# Which is Funny. XKCD or The Big Bang Theory? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777 "2012-04-24T04:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/41 "2012-04-24T16:41:08Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > xkcd is moderately entertaining, with occasional flashes of brilliance. BBT is consistently entertaining with more than occasional flashes of brilliance. > > Both are worth the effort. This. Big Bang Theory isn’t always great, but it’s always amusing and I find myself laughing at least a few times an episode. XKCD is mostly good, but when it misses, it makes you wonder if the writer was forced to make the comic he did because his cat was being held hostage by a crazed gunman. That said, I picked “both are funny.” ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/42 "2012-04-24T16:41:44Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > It still gives me a smile that there is a Network Sitcom that knows who Frodo is, WTF? Lord of the Rings was a _giant blockbuster trilogy that everyone saw_. Someone else probably already mentioned this but you deserve to have it mentioned to you again. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/43 "2012-04-24T16:42:54Z")
What I haven’t quite figured out (because I haven’t thought about it much) is why I hate TBBT so much but I like The IT Crowd quite a bit. Superficially, they’re much the same kind of show. Discuss! ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/44 "2012-04-24T16:46:56Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > What I haven’t quite figured out (because I haven’t thought about it much) is why I hate TBBT so much but I like The IT Crowd quite a bit. Superficially, they’re much the same kind of show. > > Discuss! Because you can be smug and condescending about it because The IT Crowd is British and therefore a) better than US sitcoms and b) not something the average American has heard of? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/45 "2012-04-24T16:48:24Z")
Has TBBT ever name-dropped XKCD? Then this thread would be sorta meta. ETA: and if not, they should. But in their case it would probably just be a setup for a joke about how nerds like things with four random characters in them. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/46 "2012-04-24T16:57:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I agree with what others have said. They’re both funny but they’re very different in their approach. _The Big Bang Theory_ makes jokes about intelligent people. _XKCD_ makes jokes for intelligent people. TBBT makes jokes about quirky people who in this case happen to be intelligent. Most sitcoms make jokes about quirky dumb people. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/47 "2012-04-24T17:09:07Z")
Only XKCD. TBBT isn’t funny, when it tries to make jokes it makes obvious ones and the actors bore me. Sorry. 😛 [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS5a7RBB4vk) makes me realise why it isn’t funny to me. (There aren’t actually any discernible jokes - you know, with a set up and a punchline, rather than just situational or “look at how quirky the actor is”) IT Crowd all the way. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/48 "2012-04-24T17:14:54Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > WTF? Lord of the Rings was a _giant blockbuster trilogy that everyone saw_. _Ten years ago_ by millions and millions of non-geeks for whom things like character names don’t stick beyond a few weeks without regular reminders. Non-geeks don’t think about these things like the rest of us. Case in point: I had a conversation going on around me about beautiful actresses of yesteryear with comments like, “Oh, and Audrey Hepburn, didn’t you think _she_ was beautiful?” Yes, she did. The _whole frakking world_ thought Audrey Hepburn was beautiful. She was the standard against which dozens of other actresses had their beauty measured for years. Geeks know this, but regular people think it’s insightful to think that Audrey Hepburn is beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/49 "2012-04-24T17:19:41Z")
I’m not a big fan of either. they’re both funny in different ways, and that’s mainly because of the medium in which its being delivered. They’re both amusing at times. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/50 "2012-04-24T17:30:57Z")
BBT is not particularly clever, but it makes me laugh sometimes. When XKCD works (very far from always) I appreciate its cleverness and (sometimes) insightfulness, and it may flatter me by making me feel clever for getting it, but I don’t know that it has ever actually made me laugh. BBT is basically lowbrow standard-sitcom humor (at which level it works quite well) with a few geeky references thrown in for intellectual snob appeal. XKCD’s appeal is virtually entirely a matter of intellectual snobbery, it is for people who want to feel clever for getting it, and who think it is oh-so-uncool to laugh at stuff that ordinary people like. (Not that being that sort of snob is that awful a sin, but snobbery is what it is all the same.) Mind you, that said, XKCD is way better than almost any other comic strip I have ever seen, on the web or elsewhere. Dilbert and Peanuts are the only other ones I can think of that come close, and the latter more for whimsy than humor. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/51 "2012-04-24T17:33:03Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Because you can be smug and condescending about it because The IT Crowd is British and therefore a) better than US sitcoms and b) not something the average American has heard of? > > 😉 I agree with Frylock, I’ve not once laughed at anything on the Big Bang Theory, and every episode of the IT Crowd makes crack up laughing. The IT Crowd is dry, dark, and equally driven by great characters and great writing. Those are traits that I prefer in a tv show, and IMO I don’t find BBT to be any of those things. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/52 "2012-04-24T17:59:37Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > TBBT makes jokes about quirky people who in this case happen to be intelligent. Most sitcoms make jokes about quirky dumb people. I think an important point is that the writers on _The Big Bang Theory_ have some mistaken ideas about intelligent people. They seem to feel that intelligent people = nerds. This is [Willard Boyle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nobel_Prize_2009-Press_Conference_KVA-23.jpg) and [George Smith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nobel_Prize_2009-Press_Conference_KVA-27.jpg), the co-winners of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics. Do they look like a couple of guys who would go to Comic Con? ---
**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:** [April 24, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/53 "2012-04-24T18:04:03Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > I agree with Frylock, I’ve not once laughed at anything on the Big Bang Theory, and every episode of the IT Crowd makes crack up laughing. The IT Crowd is dry, dark, and equally driven by great characters and great writing. Those are traits that I prefer in a tv show, and IMO I don’t find BBT to be any of those things. A good comedy is one where the jokes are funny. It has nothing to do with the show’s premise. Watch an episode of _2 Broke Girl$_ and _Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23_ to illustrate this point. They have identical premises but one show is a good comedy and one is not. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/54 "2012-04-24T18:16:54Z")
I don’t watch TBBT, but my parents do and they tried to get me to watch it. I watched two episodes and chuckled here or there but ultimately just couldn’t get into it. I’ve never once laughed at an XKCD comic. I know a guy who thinks they are a medium for explaining almost everything in life. That freaks me a bit if that is the lens by which he sees life 😕 Now that he gets that I don’t like them he doesn’t show them to me. I still will read when someone here (and there’s always someone) does the “obligatory XKCD link!” and I still think it sucks. And no, it’s not that I don’t “get it” I just don’t think it’s funny or nearly as clever as they imagine themselves to be. Other people love it, that’s the way life is. So, for the tl;dr crowd: I voted TBBT over XKCD just for those couple chuckles, but really not a fan of either. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/55 "2012-04-24T18:31:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think an important point is that the writers on _The Big Bang Theory_ have some mistaken ideas about intelligent people. They seem to feel that intelligent people = nerds. Not true. They have shown plenty of non-nerd smart people on the show. They just wouldn’t make good characters to base a show on. Do [these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson) look like a [couple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking) of guys who go to comicon? They have been on the show playing themselves. [these](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0873998/) comicon [geeks](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0085400/) also acted as brilliant people on the show. In fact most of those around the main characters at their place of employment are not portrayed as nerds. Just the main characters and the ones living in their natural environment, the comicbook store. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/56 "2012-04-24T18:35:58Z")
You forgot an option for, “Straight Dopers like to be snobs about the strangest things.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/57 "2012-04-24T18:36:57Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > You forgot an option for, “Straight Dopers like to be snobs about the strangest things.” 🙂 How very meta of you! ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/58 "2012-04-24T19:22:37Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > You forgot an option for, “Straight Dopers like to be snobs about the strangest things.” 🙂 [Obligatory XKCD link!](http://xkcd.com/915/) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/59 "2012-04-24T19:36:46Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > You forgot an option for, “Straight Dopers like to be snobs about the strangest things.” 🙂 Good point. There are people that would never admit liking a Network sitcom. Isaac Asimov would be a pretty smart guy, but he wasn’t ashamed to admit that one of his of his favorite shows was “Laverne & Shirley”. He said it reminded him of growing up in Brooklyn. Come to thing it, that may be why I like Justified. It sometimes reminds me of Tennessee (I know it is set in Kentucky). ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777/60 "2012-04-24T20:31:46Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Good point. There are people that would never admit liking a Network sitcom… Man, I don’t trust anyone who can’t appreciate something like a good Golden Girls Ep. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-funny-xkcd-or-the-big-bang-theory/619777.md?page=4)