funniest of these
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Re: funniest of these
Putting 'clever' into comedy is like putting 'craftsmanship' into music. Suffocating.
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.
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Re: funniest of these
It can be a pain sometimes. Like when the point of the joke is to actually impress people rather than make them laugh.
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.
Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism
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Re: funniest of these
ooooooohhhhh yeah wrote:Putting 'clever' into comedy is like putting 'craftsmanship' into music. Suffocating.
It's public school boy humour and if it wasn't John Cleese doing the irate latin master routine it wouldn't stand up at all.
Perhaps I heard it too many times on the LP to find it really funny now.
I've been talking about writing a book - 25 years of TEFL - for a few years now. I've got it in me.
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Re: funniest of these
Goat Boy wrote:It can be a pain sometimes. Like when the point of the joke is to actually impress people rather than make them laugh.
Yeah.
There's a great tradition going back to Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, but I much prefer to see people smacking each other over the head. And the interesting thing is, the stupidest stuff is often made by the sharpest minds.
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.
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Re: funniest of these
ooooooohhhhh yeah wrote:Putting 'clever' into comedy is like putting 'craftsmanship' into music. Suffocating.
That's really some kind of utter bollocks, isn't it?
Comedy has to be dumb, is that it?
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Re: funniest of these
Diamond Dog wrote:ooooooohhhhh yeah wrote:Putting 'clever' into comedy is like putting 'craftsmanship' into music. Suffocating.
That's really some kind of utter bollocks, isn't it?
Comedy has to be dumb, is that it?
I think comedy has to appeal to something basic, but there are lots of ways to be ridiculous.
Diamond Dog wrote:nev gash wrote:What is point?
Indeed, what is point?
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Re: funniest of these
Not dumb necessarily, but I think it needs to be instinctive. Comedy that has been overly 'worked on' rarely tends to be funny, that's the main reason most sitcoms fail I think.
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Re: funniest of these
ooooooohhhhh yeah wrote:but I much prefer to see people smacking each other over the head. And the interesting thing is, the stupidest stuff is often made by the sharpest minds.
Like the repeated slaps of Chapman's head by Cleese's character, you mean?
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Re: funniest of these
The Fish-Slapping Dance, you mean?
Or Basil smacking Manuel?
Or Basil smacking Manuel?
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.
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Re: funniest of these
The Modernist wrote:Not dumb necessarily, but I think it needs to be instinctive. Comedy that has been overly 'worked on' rarely tends to be funny, that's the main reason most sitcoms fail I think.
This is plain poppycock. There are no rules to this sort of thing.
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Re: funniest of these
I mean, if it's instinctive comedy that we're talking about, then that sketch in Only Fools in Horses where Del falls through the gap in the bar would be heralded by all as the best thing ever. It's not, it's funny for about 5 seconds and that's it.
The Romans go home sketch is very public school in the way Cleese acts as the classic Latin teacher, but the central premise of the joke is universal.
The Romans go home sketch is very public school in the way Cleese acts as the classic Latin teacher, but the central premise of the joke is universal.
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Re: funniest of these
Last edited by clive gash on 13 Oct 2017, 13:25, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: funniest of these
Toby wrote:The Modernist wrote:Not dumb necessarily, but I think it needs to be instinctive. Comedy that has been overly 'worked on' rarely tends to be funny, that's the main reason most sitcoms fail I think.
This is plain poppycock. There are no rules to this sort of thing.
No, I think G's right.
Of course there are exceptions, but as laughter is such a basic impulse, surely it makes sense that the best way to elicit it is through something spontaneous.
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.
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Re: funniest of these
Or more accurately something that appears spontaneous because of the writing/performing.
It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.
Diamond Dog wrote:...it quite clearly hit the target with you and your nonce...
...a multitude of innuendo and hearsay...
...I'm producing facts here...
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Re: funniest of these
neville from norwich wrote:Or more accurately something that appears spontaneous because of the writing/performing.
The AJA approach.
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.
Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism
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Re: funniest of these
Shush, G is watching.
It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.
Diamond Dog wrote:...it quite clearly hit the target with you and your nonce...
...a multitude of innuendo and hearsay...
...I'm producing facts here...
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Re: funniest of these
neville from norwich wrote:Or more accurately something that appears spontaneous because of the writing/performing.
Aye
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.
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Re: funniest of these
ooooooohhhhh yeah wrote:Of course there are exceptions, but as laughter is such a basic impulse, surely it makes sense that the best way to elicit it is through something spontaneous.
Much of the best TV/film comedy of the last 50 years has been through the creation of social archetypes that we observe in mostly realistic scenarios. Slapstick comedy has its moments, but it belongs to a different age I feel. I mean, I still love Hulot and Chaplin and sometimes they do seem like utter giants compared to others, but that's because they were in the cinema and as such attracted in the main, a universal audience. Everyone loved Chaplin.
But pure, scripted slapstick today just appears dated to me. We've evolved to a situation where genuine error appears funnier (that US show where people do stupid stuff for laughs but I can't remember what it's called) or countless youtube compilations where people or cats do stupid, unscripted stuff. That's not comedy in the strict sense but it makes me laugh, because yes, as you say, it's spontaneous.
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Re: funniest of these
The Modernist wrote:Not dumb necessarily, but I think it needs to be instinctive. Comedy that has been overly 'worked on' rarely tends to be funny, that's the main reason most sitcoms fail I think.
Comedians will take months or years to get a joke perfect or make it sound "natural.'
There's a new show out called Jerry before Seinfeld where he does all his original jokes and bits in front of a crowd - the ones he wrote before Seinfeld.
He has kept every joke he's ever written, 10,000 or so he says, which is laid out on a street in the show's opening and ending. Joan Rivers did the same thing. She had a huge file cabinet full of her "instinctive" humor, always honing it.
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Re: funniest of these
sloopjohnc wrote:The Modernist wrote:Not dumb necessarily, but I think it needs to be instinctive. Comedy that has been overly 'worked on' rarely tends to be funny, that's the main reason most sitcoms fail I think.
Comedians will take months or years to get a joke perfect or make it sound "natural.'
.
Sometimes changing the odd word can really make a difference in the delivery, but a lot humour is about unpredictability and spontaneity and overworking it kills all that.