Comments on: Can Humor Be Defined?

By: Labels And Lies And How To Be Tiresome

Labels And Lies And How To Be Tiresome — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:02:26 +0000

[...] – I still think humor is impossible to define, and wouldn’t argue with someone who said I wasn’t [...]

By: Josh Hanagarne

Josh Hanagarne — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:26:09 +0000

Blaine, this is one of my dad’s favorite jokes: “A Mexican woman had twins. She named them Jose and Hose-B” (argh)

By: Blaine Moore

Blaine Moore — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:36:26 +0000

Josh -

I hope that those jokes you’ve been hearing from those people for decades is better than the jokes my mother has been telling for decades…or should I say, the one joke: “What did one hot dog say to the other? Hi Frank!”

It has been a couple years, though…next month when I go visit her I’ll have to see if I can’t get her to tell it to my 5 year old cousin…

By: the crazy suburban mom

the crazy suburban mom — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 09:47:44 +0000

Oy. The what is comedy thing is as big as the what is art thing. And both change with the audience, the times… the person.. and the amount of money said person is paid for doing the art/comedy. Although I admit no matter how old I was or where I was or who I was with…that smashing watermelons thing? Never got it.

Anyway. As to humor vs. sarcasm. Well, that I’ve watched people do extensively. And that looks more like passive-aggression than humor.

But.

It seems to me when evaluating the difference between humorous statements and sarcastic statements that look like humorous statements you can tell the difference this way… If you can mentally add ‘comma you a******’ to the end of a statement and it works? It’s sarcasm.

Tracy

By: Josh Hanagarne

Josh Hanagarne — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:03:48 +0000

Laura, age has definitely played a part in my changing sense of what’s funny,but that certainly doesn’t happen to everyone. I know people who have been laughing at (and telling) the same jokes for decades and aren’t about to quit. I’d love to see what your humor looks like when it’s “on fire.”

By: Laura Cococcia

Laura Cococcia — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:58:12 +0000

Aah, what a good topic to discuss. Sometimes, I feel my humor is dying, other times it’s on fire. I actually stopped watching all sitcoms in the past two years because I didn’t find them funny anymore. I think I have to stick to dry, sarcastic humor – but I’ve moved beyond liking the “making fun of people” humor (that might just come with age, who knows?) Great topic to think about Josh – I wonder if I’ll be funny today? Maybe someone else will and I’ll re-comment and let you know how it goes

By: Josh Hanagarne

Josh Hanagarne — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:36:32 +0000

Nic, it sounds like everyone here knows more about Heinlein than I do. You’ve lit a fire under me. I can’t stand not being the smartest guy in the room:)

By: nic

nic — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:52:38 +0000

Ooooh, Heinlen!

I paritularly enjoyed

Stranger in a Strange Land
Time Enough for Love
I will fear no Evil
Friday

By: Josh Hanagarne

Josh Hanagarne — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:11:54 +0000

Blaine, I definitely didn’t love Starship Troopers. Of course, I’d seen the movie first and you can probably guess how the book doesn’t exactly match up with the big insect bloodbath movie. I’ll look up that Asimov. I’m a fair-weather fan but it’s been a while since I’ve checked him out at all. Stranger is now on request for me at the library: the uncut version.