The Humor Paradox

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Isn't that ironic? I use sarcasm too, yet apperently don't recognize it when others are doing it!

And like some others have mentioned, I have no problem with "getting" humor when it's on TV! (That is, if it's funny...)

I disagree with the comments about Saturday Night Live. It had a HORRIBLE period in the mid-90s, but IMO it got better and better from the time Tina Fey took it over. It's kind of hit it's stride again this season without her. I think the years she was head writer were the best the show ever had.

And 30 Rock is AMAZINGLY funny. The first 3 or 4 episodes were pretty terrible, but then it started getting better and better, and now quite frequently there will be an episode where every single thing in it is funny to me. It's a range of humor too-some of it is quite dry and intellectual. Some of it is quite topical. Some of it is low brow-but all of it mixes together in many episodes.

Meanwhile I've found Scrubs to be pretty terrible recently (I liked it a few years ago). I just fast forwarded through this week's episode.

I find that most of my humor is based upon
pretending to misunderstand what people
say. Sometimes I take it to an extreme,
but I've found that people with whom I
get along well tend to 'get' this kind of
joke. Probably all pretty far on the
spectrum though.

Almost Live, Maybe not the "funniest" but hey, who does not enjoy a little super hero Bill Nye?

Speed Walker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6-SJLlneLc

For some reason I can't post it in, my computer is being bad...

I'm American, but I enjoy English humor. It is more dry and situational. They can tell off-color jokes without sounding crass. People can even run around naked and it's hilarious.

That video was pretty funny. Was Bill Nye a regular on that? Was that before or after "Bill Nye the Science Guy"? (I used to watch that every day.)

I have a great appreciation for word plays, which developed very early in life.

One time when I was 3 years old, my dad was joking around with me and said, "Hey baby, what's your sign?"

I held up my hand and replied, "STOP!"

I would have to say I am pretty good at jokes, given the circumstances. The only jokes I have problems with are the ones that have no logical basis. I tend to shrug those off as "what the f&!% are you talking about?" But most of the time I get the gist of them pretty quickly and so I usually don't appear too awkward in dealing with them. In fact I enjoy watching stand up comedy, and spoof movies like the "Hot Shots" and "Scary Movie" series.

On the other hand I have trouble delivering humor. It usually happens accidentally, in which case I will pretend I did it on purpose and take credit for the joke (hey, sometimes misunderstandings are a good thing ). Occasionally I am quick enough to intentionally make a punch line (if it's a familiar situation a lot of times I can anticipate and wisecrack accordingly) but usually I'm a little too slow for that. I can usually make people laugh by playing on logical anomalies such as interjecting cracks like "it's a good thing Chris Daughtry can sing because he never would have made it anywhere on his looks" at opportune moments (for those not in the know Chris Daughtry is ass-ugly but makes good money as the lead singer of the band Daughtry). Anyways, as long as I keep a ready store of those I usually do OK in the humor department. Sometimes I will "practice" by trying to joke at movies or TV shows, similar to the way the characters of Mystery Science Theater 3000 used to do. Usually I will do that when I'm home alone though so if I suck it doesn't matter. Doing that, as well as taking mental notes of where jokes fit into everyday conversation has helped to build my "mental database" and thus I can be quicker to joke in real-life situations.

I think it was "during".

I am not sure if he was a regular or not. I am so faceblind when I saw it at its original air date, I did not know it was Bill Nye. All I know is I laughed like hell over "speedwalker".

I like absurdist humor...like Monte Python....Hitch Hickers Guide is good at that,as it is with word play,which I love.
I tend to enjoy cynical and sarcastic humor and love John Stewert and many Jewish comedians for some reason.

Most TV and movies are not funny to me or only mildly funny but books can make me laugh out loud with just the sound of the words.....I love book humor.Even Woody Allen is funnier in text then his movies(though I do enjoy his "delivery").

Werbert always makes me laugh.....I need a Werbert "fix",who does he think he is,coming here and enticing us with his humor and then abandoning us for his own life.Selfish prick(that was my attempt at humor,so you can see why few people laugh WITH me and more laugh At me).

He really did a good job looking like those speedwalking people. That was truly funny.

I think I saw it when I was 15, I was rolling on the floor laughing, although I did not know it was Bill Nye.
I have a great affection for the King Dome, even though I am not from Washington or even the US, it was just a common sound stage for Almost Live, which was very sadly missed when I moved from BC to Ontario!

To be honest, a lot of people find me funny.

When they tell a joke, I get it, but people always say to me, "You know it's a joke?"

I must do something peculiar.

Yeah I get that a lot too. I am not very animated most of the time, though. Maybe I don't laugh with enough enthusiasm? Oh well, I'd much rather err on the side of conservative.

I am pretty much a constant comedy show for anyone around me without intending to be

I don't tell jokes, I either mess them up or end up having to explain them cause others don't get it.

I think the reason many of us enjoy the absurdist humor of, say, the "Airplane!" and "Hot Shots!" movies, or of Monty Python (just as examples), is due to the same phenomenon that gives us problems with certain idiomatic phrases - a tendency toward concrete thought. After all, much of the humor in the above (especially "Airplane!", and its predecessor, the sadly short-live TV series "Police Squad!") had to do with such phrases being taken literally.

Example, from "Police Squad!"

A boxer and his wife are arguing (he's being tempted to take a dive for a lot of money, she's telling him not to do it). She finally shouts, "You're not the man I married!"

"Baby, how can you say that?" he asks, hurt.

"Because this is the man I married!" she replies, yanking open the closet door to reveal a nebbishy accountant, complete with adding machine. He looks up and waves, just before she closes the door again.

Or from "Airplane!"

"Tell me what happened, from the beginning."

"Well, first the Earth cooled. Then the dinosaurs came, but they were too big and fat, so they all died and turned into oil. Then the Arabs came, and they bought Mercedes-Benzes!..."

I can't tell jokes and never attempt to, but a lot of people find me funny. (Not all, some are very confused by my humour)