Define Humor?

[walkinghorse]

Is this possible or two variable for a single definition?

 

[vonn]

Definitely different from person to person,some I get, others escape me completely! Mine has changed over the years I am sure.

 

[old bear]

I'm with Vonn, on this one. Funny is like beauty it's all in the eye of the beholder. What I think is funny has changed over the years, as well.

 

[Arik]

I could have sworn that Sheldon already figured this out! Or was that the perfect joke that he figured out?!?!

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[Jessie]

Definitely in the eye ofthe beholder.
Case in point; me, the three stooges and my wife.

 

[soFlaNative]

That's a definite maybe...

 

[BearBio]

I think Shakespeare said: "Comedy is tragedy that happens to someone else"

 

[dmar]

It's something that makes me laugh, but may, or may not amuse you...

Bear Bio, props on the Shakespeare quote, it's a good one!

 

[Big Cholla]

Ah, A Contribution!

Definitely in the eye of the beholder.
Case in point; me, the three stooges and my wife.

When I first married the movie theaters had unadvertised "shorts". My first wife hated the Three Stooges so much she would get up and go to the lobby until any 'short' featuring the Three Stooges was over. I think her inability to at least suffer thru one of their presentations hastened our divorce. ...

BTW; I thought that they were outrageously funny ..... and still do. Of course their humor was in the context of the time it was performed.

 

[bigwheelzip]

I don't know the answer, but I give credit to Rusty1953 for finding something that tickles me, in the widest range of subject matter. He's my "LOL" trooper.

 

[LB001]

Humor is difficult. Comedy relies on the unexpected, or surprise.

 

[Jessie]

the Three Stooges

BTW; I thought that they were outrageously funny ..... and still do. Of course their humor was in the context of the time it was performed.

I have to respectfully disagree. Their humor is timeless.
Wooowoooowoooowooooo!!why, I aughta....you knucklehead!

 

[walkinghorse]

When I first married the movie theaters had unadvertised "shorts". My first wife hated the Three Stooges so much she would get up and go to the lobby until any 'short' featuring the Three Stooges was over. I think her inability to at least suffer thru one of their presentations hastened our divorce. ...

BTW; I thought that they were outrageously funny ..... and still do. Of course their humor was in the context of the time it was performed.

I used to appreciate the Stooges, but drifted to Laurel and Hardy.
Keystone Cops never did much for me?
Big Bang Theory used to be funny, now not so much?
Understand it is over for 1rst run shows, guess the change from kids to older grew thin, but from perusing the channels the reruns will be around for a while.
The people on this forum remain humorous, both original topics and responses, though it seems as if not everyone agrees!

 

[shouldazagged]

Humor is difficult. Comedy relies on the unexpected, or surprise.

And that depends on incongruity.

But I can't imagine one definition. I can name a lot of things I find unfunny:

The Three Stooges.
Most of the Marx Brothers stuff, though I loved Groucho.
"Seinfeld".
Gags that involve people or animals being hurt.
Cartoons with captions like "When Fred saw the aardvark he knew it was going to be a bad day."
And on and on.

Stuff I do find funny:

Good parody and satire.
Tim Conway doing absolutely anything.
"Calvin And Hobbes".
"Pearls Before Swine".
The first three "Pink Panther" flicks, especially "Return Of".
Practical jokes that mystify but don't hurt or humiliate the target.
Nearly all of "The Far Side".
Old clips of Victor Borge, Nichols & May. and Stiller & Meara.
Robin Williams madly ad libbing.
And on and on.

What can I tell you? I'm old and un-hip. An awful lot of what passes for humor these days bores my glutes off.

 

[s&wchad]

I regularly try to make my wife laugh or at least put a smile on her face.

She often tells me I'm funny, but then she quickly follows it up with, "...but looks aren't everything".

 

[ParadiseRoad]

 

[two-bit cowboy]

It's similar to what United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about hard-core pornography: something to effect of "I can't define it but I know it when I see it."

Sometimes I smile. Sometimes I laugh out loud. Sometimes I laugh till I cry.

I've never understood why folks laugh so hard at the clips on shows such as America's Funniest Home Videos. I don't find a guy crashing his bicycle into a wall (or any of those other "tragedies") the least bit funny. 'Course I'm not a fan of Shakespeare, either.

 

[Comrad]

Why does a chicken coop only have 2 doors?

Because if it had 4 doors it would be a chicken sedan.

Now that's my definition of humor right there.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Definitely in the eye ofthe beholder.
Case in point; me, the three stooges and my wife.

Excellent example. When I was about 12 or 13, they were so funny to me that I was rolling on the floor laughing so hard that my ribs hurt.A couple of decades later (and still) I couldn't even see what was funny, much less actually laugh or even smile at it. It almost makes me think that they were an example of juvenile humor.

 

[Hillbilly77]

It's only funny until somebody gets hurt.

After that it's hilarious.