Where have all the funny folks gone?

[Whitens Moss]

I grew up laughing at the Marx Brothers, Abbott & Costello, Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Johnny Carson etc.

There are no good comedians now. No one really makes me laugh any more. Leno and Letterman? Forget it. Can't come close to Johnny Carson, who was the king of late night.

Nowadays all the stuff that passes for "comedy" is either smutty or smarmy or just plain unfunny.

These days about the only people who make me laugh are politicians and the media but not in a good way.

Thank God the Three Stooges are still on TV, along with I Love Lucy and the Honeymooners.

 

[Hillbilly77]

Where have all the funny folks gone?

They're hanging out right here, on the Smith & Wesson Forum.

 

[CatSnipah]

They all work for S&W or Comcast customer service groups.

 

[kozmic]

Those marvelous Borscht Belt comedians are a dying breed and sadly so is the art form of their comedy. My favorite is Buddy Hackett. What a story teller and what timing.

The new brand of comedy is all about being raunchy and trying to shock their audience. I don't know if I'm more shocked by the content or that people find it entertaining.

 

[srsmyth]

They're hanging out right here, on the Smith & Wesson Forum.

Hillbilly is right on, there is some very funny humor on this board.
Steve

 

[boatme99]

Guess I'm now that old curmudgeon I used to laugh at.
I agree about comedians.
One I particularly can't stand is Will Ferrell.
What a completely talentless moron. I find him embarrassing to watch.


And "Get off my grass!"

 

[Faulkner]

In the current environment of the entertainment community it appears you need to use intense profanity, talk about graphic sex, or generally disrespect Christianity. Frankly, I just don't find any of that funny.

 

[Laddy Smith]

Have you heard

Jim Gaffigan? I've seen him live a couple of times and have always enjoyed him. He does a great job with set-ups and foreshadowing in his overall routine.

Much of his stuff is related to daily life and you can see yourself thinking the same things he covers. Works clean, too.

Lad

 

[CatSnipah]

Guess I'm now that old curmudgeon I used to laugh at.
I agree about comedians.
One I particularly can't stand is Will Ferrell.
What a completely talentless moron. I find him embarrassing to watch.


And "Get off my grass!"

He is living proof that you can be as dumb as a box of unsalted peanut shells and people will laugh.

 

[Marshwheeling]

A favorite from the old era is Steve Allen, founder of the Tonight Show: literate, erudite, a true gentleman, and funnier than all get-out. But for my money, it is hard to top Bob and Ray. Slow Talkers of America is a lesson in comic timing.

These days, it's Letterman. Nobody else can do what he does. As a bonus, he has made monkeys out of some people who really had it coming.

 

[Whitens Moss]

Those marvelous Borscht Belt comedians are a dying breed and sadly so is the art form of their comedy. My favorite is Buddy Hackett. What a story teller and what timing.

The new brand of comedy is all about being raunchy and trying to shock their audience. I don't know if I'm more shocked by the content or that people find it entertaining.

Agree, Buddy was funny and I remember the Jewish comics were especially humorous. Some of you might remember Myron Cohen, who used to appear regularly on The Ed Sullivan Show. It took Cohen 5 minutes to tell a joke, usually with a Yiddish accent (which would be unacceptable today), and wind up with a side-splitter. Henny Youngman's one-liners were a hoot, along with Rodney Dangerfield's?
A few badabings from Henny:

* When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
* There was a girl knocking on my hotel room door all night! Finally, I let her out.
* Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays.
and my favorite...
* I've got all the money I'll ever need, if I die by four o'clock.

 

[aphelion]

Those marvelous Borscht Belt comedians are a dying breed and sadly so is the art form of their comedy. My favorite is Buddy Hackett. What a story teller and what timing.

The new brand of comedy is all about being raunchy and trying to shock their audience. I don't know if I'm more shocked by the content or that people find it entertaining.

You may have never seen Buddy Hackett anywhere than on TV. He was plenty blue, even by today's standards. Plenty of the others mentioned knew their way around an off-color joke.

Bill Burr and Louis C.K., among others today, are hilarious.

 

[Trooperdan]

. But for my money, it is hard to top Bob and Ray. Slow Talkers of America is a lesson in comic timing.

Didn't they do the Heinie wine commercials? "Get your Heinie in a can.."!

 

[kozmic]

You may have never seen Buddy Hackett anywhere than on TV. He was plenty blue, even by today's standards. Plenty of the others mentioned knew their way around an off-color joke.

Bill Burr and Louis C.K., among others today, are hilarious.

Yeah, Hackett's latter Vegas shows were "adult humor" but his days at the Concord were suggestive but pretty tame and gawd awful funny!

 

[Chipmunk6]

Folks, Let's not forget ol' "Lonesome George" Goebels,
Soapy Sales, Marty Feldman, Totie Fields, Johnathan Winters,
Allan King, Shecky Greene, Moms Mabely, Jackie Mason, Paul Lynde
Cliff Arquette(Charlie Weaver) and a bunch of others.
Chipmunk6

 

[handejector]

Don't forget Bob Hope, George Burns, and the first shock comedian, Don Rickles.

 

[CatSnipah]

George Carlin, FTW.

 

[JackM]

Good comedy requires thought and hard work. Crude jokes are easy. I always liked Red Skelton for his intelligent, gentle humor.

 

[timn8er]

Jonathon Winters was one of my favorites! And as mentioned, I'm a big fan of Jim Gaffigan. The success of people like Will Ferrel & Jim Carrey is baffling to me !

 

[the ringo kid]

A couple of my favorites not mentioned above are:

He deserves at least two images:

OK, he's a Clown with the President but, still love em anyway: