanders (of the Fugs) Rollo, on Sanford and Son. Slim Gaillard (Mama’s In The Kitchen, But We’ve Got Pop On Ice, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/13 "2021-03-16T12:20:01Z")
Well, these days it’s the grandkids. I used to love Andrew Dice Clay and Eddie Murphy type humor, but I don’t know if I still would. I haven’t seen any comics lately that make me laugh much. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a tummy ache and sore cheeks from laughing so much. I miss that sort of glee. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/14 "2021-03-16T14:26:31Z")
I tend to get a lot of LOLs out of seeing people just act stupid. For example, the character of Stimpy in the 90s cartoon _The Ren and Stimpy Show_. I particularly react to a situation where a stupid character thinks they’re really smart. An example that just came to mind: about 20 years ago, this transaction took place in one Piranha Club comic: Mr. Arnoldski asks his 18-year-old son Arnold what he would like to do when he grows up. He suggests Arnold might like to be President; Arnold retorts that he would hate to waste his genius brain on being President and would prefer to work in a mayonnaise factory! Just about my favorite kind of humor is when you take a situation, introduce an element that doesn’t belong in it - that is absurd in context or the opposite of what should happen, and present it as if it were normal. That’s why I love _Monty Python’s Flying Circus_; it was a master of this kind of humor. Or another good example: I really loved the 2008 movie “Hank and Mike”. The two eponymous characters are Easter bunnies. They _look_ like two dudes in pink rabbit costumes with their human faces showing; they are _actually_ real rabbits. They work only once a year, breaking into people’s houses to deliver Easter eggs. Everything else in this universe is _normal_. As a kid, toilet humor would set me off very easily; there are several occasions when I laughed uncontrollably due to an instance of this, most recently when I was about 21. Nowadays, I can appreciate it in moderation, and if it’s at least a bit intelligent. Puns are indeed perhaps the lowest form of wit, but I don’t dismiss all jokes using them as “bad”. In fact, I can find the really bad ones funny precisely _because_ they’re so bad. On that note, I do enjoy humor that’s “dadaist”, that is, _deliberately_ trivial or low-effort. I found _Man on the Moon_, Milos Forman’s biopic about Andy Kaufman, hilarious for just that reason. IMO it was Jim Carrey’s best role; he really did a good impression of Kaufman’s original routines. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/15 "2021-03-16T15:01:53Z")
TV during the pandemic has been digging up a lot of oldies from their archives. I find that comedies and comedians that used to crease me up, now make me cringe. I tend to like the comedians that poke fun at authority and pomposity. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/16 "2021-03-16T15:05:02Z")
A good test for this would be to name your favorite character on _The Simpsons_ (assuming you have one). Mine is Sideshow Bob. Despite the rake gags, I’m not a big fan of slapstick, nor a fan of Kelsey Grammer’s other work, but it’s just the idea that no matter how sophisticated and erudite a person is, they are still a prisoner to certain irrational drives. Wile E. Coyote also falls into that category. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/17 "2021-03-16T15:30:06Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > It used to be stand-up comedy… I haven’t seen anything great in a long time, and you can only laugh at your favorite stuff for so long until it’s memorized - no element of surprise. My wife and I love watching stand-up comedy, and we’ve watched a few recorded performances over and over again. We know the punchlines inside and out, but the expert delivery is the thing that keeps being funny every time. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/18 "2021-03-16T15:53:30Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > You might wanna check out Mort Sahl. > [@Great YouTube Comedy Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-youtube-comedy-bits/920526/28): > > Mort Sahl on The Smothers Brothers… > [@MortSahlFan](#): > > …probably my 2nd favorite (after Mort Sahl) > [@Rock Stars' Favorite Stand-up Comedians?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-stars-favorite-stand-up-comedians/921679/1): > > Steely Dan liked Mort Sahl > [@Your Favorite "Angry Humor"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-angry-humor/914475/1): > > Mort Sahl might be my funniest > [@Happy 93rd Birthday, MORT SAHL!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-93rd-birthday-mort-sahl/854267/1): > > Of course, he’s mostly known for revolutionizing stand-up comedy > [@MortSahlFan](#): > > I haven’t seen anything great in a long time Well, you might wanna check out Mort Sahl… ---
**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:** [March 16, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/19 "2021-03-16T16:27:09Z")
Sam Kinison was awesome…I wonder what he would be defiling today if he were still alive. I also enjoyed Bill Hicks quite a bit. And Rodney Dangerfield is a sentimental favorite who gave each of them a break. Three up, three down…that leaves quite a void. John Oliver is good. NSFW for language… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XMGxxRRtmHc/maxresdefault.jpg "Tucker Carlson: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMGxxRRtmHc) Triumph, of course, NSFW. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/_KPYnjqTpzg/maxresdefault.jpg "Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Goes After Alec Baldwin - Roast of Alec Baldwin - Extended Cut") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KPYnjqTpzg) ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885/20 "2021-03-16T17:32:04Z")
I love Bill Hicks… I recommend his unofficial releases on YouTube, usually audio-only. His act doesn’t translate on David Letterman; he can’t riff with only 5 minutes. Even his officially released stuff seems to be more traditional joke-punchline, probably to help his career, but not as great as some off-the-wall dive comedy club someone recorded in the audience without his knowledge. Especially his longest shows… Toronto and Pittsburgh are great shows. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-laugh/937885.md?page=2)