What makes you laugh?

Reviews and Articles

About This Item

Created by:
Sue Davies

Created on:
7-1-2009 17:14

View Changes

Tags For This Item

Comedy

, Movies

Attached Images

Add a New Image

ChangesPosted by Sue Davies on 7-1-2009 17:14

I'm doing a (short) presentation on laughter so could I ask a few questions?

1. What would make you laugh?-from a cold start?
2. Who makes you laugh? I only have to see/hear Eric & Ernie and I start to smile..there i go again...
3. Do you seek out opportunities to laugh? Would you choose a funny film over drama to help your mood?

Any comments-especially funny ones appreciated. Go on make me laugh!!

I'm very ticklish so stay back...

Sue
happy new year!!

Bookmark to:

Comments on this Item

ChangesPosted by Jitendar Canth on 10-1-2009 16:43

I'm going to be downright unhelpful here. But I've nevere analysed my own sense of humour, just in case I break it or something.

1. I don't know what makes me laugh, just whatever makes me laugh, makes me laugh. Some stand up comics make me laugh, some don't. Pink Panther movies make me laugh. Carry On Movies used to make me laugh, but don't anymore, not so much. It's a mood thing most of all. I have to be in the right frame of mind, and I don't know if I'm in that frame of mind until I start laughing.

2. Laurel and Hardy, Eric and Ernie, Clouseau (Peter Sellers), Basil Fawlty, Blackadder, Bill Bailey, Ed Byrne, Richard Pryor, the list is endless... Oddly, I've never laughed at Steptoe and Son, Rising Damp, Monty Python... series that many consider classics. Yet I have trouble breathing with It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Allo Allo. No accounting for taste I guess.

3. Definitely not, which is why my comedy DVD section is the smallest. I only have about 20 or so that I actually went out and purchased. And some of those were dumb ideas. Austin Powers is about as funny as herpes now, although I laughed my head off when I first saw it. It's that same reason, I'll never know if I'm in the mood for a giggle until I start laughing, which makes it hard to decide to watch a comedy. Better if it's on TV. Bloody hell, I juts realised I haven't seen Black Books since I bought it. Better stick it on tonight. Nah, I'm not in the mood...

ChangesPosted by Stuart McLean on 10-1-2009 19:02

1) It's strange what makes one person laugh doesn't do anything for another. One example - I always find Russell Brand not only unfunny, but toe curlingly bad ....like a show offy kid that everyone is trying to avoid. However, other people I know find him hilarious...quick, sometimes surreal wit can make me laugh aloud, though I also enjoy gentle humour too.

2) Unlike Jitender I LOVE Steptoe and Son, Tony Hancock etc. I'm also a fan of quick and dry witted humour often aired on Radio 4 - like The News Quiz, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (missin' you Humph!), Parts of the Now Show etc. I also still enjoy Laurel and Hardy, Abbot & Costello (clearly not in the same class as Stan and Ollie but funny nonetheless), and ...of course...the Carry Ons.

3) Definitely! I do actually use my DVD Collection in a functional way from time to time and deliberately seek out a comfortingly funny film. It doesn't have to be side-splitting. A nice Ealing or Boulting Brothers comedy can do the trick.

ChangesPosted by Jitendar Canth on 10-1-2009 19:13

Forgot to mention that some anime makes me laugh, like Love Hina and Excel Saga, but then you already knew that didn't you

ChangesPosted by Mark Oates on 10-1-2009 23:44

1. I enjoy the full gamut of comedy - from slapstick through to the erudition of things like QI. I'm not crazy about cringe-making comedy, so much of the modern output makes me wince more than laugh. What starts me laughing? Anything. Sight gag, one-liner, witticism, non sequitur, malapropism - if it tickles the chuckle muscle, I shall laugh. Maybe not a roll-on-the-floor, tears-in-the-eyes belly-laugh, but I count even a wry smile as a hit.

2. Ken Dodd, Eric and Ernie, Stan and Ollie, Billy Connolly make me laugh. Great old-school humorists like PG Wodehouse and Thorne Smith (a personal hero). I really need to seek out more SJ Perelman. Of the modern age Jim Carrey, Steve Carell are geniuses. Maybe it's my age, but I'm finding a lot of the currently-lionised British comics like Ricky Gervais and Russell Brand vastly overhyped. Simon Pegg outclasses Grevais - Freudian typo there - completely (but could do with distancing himself from Nick Frost who drags him down a bit at times).

3. Comedy dominates my collection. I watch movies and tv to lift my spirits and inspire my own creativity.

Two goldfish in a tank. One turns to the other and says "Are you sure you can drive this thing?"

ChangesPosted by Sue Davies on 13-1-2009 14:57

Mm the Doctor is in and I mean Freud not Mr Tennant or Smith or whatever. I know I cited examples of film/Tv but I was thinking in a broader sense...non of you mentioned people. I'm sure you know people who are naturally funny without the need to tell jokes (goldfish jokes excepted Mr Oates, tank you.)

You have all concentrated on solitary pleasures(well perhaps not totally solitary) but not mentioned life. Most of the things i find funny are those that I might encounter in real life. Although I do life a bit of slapstick (I'm a sucker for you've been framed-but its Harry Hill's own framing that gets me really chortling. He makes you feel safe and assures you that nobody got hurt...hmmm)

So c'mon what about in life and everything but DVD?

ChangesPosted by Jitendar Canth on 13-1-2009 17:16

Me and my friend hanging out when we were teenagers. We see this woman walking her dog at the top of the road. It's one of those little terriers that old women insist on dressing in tartan jackets.

Anyway, me and my friend watch the terrier, the terrier looks at us. We wind up trying to stare each other out, and the woman keeps on walking oblivious. Then the terrier, intent on us, walks head first into a lampost.

Me and my friend wet ourselves laughing.

ChangesPosted by Sue Davies on 20-1-2009 12:32

thanks for the help. I have done it now but it was a speaking competition but you get penalty points for going on too long!!!! WHoops. DIdnt want to win. DId get a few laughs but need to practise my standup!!

ChangesPosted by Rich Goodman on 20-1-2009 18:34

People who get penalised for talking too long make me laugh

Add Your Own Comment