# What types of humor do you not "get"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872 "2009-05-09T20:26:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/41 "2009-05-10T02:58:46Z")
I don’t get a lot of comedies. There are ones I like a lot, like Office Space, Empire Records, and Clerks, but others? I don’t get movies like The Big Lebowski, Ghost World, Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways, or Broken Flowers. People find them funny, and for the life of me I can’t understand why. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/42 "2009-05-10T03:13:08Z")
I like to think I’m pretty good about humor. I laugh at puns, insult comedy, improv, sketch, slapstick, wordplay, fast cuts (Scrubs, Family Guy), stand-up, musical, even ventriloquism (Jeff Dunham is one of my favorite contemporary performers). Even if I don’t find something funny, I can usually understand why someone would find it funny. Except humiliation comedy. Awkward, embarrassing situations are not funny. I can’t get any kind of humor out of them, and it baffles me that others do. ---
**Author:** ![trudi\_fermelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@trudi\_fermelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trudi_fermelli)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/43 "2009-05-10T03:31:23Z")
Juvenile humor. Past adolescence what is the point? Far too many movies use this humor… Never liked the 3 stooges either. My brother thought it was funny to slap me around, per their lead and I totally didn’t see the humor in it! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/44 "2009-05-10T03:36:13Z")
Am bored by Get 'er done guy Comedy singers/instrument players “and it might go a little something like this…” Dead baby jokes ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/45 "2009-05-10T03:39:49Z")
Political satire in perky song form: supposedly quite popular in the DC area, but personally I don’t understand the appeal of it. You know, Mark Russell, Capitol Steps, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/46 "2009-05-10T03:44:19Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Tim Allen. His birthname is the funniest thing about him. > > Larry David. Only reason to laugh at this man would be in a sort of Pavlovian response to his accent. > > Dudley Moore. He could even unfunnify Peter Cook, and that’s goin’ some. Again, see the OP. These are people, NOT genres. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/47 "2009-05-10T03:59:44Z")
Anything on morning drive radio. I don’t know if its a genrem but there sure is a lot of it. You have two unfunny guys and the obligatory woman on staff who does weather or traffic. They say something that really wasn’t all that funny and spend the next fifteen minutes laughing at their own joke and dwelling upon how funny their joke was. I get pestered repeatedly that I have to listen to Joe and Bob and Jimmy and Buttface and I just can’t appreciate it. Thankfully, my commute is only about 10 minutes which is enough time to get the sports scores and weather. ---
**Author:** ![trudi\_fermelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@trudi\_fermelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trudi_fermelli)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/48 "2009-05-10T04:07:11Z")
Another thought…people who hurt themselves in vids on AFV. I just don’t find humor in human pain. But they get paid for it and that is funny. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/49 "2009-05-10T04:19:37Z")
I hate the crank calling genre - the one where the “joker” calls up somebody on the phone and pretends to be an idiot. At least the concept; the reality is that underneath the fake idiocy most of them are real idiots. I sometimes have to take phone calls where I work from people. And some of these people are dumb. And sometimes I have difficulty understanding somebody because they don’t speak English well or have some other problem. Or sometimes I’ve had to talk to somebody who obviously has some mental disabilties but still wants some information or is genuinely crazy and wants to threaten to kill me. But my job is to be patient and polite and answer their questions - even if that sometimes means I have to help them figure out what their questions are - or to keep them on the line while we figure out if this bomb threat is a genuine threat or just a “joke”. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/50 "2009-05-10T04:27:43Z")
Bathroom humour. Embarassment humour. Most practical jokes. I’m not sure if it counts as humour but people seem to find it HI-larious at my university to pelt students finishing exams with all manner of disgusting stuff: eggs, flour, rotting octopus, and doing things like tieing them to a chair and spraying them all over with silly string. It’s a ‘thing’ I guess, and often the recipients even seem to be laughing too, but I seriously Don’t Get It. OTOH, I do like well-done slapstick. I’ve never heard of the 'git ‘er done’ guy, but it sounds like I’ve dodged a bullet there. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/51 "2009-05-10T05:28:54Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > OTOH, I do like well-done slapstick. I’d define **slapstick** as violent **physical comedy**. > [@](#): > > I’ve never heard of the 'git ‘er done’ guy, but it sounds like I’ve dodged a bullet there. “[Git 'er done](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_the_cable_guy)” is just a **catchphrase** , like “[My name is Raymond J. Johnson, Jr.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_J._Johnson)” or “[You might be a Redneck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Foxworthy)”. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/52 "2009-05-10T05:46:14Z")
I dislike embarrassment humor, where you’re meant to laugh at a person’s inability to be “normal” or do something “average.” Like Mr. Bean, what I’ve seen of him, or Steve Urkel when he would fall up a flight of stairs or demolish a room and then say “Did I do that?” Yuck. I also dislike comedy that’s “edgy” for the sake of being edgy. I dislike Sarah Silverman and have a love/hate relationship with Margaret Cho. I dropped Michael Ian Black (from “The State” etc.) from Twitter yesterday from joking: “Advice to ladies: if you don’t want me to look down your shirt, stop having awesome boobs.” Yeah, just no. That goes into my general disdain for racist/sexist/homophobic humor. I was having a fabulous time with SNL tonight until one of the sketches featured characters who were meant to be actors in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyworld. For whatever reason, it was decided to portray all three of the male actors as effete, nelly homosexuals. It took me right out of the sketch and into disdainland. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/53 "2009-05-10T06:22:01Z")
I like comedy that works by raising people above the norm, either by being witty (like Ronald Reagan’s famous line, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”) or by just being awesome in other ways. I don’t like comedy that works by making characters I respect into idiots, and I don’t like gross-out comedy. ---
**Author:** ![EpicNonsense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@EpicNonsense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EpicNonsense)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/54 "2009-05-10T06:30:30Z")
I do not understand physical humor… E.g. One guy slaps another other guy in the balls while he isn’t paying attention, and everyone else laughs at his suffering. I just don’t get it… ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/55 "2009-05-10T06:40:38Z")
> [@EpicNonsense](#): > > I do not understand physical humor… > > E.g. One guy slaps another other guy in the balls while he isn’t paying attention, and everyone else laughs at his suffering. > > I just don’t get it… Were you never a teenage boy, or were you just _always_ the one getting whacked in the nards? ---
**Author:** ![EpicNonsense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@EpicNonsense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EpicNonsense)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/56 "2009-05-10T07:01:12Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Were you never a teenage boy, or were you just _always_ the one getting whacked in the nards? I was kidding. BTW, hey, what’s the capital of Thailand? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/57 "2009-05-10T07:21:42Z")
> [@EpicNonsense](#): > > BTW, hey, what’s the capital of Thailand? 😛 Heh. In my school it was worse. The dumbasses would ask what the capital of _China_ was. "Uhhh . . . Beijing . . . " “Bang cock!” :whack: ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/58 "2009-05-10T12:44:16Z")
I hate “Punked” or any similar sort of “gotcha” comedy. I would, however, find it hilareous if one of the victims went off in a murderous rage and beat the crap out of someone. I find nerd humor tedious. Same goes for redneck humor like Larry the Cable Guy or Jeff Foxworthy. I get it. You’re an uneducated alchoholic with the mind of a child. Hilareous.:rolleyes: [quote=“gaffa, post:1, topic:495872”] [LIST] [li] **Slapstick:** Any humor that depends on hitting, slapping, eye-poking or (especially) being kicked in the balls. The Three Stooges, America’s Funniest Home Videos and “Dodgeball” are examples. The thing is, I’ve been kicked in the balls, and I’ve never felt pain like that before or since. I don’t laugh at scenes of pain, I wince.[/li][/QUOTE] But see from our perspective your getting kicked in the balls is funny!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/59 "2009-05-10T12:55:39Z")
xkcd, and all other comics that make fun of internet culture and geek/tech-hipster stuff. Most webcomics in general especially if they’re drawn in a “hip” pseudo-Manga style. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872/60 "2009-05-10T14:39:05Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I like to think I’m pretty good about humor. I laugh at puns, insult comedy, improv, sketch, slapstick, wordplay, fast cuts (Scrubs, Family Guy), stand-up, musical, even ventriloquism (Jeff Dunham is one of my favorite contemporary performers). Even if I don’t find something funny, I can usually understand why someone would find it funny. > > Except humiliation comedy. Awkward, embarrassing situations are not funny. I can’t get any kind of humor out of them, and it baffles me that others do. QFT I can’t watch things like _Borat_, it just makes me squirm. I also don’t like crude ignorant geek humour, of the Kevin Smith variety. His characters and attempts at humour leave me confused and irritated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-types-of-humor-do-you-not-get/495872.md?page=4)